Hello friends,
I was wondering if there are people who have experience learning memory techniques to childeren.
It is true my baby is still under way but I want to make a good start with it learning it the best of the Art of Memory, if there are hints and tricks, please, I’m interested.
I have for example the idea to make a PAO list on 110 cards (00-99) on a child level, using child characters. Does such a list already exist for childeren?
thanks for the help!
Good day Airwolfke.
I think before teaching kids a card system you need try to play a Memory Palace game ( their is no need to call it like that).
You can play like this ( of course if your child is able to speak ):
Then, after you created a little journey you can do this.
And at the end
You can start to play a game like this regularly. And at parallel ( if u still want to create some kind of system) create the system, and only then start to learn it and use it. I think this way of learning is better for little kids because they have some fun at the start ( don`t be tricked - some time kid can tell you let’s play something else - it’s all you responsibility - to do it interesting, just be ready for this situation).
P.S. I’m not any kind of expert in this and I played game like this with one kid just ones and it was good. Doing it regularly and then going to system creation and using it is more smart way as I think.
It would be nice if you will leave some comments.
You wouldn’t want a premade list for the most part because the images or characters have to be related to the child or else it is completely useless. I would focus more on teaching children useful information and memory techniques. I teach middle schoolers and had memory bootcamps for children as well. I didn’t really focus on cards or a 2 digit number system.
I am teaching my daughter as well ^^
Important is to not force them to, and let them use their interests.
as for age, I don’t know when it is the best to start, some say age 1, some say age 2… do whatever looks right.
Her system got a bit more advanced over the past year, but the discussion earlier you can find here:
Hmm…
I would suggest to only help a child to have a better foundation for the memory techniques, rather then teaching the memory techniques themselves.
Memory techniques are only shortcuts WE use, as adults, to transform boring information into something more interesting.
And we use the memory palaces because our brain pushes things faster into long-term memory that way.
But, personally, the most important thing I learned about my memory was that I remember something if it holds some importance, and that memory naturally fades with time.
So, after all the memory techniques I learned,
most of the time, I remember anything, as long as when I see it, I realize conciously, not just with my subconcious, that that thing matters to me.
THEN, I, once again, consciously re-think about it with spaced repetition ( 1h, 1 day, a few days, etc.).
After all that,
if there’s some heavy amount of data which I want to remember, THEN I use memory techniques such as a memory palace.
But even then, to do that, I need places I know well, and lost of people I know well. ( only places for general things, people are for PAO systems)
As a child, the amount of places would be way more limited, same thing for remembering 100 persons for a pao system. That works with an adult only because we already have all those persons naturally memorized…
What I mean is,
most people ( me included ) don’t usually realize how our memory works.
The best thing I got from practicing memory is that now,
I usually know why I forget something.
Maybe I didn’t even focus on it, not even one little second, when it was said, although it was important.
I only knew from logic that I wanted to use that information later,
but my subconscious treated it as superfluous information.
Now that I understand that with myself, I can stay alert for that kind of information (which I know I want, but my subconscious ignores)
and voluntarily give the information the minimum of attention it needs for me to remember.
I think that, is something all children should be aware of…
As for training the building blocks ;
Since the memory palaces are based on spatial memory,
my guess would be to play games which focus on exactly that.
Example, take 20 toys / figurines,
walk through the house and place them.
Ask where each of them are and aim for the best score possible.
Simply add more items to the game,
add / chose different locations in the house, to explore and map every corner of it.
Just imagine the memory palace that would build, the day that he would then need a palace to learn spelling or the alphabet!
Ah, and the reason I suggest using physical figurines for this game,
is that only talking about “what is where” needs a lot of abstraction.
Contrary to placing physical items in a place, which uses only the more basics concepts of world perception.
And everyone is comfortable seeing / understanding its surroundings,
while it could be harder for some people to think of the idea of something, somewhere…
One last thought ;
Lately I’ve read a lot about the personality types on different sites : Personality Types | 16Personalities
and : Personality Development Tools: The Car Model – Personality Hacker (This one seems cheezy sometimes, but still interesting)
I have no idea how that would affect the way a person uses a memory palace,
but since mnemonics are only going on in our head,
and since these personality sites are trying to explain how our brain works…
I’d say it’s somewhat relevant, what do you think?
I’m mostly interested on the differences between introverts/extraverts and Intuitives/Sensorials on how they visualize things and links them together when they memorize.
Just teaching that bit to kids is already a big step and it is what keeps them interested, at least in my experience. By making things interesting, they become fun, which then makes the whole exercise fun. 
I myself never teach my daughter why she forgets, only how to remember. She has no clue how memory works beyond the: “it goes in and it stays or leaves” bit. I will wait until she will start asking questions and try to figure things out, because no matter how good the story and how interesting the information, in the end it not my knowledge that teaches her, it is her own curiosity.
As for PAO, I do agree, 100 is a lot. Hence I stick to a 10-digit P system for my daughter, with her stuffed animals as the persons. As for memory palaces I disagree however. Everyone, including kids, knows more places than they realize, just not are as useful in their current stage of development. They got their own house, a doll house or lego city or so, two houses of the grandparents, house of a very close friend, the school, really a lot. Sure it is limited, but so is my arsenal of usable places.