Miller's Mind training for children Book 3 (of 3) / A practical training for successful living; Educational games that train the senses

by William Emer Miller

This experience is the natural result of using the stronger sense of sight in preference to the weaker one of hearing. The conscious use of the mind's eye faculty in his arithmetic lessons brought this boy from the bottom of his class up to a reasonable grade in a very short time. Do not overlook the value of visualization. It can be applied with helpful results in any lesson or problem.

The Mental Blackboard

The child can easily learn to visualize his problems in mental arithmetic if he will begin while young. This is especially true if you have used the exercises for visualization given in the First Book. Those on mind's eye counting and the Number and Letter games are especially helpful. Their importance now becomes apparent, and if you have neglected them it will be well to go back and use them now.

Encourage the child to see the figures in exaggerated size on an imaginary blackboard; see large white figures on the blackboard. As soon as the problem is given, let the ear impression become a mind's eye picture, as illustrated. The use of this visual method is gradually being recognized as being valuable, and will in the future come into general use. Give your children the advantage and have them use it now.

Exercises in Manipulation

The mind's eye picture of the figures on the mental blackboard can be enlarged by practice so that the child can visualize problems of some complexity. This ability, of course, will come only after continued practice. Start with simple problems and increase their difficulty as the child progresses. You will be surprised to find how he will be able to retain the figures in his mind and soon will be able to work with them.

Write on the blackboard a column of figures as illustrated below. (A small one in the house is of great value in child training. A yard of blackboard cloth can be purchased and hung on the wall.) Allow the child to look at them for a few seconds and write down the result of his addition. Do not have him write the numbers as in previous exercises, for visualization, but only the total.