For the Taylored 5-Minute Learning method to be most effective, I've listed some tips here to keep in mind when you try it out yourself:
1. Repetition and consistency are key.
Try to integrate the Taylored 5-Minute Learning activity in your daily routine so that your child can practice every day or regularly every 2-3 days. The ideal Taylored 5-Minute Learning activity involves the child completing the same part of the skill 3 times each day, so they repeat it 3 times within a day as well as every day. In addition to the benefits of additional practice through repetition, this also allows for at least 3 opportunities to praise your child each time you do the activity. I think it's the repeated mastery of each small part of the skill that makes this method so effective even though it doesn't take a lot of time.
For the younger toddler activities, you might only get 1 repetition in during the first few sessions as you explain the new activity to them. But as they get better and more confident, you can start to fit 2-3 or more repetitions within about 5 minutes. As the activities / mini lessons get more advanced for older toddlers, sometimes you can't do more than 1 repetition in 5-10 minutes, so doing the activity consistently is the best way to help give them repeated exposure to the skill.
2. Build the activity into an existing part of your routine.
For the alphabet and counting activities when our second son was still 1-2 years old, we just merged the activity with reading his bedtime reading by having him sing/count with us while we read, and later pointing at random numbers and letters and asking him what they were while reading before bed every night. Another example was how I exposed my eldest to the numbers between 1-100: I would count to 120 while brushing his teeth, so I would both brush his teeth for the recommended 2 minutes while also familiarizing him with the numbers 1-100. As the child gets older, the activities get more involved and so it becomes harder to combine into existing routines, but especially with younger kids, the "activity" doesn't need to be a formally structured session: combining it with something that already exists in your routine is even better.
3. Don't focus on how long it is taking your child to learn the skill.
There is no contest to see how fast a child can learn a particular skill. Even toddlers of the same age can be at different developmental stages both mentally and physically. If it takes them only weeks or less, great! But even if it takes months, that is totally fine, especially if you yourself are seeing progress from your child. I didn't create Taylored 5-Minute Learning to guarantee results in a set amount of time, rather, I did it to help my kids realize their potential for their particular age or developmental stage, and help other parents do the same.
4. Be aware of your child's developmental limitations.
It is important to be aware of your child's current stage of mental or physical development, and realize if you're attempting a skill that is beyond them at their current developmental stage. There is no harm in trying to teach a new skill using the 5-minute-a-day method for a while, but if you notice no progress from your child even after a few weeks, perhaps it's time to shelve that particular skill for now and try something else in the meantime (or break the activity up into even smaller, easier skills to try first instead).
5. If doing more than one 5-minute activity in a day, save the best for last.
If you can, do your child's favorite activity last so that they are motivated to finish the other 5-minute activities to get to their favorite one. If you do their favorite one first, it just might be more difficult to get them to concentrate on the other activities.
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