Brain Taming

11 simple concepts and ideas to bolster your brain power and memory. This is a useful, quick reference and much of the suggestions are covered in more detail elsewhere here on Brain Taming.

Be sure to check out the rest of Captainmaxthecat.com as well! It's a growing resource for technical help, tutorials, how-tos, information, fun and games etc. You'll be sure to find something of interest.

A big compliation of over 220 riddles and brainteasers for you to tax your brain with. If you spot any duplicates or errors please let me know. And as always if you have some to contribute, let me know in the comments section!

Enjoy!

Songs To Encourage Moving:


Hand and Finger Play Songs:

A research group from the University of Oxford working on behalf of Save the Children has recently published their findings.

The 50 strong team are monitoring the lives of 12,000 children, in 4 developing countries for 15 years.

Subjects were monitored, interviewed and tested at key points to measure education ability, confidence as well as hopes and aspirations.

Environmental factors such as government, poverty, spending, budgets and local health and education.

This makes the research unique as they are developing a measure of poverty that’s unique to circumstance rather than a bank balance.

The research has shown that children living in poverty and being malnourished don’t develop in a number of key skills compared to their peers who have a healthier diet.

Results showed much lower literacy rates

7% lower performance in Mathematical activities

20% more likely to misread simple sentences

12% less likely to write a simple sentence by age 8

and overall 13% less likely to be at the appropriate level for their age compared to their peers.



So there’s a very strong indication of the negative effects of malnutrition on the development of children.



When you taken into consideration, best estimates say 25% of the world’s children are stunted by malnutrition.



Save the Children chief executive Justin Forsyth said: "These findings confirm our very worst fears – that poor nutrition is capable of seriously damaging a child’s life chances before he or she even sets foot in a classroom.

"We have made huge progress in tackling child deaths, but having a quarter of the world’s children at risk of underperforming at school will have grave consequences for the fight to end global poverty."

As parents will undoubtedly know, quickly after the helpless newborn stage a new baby soon becomes extremely curious with the world around. New senses are being tested and used for the first time. Even the most mundane experiences are brand new and exciting and luckily their little brains are perfectly wired for taking in everything.

One of the first things they will start to learn is cause and effect, that logically every action has a reaction. A lot of developmental milestones relating to this (in the early days) come relatively naturally in most cases.

So how young is too young to give them a boost with logic building exercises?
Personally, from day one there are a myriad of opportunities to build logic skills.

I don't think there are many people, parents or otherwise that haven't been told or suggested that playing classical music to an infant or baby will increase their intelligence.

And of course on the surface it makes sense, perhaps not on a scientific level, but on a cultural level. Most classical pieces having now not been referred to as what we would call pop nowadays for around 400 years. It's taken it's place among pricey theatre houses and as a past time and passion for the rich and privileged. And now, quite wrongly, we associate those who are privately taught and have a more "refined" taste to be of a higher intelligence. But all the private schooling, theatre trips, posh accents and flawless credentials won't change those IQ points.

Another small collection of beginner riddles.

Nothing too taxing, but hopefully will get your brain working a bit. A few are groaners, but i don't recall hearing most of them before, so should be something new for you :)

As always to reveal the answer, highlight the white text or area below the question.

Check out my Megapost of over 220 riddles here: http://braintaming.blogspot.com/2014/03/over-220-riddles-and-brainteasers-to.html



Q - I am lighter than a feather, yet no man can hold me for very long. What am I?
A - Breath

Q - Three guys run into a bar, the fourth man ducks. Why does he duck?
A - He didn't want to hit the bar

The Top Three Vitamins Which Help Your Memory

By Arthur C Doyle


A good understanding of how useful vitamins are for memory is essential before you make a decision on what to use and whether you want to use it. Using vitamins is not even close to the best way to improve memory but it is essential if you have basic problems with memory. Forgetting where you placed your keys is not a basic memory problem. It is mostly because you did not pay attention when you placed your keys. You did not even remember it in the first place. Where is the question of recalling it? The bigger problem is that sometimes these silly and common instances cause worry and that is when the real memory problems start. Basic memory problems are you "frequently" forget your name or the names of your dear ones. This has to happen often not once in a while. If you want to improve your memory incredibly this is not the way to do it. You can find more about it in the resource section.