Money doesn't grow on trees

Money management skill is a key life skill that all parents need to teach their children. It is never too early to teach a child about money and the process can be made easy, fun and enjoyable for both the parent and child.

As a start, an introduction of a few key money values are important for the child to understand that money doesn't grow on trees but something that they would need to (earn), save, spend and share wisely. While money is important, it is not everything - not everything can be bought with money, and/ or need to be bought with money.

Are there really anything that is free these days? Perhaps not. However, a mini barter trade game could help a child to better understand the need and use of money with ease and fun.

Barter trade is a form of goods and services exchange in the absence of money in the olden days so why do we still need to teach it? This concept remains very relevant and important but instead of cashless trade, it is now more commonly seen in the new form of cross promotion, marketing or business collaboration.

So, why not have some fun teaching your child about money by first showing him/ her how a barter system can work out to be an amazing, fun and wondrous deal? Check out this link at - http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-395132/Man-trades-paperclip-house.html. Have a go at your own mini barter trade game too for a more "hands-on" learning experience!

And yes, teaching children about money can interesting and enjoyable - this is but one of the many creative, easy to learn and fun ideas that Numis Academy offers in its financial literacy programs for children.

Details can be found in the link here.

Is Edutainment Effective for Learning?

Image extracted from telegraph.co.uk

With fast advancing technology and increasing pace of life, multi-sensory gadgets and digital contents are not uncommon. To attract and capture the attention of today’s children, education methods and materials have also evolved to be more fun and enjoyable.


The term “Edutainment", an integration of education and entertainment, is said to be in used as earlier as in the 1940s. Classic edutainment will be the TV programmes by Sesame Street, Electric Company etc that teach topics like Math, Science, using fun music and dance to aid memory and learning.


In fact, edutainment remains popular in the present, as seen not only through TV programmes, but including a wide variety of multimedia products, live shows, games and toys by Barney & Friends, Thomas & Friends, Bob the Builder and more.


No doubt that learning while playing or having fun is great, but does edutainment really helps in the development of a child? Research suggests that humor produces psychological and physiological benefits that help students learn. Humor enhances otherwise dull statistical methodology by tapping into students' multiple intelligences and learning styles in a way that forces them to think in divergent and real-life ways. (Reference: How laughing leads to learning by Zak Stambor, American Psychological Association)


While an educator’s job is to educate and not to entertain, if the programs can be designed to be fun, interactive and enjoyable, everyone benefits at the end with easy teaching and happy learning. At Numis Academy, all of our programs are specially designed to be fun and interactive, so that the students can relax in a comfortable learning environment, which in turn will help boost their interest, participation and focus.

Boosting Creativity & Innovation

Can you connect the 9 dots using four straight lines without lifting your pencil/ pen from the paper?

To succeed in doing so, get creative and try thinking beyond the normal ways of doing things.

What exactly is creativity? Is there a difference between creativity and innovation? Dictionary.com explains creativity as the ability to think beyond the traditional ideas, rules, patterns, relationships etc to create meaningful new ideas, methods and so on. Whereas innovation refers to the introduction of new things or methods.


New ideas, improvements and problems solving come much easier with creativity and innovativeness. Therefore, it is not uncommon that more focus is placed on helping to boost a child's creativity and innovativeness. One good example of creativity is a common urban legend whereby NASA scientists realised that pens could not function in space.


This is because the ink could not flow to the writing tip without gravity. To help the astronauts write things down, NASA spent huge amount of time and money trying to develop a pen. However, the more creative Russians managed to solve this problem easily and almost effortlessly... by simply using a pencil! (Reference: scientificamerican.com)


How can we help breed creativity and innovativeness in a child? One of the good ways will be to guide the child to "think outside" the box, such as:


   * adding new features - e.g. from music player, camera etc to a multi functional smart phone
   * deleting current features - e.g. from telephone to wireless mobile phone
   * making it bigger - e.g. from folded sofa armchair expanded to be a full-size sofa bed
   * making it smaller - e.g. from bulky computer to portable laptop


As a children enrichment programs provider, Numis Academy understands the importance of building these two very important qualities into its programs. With the same beliefs and principles, Numis Academy also develops its own creative games and innovative programs.


Now, have you gotten your answers right? :)