*for ages 3-5

Do you find yourself suddenly thrust into the role of teacher? Struggling to ensure your child learns just like they would in school?

Cast those worries away with Square Panda’s handy tips to teach young learners at home.

Set Up A Special ‘Learning’ Space: Create a special learning space for them and fill it with all kinds of colourful stationery, just like a preschool or junior kg class would. This designated space puts children in the right frame of mind to study, and actually encourages them to seek out study time. But remember, children shouldn’t be hounded to study constantly; give them their space. And the best way to do that is…

Schedule. Schedule. Schedule.: Make a daily learning plan to help your little one study, but keep it flexible. Think of it like guidelines, rather than a rulebook to follow. Schedule their lessons around your own daily work; you can even break up these lessons into mini pieces to be conducted throughout the day (like teaching them about taste during breakfast, enhancing their digital literacy while you work on your laptop, introducing them to cooking instruments and new food vocabulary while cooking, and so on). Whether you are teaching them after work, during lunch, or even early in the morning, one thing you must remember is…

Mix Physical Activities With Learning: Let your creative brain loose, and come up with multiple fun multisensory activities for your children to enjoy. Everything can be a play-learn opportunity.
For example: Have to cook? Great! Hand your kids a little dough and let them make shapes from it.
Working on a spreadsheet? Get your kids actual sheets of paper and a crayon. Let them go wild doodling anything their hearts desire.
Lots of cleaning to do? Task your little ones with becoming your helpers; hand them mops and brooms and let them clean away!

Include Their Hobbies Too: They might be little, but they have their own opinions, likes, and dislikes too. Make sure to incorporate all such activities into their learning. If you draw a blank, ask your little ones what they want to do, or even learn. Then, follow their instructions to the best of your abilities.

It’s Not School, And That’s Okay: You are NOT their teacher, and their home is not school. No one expects this from you, either. This current situation demands new roles from all of us, and we must adapt as best we can. Enjoy the advantage of this unexpected time with them; take advantage and bond with your little ones.

Keep coming back here for more fun and educational articles on schooling at home during the lockdown, parenting, early literacy, and everything in between, right here.

Credits: Written by Sanjana Shukla, Illustrated by Aaron Gomes

Each time you crack open that book and read to your child, they are getting better and better at building essential reading skills. In fact, children actually acquire their reading skills through repeated exposure and practice.

*For a more in-depth look at how a child’s brain works as they try to develop their reading skill, check out this blog post.

With this in mind, Square Panda is introducing SquareTales, a unique set of digital and printable PDF books, to help develop an early reading habit in children, and promote independent reading. Additionally, each set also contains additional learning materials (rhymes, songs, and fun learning activities), absolutely free of cost, available to download from our Kids’ Library.

The SquareTales curriculum follows Square Panda‘s custom-made, research-based curriculum, introducing letters in small groups (around 4-8 new letters are introduced with each book). SquareTales engages students through endearing Square Panda characters–like Panda and Cameo, a friendly pair consisting of a little panda and an enthusiastic chameleon–and compelling storylines.

Additionally, the books are divided into groups or sets, where each book focuses only on a particular area of study (For example, Set 1, which is available for a FREE preview , focuses on word families).

Word families are groups of words that share a common pattern, such as “hat“, “mat“, and “cat“. In SquareTales, this is how we classify words into word families, making it easy for children to learn and understand them, and identify these common patterns. This gives young learners a strong grasp of the rules that make the English language.

SquareTales For Parents:
We know you are very invested in your child’s future. Which is why SquareTales has a ‘Parent Portal’, to help you monitor your child’s progress as they start reading. A ‘Parent Guide’ to help you navigate your way through our early reading app, complete with expected learning milestones, can also be found on our website.

How SquareTales Works:
Step 1: Students learn letter-sounds.
Step 2: Then they learn to blend these letter-sounds to form words (e.g. c-a-t).
Step 3: They practice each word and letter for as long as they want.
Step 4: They start reading connected text, and later, full sentences.
Step 5: They can now read a whole book!
Step 6: They practice what they learnt through instructional activities.
Step 7: They learn to read the printable PDF book corresponding to the ebook.

This is a systematic, easy-to-grasp, and effective way to learn English in a fun and engaging manner, beginning with easy letters and simple words, and graduating to the ‘book-reading’ stage very quickly!

What Children Learn With SquareTales:

• Knowledge of letter sounds and how to blend them, with guided practice.

• Learners learn to use the knowledge of letter-sound relationships to correctly pronounce written words.
• Builds vocabulary, comprehension skills, and knowledge about written conventions.
• Learners will be exposed to various CVC (Consonant-Vowel-Consonant) words from each word family, for example, ‘tap’, ‘nap’, ‘sap’, from the word family ‘ap’. This teaches them to not only sound out, read, and spell these words, but also identify the phonetic pattern that marks them as a part of a specific word family.
• Learners will also be introduced to common sight words (i.e. words that don’t follow the rules of blending) like ‘the’, ‘is’, and more.

Additional Skills Developed By SquareTale’s Instructional Activities:
– Vocabulary building
– Sight word identification
– Story sequencing

The Benefits Of Teaching With Square Tales

• To make reading and learning easier, all the books (of initial sets) are arranged in terms of word families. The learning level gradually increases, book by book, to help learners stay challenged and engaged. 
• Similarly, in terms of a roadmap, each book series deals with a different, slightly more challenging theme, for example, the first series deals with word families, the next one deals with a more challenging theme, and so on. 
• SquareTales builds the essential components of reading we focus on— phonemic awareness, phonics, listening comprehension, and vocabulary.

With the first set of learning books (5 in-app digital books) completely FREE, what are you waiting for? Download the app today!

*Subscribe to SquareTales…

Monthly: At just 199/month (including GST)
Yearly: At just 1799/year (including GST)

…once your FREE digital books are done, and unlock all the new reading kits (which include digital books, printable PDF books, and activities) monthly. As the curriculum advances, so does your child’s learning and reading!

Found this article helpful? Comment below; like and follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

– By Sanjana Shukla, Content Writer, Square Panda India

The fact that becoming literate opens doors and avenues previously unexplored is known to all. It is the ultimate goal for all parents and teachers, something they spend their lives and careers striving to achieve. Learning to be literate is more than simply having knowledge of the alphabet and the language, however. Literacy also involves developing cognitive skills, preferably during the preschool and kindergarten years.

That’s why so much of early education is play alongside learning. Research supports the ‘learning through play’ method, with esteemed psychologist Lev Vygotsky, in his article, Play And Its Role In The Mental Development Of The Child, examining the different components of play and the way they affect a little learner’s just-developing mental functions, and thus concluding that play might not be the primary activity, but, in a certain way, it is the main reason for a child’s development in the preschool years.

*At the time Vygotsky conducted his research, in Russia, formal schooling started around the age of 7. So it is fair to include both preschoolers and kindergarteners in his findings.

**Vygotsky only looked at play in terms of role-play (kids putting themselves in imaginary situations, kids taking on and acting out roles, and following a set of rules determined by that role).

If you need more reasons to convince you learning through play is essential, read on…

1) Play Develops Their Senses: An educational game succeeds in stimulating a young learner’s senses the way simple learning cannot. Using props and educational toys that encourage kids to use multiple senses, including tactile ones, enhances their retention and learning.

2) Play Helps Power Their Mind: Imagine a large battery which you can plug, and voila, your kids’ brains are that much smarter. A learning game is exactly that battery, sparking more engagement and learning in a beginner learner’s mind. Not only are their cognitive skills much more developed, they also exhibit signs of critical thinking, and can understand cause and effect.

3) Learning Games Prompt Physical Play: Not every educational game has users sit passively to learn; the ones catering to a younger audience almost always incorporate an element of kinesthetic learning-whether it is dancing, or singing, or simply getting up and moving around. Boosting large and small motor skills, these games are perfect for added reinforcement of regular learning.

4) Games Boost Creativity: When kids play a learning game, their minds are almost always actively engaged. Whether it is the animated gameplay or the engaging activities in each game, young learners can explore and expand their minds to a greater extent.

Did you know the Square Panda Lagoon game encourages early learners to explore and experiment with making words?

5) Games Are A Confidence Booster: There is a tiny frown of concentration on your kid’s face, which clears away as soon as she realises the letter she was trying to identify is, in fact, the letter ‘A’. The more she gets answers and concepts right, the higher her confidence soars. The bite-sized lessons masquerading as games, and the colourful components both serve to make education simpler and a lot more fun. Finding this stimulating, kids’ success rates increase, which in turn raises their confidence in themselves and their learning ability.

6) Playing Games Helps Kids Play Well With Others: Whether in school or at home, playing these educational games have a positive effect on children’s social and emotional well-being. Playing these games (and sometimes losing) helps them with their emotional maturity; because they are pushed to interact with people—friends, peers, adults around them—these games can also develop their social skills. All this interaction has the added benefit of improving kids’ communication skills as well.

Playing, Learning, And The World: Governments around the world have started to recognise and acknowledge the importance of learning through play, and are taking steps (strides, in some countries), to incorporate a ‘play’ element for their young.

• Early childhood development was studied as early as the 1980s, with a study being conducted on children in an underprivileged Kingston neighbourhood in Jamaica. Mothers were taught to interact and bond with their children via play, by community health workers. Focused on reducing developmental delays in at-risk kids, this program was found to have a great effect on the earnings of those kids as adults.

• A global experiment was conducted by BRAC, the world’s largest NGO, to bring play to the world’s most underprivileged communities. Derived from BRAC’s 40 years of building schools for the at-risk members of Bangladeshi society, this program’s curriculum was created by a team of global scholars. Faced with stiff opposition in many communities who feel the ‘play and learn’ model is frivolous and cannot add value to learning, they soon change their minds when they see the results of such play in their now skilled and cognitively-developed children.

Pick An Educational Toy That Delivers

Why go for a simple learning tool when you can have one that develops your child’s early literacy skills AND cognitive skills (plus a host of other essential life skills) through cool educational games? Not only that, our learning games are perfect for beginner learners as young as 2 years of age!

– Sanjana Shukla, Content Writer, Square Panda India

He’s got an impressive 24+ years of experience, in multiple disciplines, no less, under his belt. The shot caller at Square Panda India, he was recently promoted to Global CTO. 

He is passionate about his family, basketball, and making a social impact.

Introducing our MD and Global CTO, Ashish Jhalani, who very kindly agreed to sit down with us for a special interview, where he divulges details about his journey to Square Panda, early education, and his favourite character from our games.

Watch the interview here, or read the transcript below:

FROM ECOMMERCE TO EDUCATION. WHAT INSPIRED THAT TRANSITION?

“I spent almost all my life in the e-commerce field since I first started working. Transferring to education was a big decision, but it kind of comes down to wanting to do something more than just build businesses and have an impact on a very little number of people. Here in education, it gives me an opportunity to impact millions of kids, especially here at Square Panda, with us having a presence in the US, in China, and in India, and then obviously, in each one of these countries there are millions of kids that are in need of literacy, and it gives me an opportunity to reach to all of those kids. So yeah, it is more of a social kind of a move at this point. You want to make an impact and not just build businesses, but here, it gives me an opportunity to do both.”

WOULD YOU HAVE USED SQUARE PANDA, HAD IT BEEN AVAILABLE WHEN YOUR CHILDREN WERE YOUNGER? WHAT INFLUENCES YOUR DECISION EITHER WAY?

“At first, challenges: would I want screen time for them? NO! Or yes. But if we looked at the product, I think I would want to use it for my kids. One, because I was a second language learner, my wife was a second language learner, and we wanted our children to obviously learn better than we did. So, I think I would have chosen Square Panda as one of the products for my children to learn from. I myself used different tools initially to learn English, so I think I would use something for my kids as well.” 

AI (ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE) AND MI (MACHINE LEARNING), THESE TERMS ARE NOW BEING USED IN THE MOST IMPORTANT OF ALL SPHERES, EDUCATION. HOW DOES SQUARE PANDA TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THIS TREND?

“AI and MI are hot topics at this point, be it education or finance. But in education, specially, we are talking about how can AI and MI help. Here at Square Panda, we take ‘first steps’ (referencing the fact that our educational games create a foundation to language learning and early literacy); all of our games are adaptive games. As children are playing these games and learning, each child learns differently. So if your child is making a mistake with a certain letter, word, etc., we recognise that. Obviously, our games ensure that the child has enough practice and enough repetition to learn that particular issue that they were having. That’s just one step. As we build our products further, we are building more algorithms to understand the demographics of the child, to understand what their patterns of learning are, and have them integrated against the new products, the new games, and the new curriculums that we are building up.”

WHAT IS THE SQUARE PANDA MISSION STATEMENT?

“Our mission here at Square Panda is very simple. We want to empower all kids with the power of literacy. We want every child to have education, we want every child to learn a language, and a language that is common across the globe.”

WHAT ARE THE GOALS SQUARE PANDA HAS?

“The goals Square Panda has is to make education and literacy, affordable and reachable to the masses across the world, may it be in China, may it be in India. We want to make sure that every child gets an opportunity to be literate, learn the language of English—which is a primary language across the world—and find better jobs as they grow up.”

WHO IS YOUR FAVOURITE CHARACTER FROM OUR GAMES?

“My favourite character in our games is obviously Square Panda. He has got this unique thing–pandas are never square, but he is square…and I like that. So, yeah, my favourite character is Square Panda.”

WHAT SETS SQUARE PANDA APART FROM OTHER EARLY LEARNING SYSTEMS?

“What sets us apart at Square Panda is realistically, our ability to be adaptive. Like I said, every child learns differently. That’s what Square Panda is all about. Now, obviously, we have many other important aspects too, but what differentiates us; one being ‘multisensory’. Our playset is unique in what it offers. It gives the child (the ability) to still continue to develop motor skills, etc. while using the digital adaptive platform. Now, let’s not discount the amount of research that has gone into building our curriculum. Though the user is seeing the games, the children playing it interact with the game, there is a large amount of curriculum that helps them learn, and there are learning goals for everything that the child is doing in our games.

What sets Square Panda apart in most cases is the innovation we bring. We currently have our meta game out—‘SquareLand’—where we are continuously adding more interactions, more engagements to the product, where we can complete the learning goals of each early learner. In addition to that, we have products such as ‘Buddy Reader’ that is coming out that will help children read better. In the future, we have other products that will help the child complete their full cycle of learning–from reading, to writing and recognising letters, etc. So, Square Panda is an innovative company; we are going to constantly be innovating new things. Not everything can be talked about, but there are things that are continuously in the pipeline to be introduced to the markets in India, in China, and in the US.”

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Check out our website for more articles, videos, and educational games!

– Sanjana Shukla, Content Writer, Square Panda India

You know how there is a manual inside every device and product you own/purchase? The one that is extremely important and holds the guide to using said device or product properly? We decided our Square Panda users needed one user guide of their very own, to guide them along their journey to early education and literacy.

We recommend every first-time user read our cheat sheet of instructions, before using our playset and Smart Letters.

Firstly, let us explain the terms we use while referring to the Square Panda phonics playset:

Your guide to using the Square Panda Playset:

Your guide to using the Square Panda Smart Letters:

Why Coloured Letters?

According to a study conducted in 2002, learners performed much better when they were introduced to ‘realistic’ coloured objects, rather than simple black-and-white or even random coloured objects.

Young learners use colour and shape to identify things and describe them. It offers learners a sense of security and stimulation when they are taught using one or two colours. A riot of them, however, seems to make beginner learners anxious and overstimulated.

Yellow (in small amounts) is a happy colour, and boosts growth and development. It can also help stimulate the memory and improve concentration.

The combination of blue and red, purple takes on both their qualities, soothing and calming like blue, and attracting attention, energising the mind, and increasing athletic ability like red.

Caring For Your Playset, Smart Letters:

• Like any other electronic device, taking our playset and the letters for a swim is not the best idea! We did design them to be durable, but if they get wet, dry them off with a cloth as soon as possible.
  Letters not reading correctly? They may have something stuck to their bottom side. Clean the letters with a damp cloth and then dry them thoroughly. Make sure to keep the letter slots of the tray just as clean, as small bits of food or other debris can affect the reading of the letters. If your letters are still giving you a problem, contact us, and we’ll do our best to solve your problem.
  Remember, the settings button uses a ‘long press’ function. We thought that might be enough to fool kids, and prevent them from accessing the settings page. We applied the same reasoning to the ‘adults only’ menu, asking for a code which is entirely in words. The assumption was that if your kids can read those, then they are probably ready for more advanced learning tools.

Come back next week for an in-depth look at our incredible progress monitoring tools for kids…

– Sanjana Shukla, Content Writer, Square Panda India

‘Screen Time’, or the time spent by a person in front of a screen, is growing by leaps and bounds every day.

Photo by Vidmir Raic from Pixabay

Guidelines issued by the American Academy of Pediatrics recommend no digital exposure until children are 18 months of age, and exposure with adult engagement at least until they are 5 years old. We at Square Panda follow their instructions, endorsing the use of our literacy platform for children above 2 years of age. We are also great believers of learning via screen time, for the following reasons:

WE LIVE IN A DIGITAL WORLD

Digital media has invaded every part of our lives, in offices, homes, and even schools. In such a scenario, ensuring children are digitally literate is not just smart, it is also staying a step ahead of the times. Supervised screen time, can, if handled correctly, can increase children’s confidence and prepare them for their future.

PUTTING THE ‘SELF’ IN ‘SELF-CONTROL’

An overuse of anything, be it screens or even play time, is never a good thing. With that said, parents and teachers should try to encourage children to self-regulate the time they spend in front of a device. Teaching them moderation through methods like fear (you can scare them away from too much screen time by showing them its adverse effects), and positive motivation (entice them away from the device by introducing them to something they enjoy more), can have unexpected benefits. Because they are setting their own (moderate) time in front of a device, they become more independent, confident, and self-assured. They are gradually able to identify their own needs and wants, and figure out a way to meet them.

THE HEALTH BENEFITS OF SCREEN TIME

Research has proven that screen time can actually help, rather than hinder, development of young children. Screen time has also received a ‘thumbs-up’ from child media expert and Vice President of PBS KIDS Digital, Sara DeWitt, who believes screen time can be beneficial if used correctly.

• In light of fear that excess screen time can cause obesity, look to videos, apps, and activities that encourage children to move rather than stare passively at the screen. Square Panda’s games, like Jiggity Jamble and Monster Rhymes, motivate kids to use their bodies while learning English.
  Talking to kids about their pastimes, and more specifically, their favoured games, has a way of opening up the conversation to new avenues. Experts even suggest this can lead to enhanced social and emotional interactions.
  Parents and teachers can control the content, choosing only those programs/products that have a high quality of educational age-appropriate content. And there are a lot of high-quality educational products out there!

SCREEN TIME WITH A DIFFERENCE

For more such images, check out our Instagram and Facebook pages.

We ask parents and teachers across India to say a big, resounding ‘YES’ to screen time with us, because our early literacy system has 40% less screen time with our multisensory approach; kids constantly look away from the screen to search for and pick up Smart Letters while playing with games. Unlike other digital experiences, Square Panda’s phonics-based early education platform qualifies—and many parents would agree with us here—as ‘good Screen Time’. With a product that is research-based (we’ve got our own team of experts in the field of early education, working alongside educators) and has proven results in many schools and homes across America and China, Square Panda’s vast library of educational games makes a child’s time in front of a device more productive.

For more such images, visit our Instagram and Facebook pages.

We think an introduction to the digital world is essential in today’s day and age, but we highly recommend a balanced use of screen time, with children going outdoors as regularly as they learn and play indoors.

What Do You Think:

Take this poll and let us know your thoughts about ‘Screen Time’ in your homes and classrooms:

https://discover.apester.com/media/5c8b35eef115e0e2aae10a1f?src=link

– Sanjana Shukla, Content Writer, Square Panda India

We are extremely proud to tell you that we’ve won the ‘Parent And Teacher Choice Award‘ for 2019! Bestowed on us by a website that has been active longer than Google (!)–the website, HowToLearn.com, was started in 1996, while Google began in 1998–we were unanimously selected as the best early education system because of our “unique multisensory methods of teaching reading, as well as a library of games that truly engage the learners”.

About HowToLearn.com: This website went live two years before Google did, and is still kicking, successfully connecting parents, teachers, educators, and even resellers, with the best educational resources to enhance learning. Companies interested in boosting their online profile can throw their hat in the ring and enter their names. The best of the lot (like us!) will be chosen as the winner by a jury of parents and teachers, who base their decision on proven results, creativity, innovation, and the brain-building abilities of said company.

The first day back to school after a happy sunny summer vacation can be daunting for kids. Make sure you have everything they need; use our back-to-school guide for inspiration:

Back-To-School Parent’s Edition

– Keep up the summer learning, especially for younger learners. You don’t want your kids experiencing the ‘summer slide‘ as it is called, also the phenomenon of losing a portion of knowledge during the months of summer vacation. To keep up their skills and knowledge, introduce a portion of learning every day. Keep it simple–have them practice their name, say your phone number, correctly identify shapes and numbers.

Hint: Here’s how you can mix in fun even during summer learning…

– Offer to help. Touch base with the authorities in charge at your child’s school and ask if you can donate:

• • Your time (volunteer to be a part of some school committee)

• • Your money (which can be used for new school equipment)

• Your efforts (in the form of suggestions for new educational products, new suggestions, and more)

Schools will never say no to a helping hand.

– Make your child a goodie bag. Everyone loves a present.Hand over a brand-new item they can show off to friends, and your kid is grateful for life (or at least until the next week, when they think of something else they want). This goodie bag does not have to be extravagant or expensive; you can fill it up with cute new sunglasses, clay dough, new pencils and crayons, glue, even the goodie bag itself can all be potential ‘back-to-school’ gifts for your child.

Image by ALI TOMA from Pixabay

Back-To-School Teacher’s Edition

– ‘Theme’ up your classroom. Welcome your kids to school by decorating the classroom in a particular style–you can pick a place like the circus or the beach, fun movies like the Avengers, and even funny songs or rhymes. Choose one that you know your students will enjoy and watch their faces light up with happiness.

For example: For the theme ‘Jungle Book’, you can place cutouts of plants and trees around the classroom (or actual potted plants, if allowed), green streamers to resemble creepers, pictures of jungle animals around the desks, and random students can be Mowgli, Baloo, and Bagheera. You can even have them sing and dance to songs from the movie.

Image Source: https://bit.ly/2EGfMv4

– Break the ice between kids, again. They were best friends for a whole year, and then came their vacation. Maybe they play together, maybe not. Either way, get your students bonding again by group activities like sitting in a circle and saying what they did in the summer, or making them all special badges. Help them feel connected to each other, and the year will pass smoothly.

– Load their first day back (or even first few days back, if you can work it into the curriculum), with enjoyable activities like painting, drawing, or playing some type of learning games.

*check out our Instagram feed to see how introducing exciting educational games in the classroom magically reduces your students’ first day jitters.

Preparing kids to go back to school can be challenging (for you and them), but with enough preparation, you can make it through with flying colours!

Share your tips and tricks to getting kids ‘back-to-school’ ready; hit the comment section below!

– Sanjana Shukla, Content Writer, Square Panda India

They come every year, without fail. As the weather turns from cool to hot, you lose almost half your body weight in perspiration.

You can heap curses on the weather gods for turning the heat up, you can even dream of taking a leave off work to stay home under the sweet embrace of your fans and ACs. Of course, all these heat-related woes will be nothing compared to your children’s/students’ disappointed faces if you haven’t managed to pack their vacation with as many fun summer activities as possible.

Image by Adina Voicu from Pixabay

We understand and sympathise with your time constraints, which is why we have compiled the following list of summer activities for kids to try out this summer:

Check out our comic strip on how to stay safe in summer before you take on these activities.

Check out all our comics on our Facebook or Instagram.

#1: Pool Time:

A nice refreshing dip in cool water sounds like heaven, doesn’t it? Try out some local swimming pools. Or take your kids on trips to places with pools/lakes. For a cheaper alternative, introduce bubble baths. You can make it more interesting by adding a ‘story’ element to the bath. Teachers, grab a hose! After all, water is still water.

#2: Mango Is King:

Who doesn’t love a sweet, juicy mango? Feed them mangoes (in moderation). Teach them easy, kid-friendly recipes incorporating mangoes, because it is never to early to learn to cook. Parents, you get a kitchen helper, and teachers, you get a parent’s eternal gratitude and devotion.

#3: Hobbies Need Time Too:

Playing with friends, practicing a sport, reading, or even lazing around; give all activities that your kids enjoy enough time. In fact, you can create a specially ‘curated’ list of activities for kids this summer, based on what they enjoy. We also recommend adding a small element of learning into summer fun, because we hate to see children experience the ‘summer slide’.

#4: Screen Time Can Be Healthy Too:

Not all screen time is bad. Choosing to let kids play-learn with educational games like ours, which are based on research and have proven results, can greatly help increase and enhance their knowledge. You can even spend some time finding resources on free streaming sites like YouTube, which is chock-full of educational videos on learning everything from numbers to nursery rhymes.

Stay tuned for more on why we think screen time with Square Panda is educationally beneficial…

Which activities are you leaning towards? Write to us in the comment section below.

– Sanjana Shukla, Content Writer, Square Panda India

Isn’t it funny how a wrinkled, pink organ that weighs only about 1.3 gms (approximately 2% of your body weight) is the deciding factor in almost every activity you perform?

Image by OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay

Guiding most of your behaviour, this complex organ is the nexus of all learning, meaning we spend a lot of time trying to shape this organ to perform optimally.

Beginning at inception itself, the brain is given high priority, and is nourished with a constant diet of ‘brainfood’, educational stimulation, and an enriching environment.

Then begins formal education, specially designed to mould young minds into the future. You, the educators, give everything you have to sculpt accomplished and fully functioning adult minds from the current juvenile brains you have been entrusted with.

Unfortunately, you cannot know which tactic is working, and which one is failing dreadfully. You cannot possibly measure the effect your teaching has on an impressionable young learner.

Square Panda is very aware that educators all over face the same issue, and so, conducted our own research (see our core team here) and referenced data from experts in the same field. We created a curriculum that is based on those findings, and came up with a learning system that focuses on training an early learner in language acquisition using the most optimal learning styles possible.

To help you understand the research that went into creating the Square Panda phonics learning platform, we compiled all our findings on neuroscience and the early learner:

To read about the early learner’s reading brain, view our previous post.

1) The human brain has no natural correspondence between the spoken language and print concepts (writing). New functional connections need to be formed between the visual and the language systems. (Dehaene, & Cohen, 2007)

2) Kids benefit the most from a systematic instruction that will help them:

• Become aware of the sound structure of syllables (phonology)
• Isolate the units (phonemes) within syllables
• Identify which letters go with which phonemes
• Blend letter sounds together into words
• Use multisensory cues during learning

3) The above benefits multiply when children are taught these skills at an early age.

4) Studies have shown that specialised brain regions integrate each letter with its respective speech sound; these regions are especially active when this letter and its sound are presented in a multisensory fashion. (Van Atteveldt et al., 2004; Blau et al., 2009; Blau et al., 2010)

5) The research team led by Stanford University neuroscience researcher (who partners with Square Panda), Dr. Bruce McCandliss, said that the rapid brain response to newly learnt words were influenced by the way they were learnt. Words that were learnt through letter-sound instruction showed neural activity in the left side of the brain, the part of the brain that encompasses the visual and language regions.

6) Systematic phonics instruction is much more effective in grades PreK-1 than in later grades and leads to higher achievement in reading, spelling, word recognition, and comprehension. (National Reading Panel, 2000)

7) For students struggling with language acquisition, multisensory cues may provide complementary information that helps them overcome learning difficulties. (Montessori, 1967; Birsh, 1999; Reid, 2013)

8) Instruction that covers key components of reading, like phonemic awareness and phonics, in English, has a clear benefit for students who do not speak English at home, aka, non-English speaking students. (NICHD, 2000)

9) The instructions and teaching for non-English speaking students should include work with phonemes and phoneme combinations that do not exist in their native language or home language. (National Literacy Panel, 2006)

We believe in teaching the early learner’s brain, which is why our curriculum is largely based on the neuroscience research mentioned above.

Watch our VP of Curriculum and Research, Dr. Vera Blau-McCandliss, talk about early childhood literacy and how we use neuroscience research in our learning system, here.

I hope our article helped every educator out there understand their student’s brain a little better. Visit our website www.squarepanda.in for more information on our neuroscience research into early childhood literacy and the reading brain.

Give us your views on the usage of neuroscience in early education. Start a dialogue in the comment section below.

– Sanjana Shukla, Content Writer, Square Panda India