BrainFit Studio (Novena)

Looking around for enrichment classes for WB2 and WB3 (to make them more industrious Worker Bees! Haha..) and this place keep popping up in Google. They have a free trial lesson over the weekend so we thought to go take a look.

Entrance

   

When we arrived, the class just started. 4 activities were introduced in the class.

Classroom

1^st Activity: Asking the child to pick up colored cotton balls using scissors-modified pincers and putting them into a cylinder. Well, we have not trained WB2 on the use of scissors yet, so it was a bit of struggle for him

                                                          WB2: Must I do this, teacher??

And after some time, WB2 gave up using the pincers and just used his bare hands to complete the task, until the teacher noticed, and put the pincers back into his hands. I looked on amused. I must say WB2 is very task orientated. At least he’s focused on getting the task completed, whatever the means.

2^nd Activity: Connecting colored magnetic blocks according to the chart assigned by the teacher.

WB2 trying to figure out what to do with the colored blocks.

                                

3^rd Activity: Connecting the dots. This needs little explanation. Teacher hands out worksheet with pre-determined patterns and the child is to copy accordingly. WB2 doesn’t fare well in this either, and flatly refused to draw on the dots. “no, no no..” he tells the teacher, preferring to draw on other blank spaces on the paper instead. The teacher has to hold his hand to guide him back to the dots.  

Teacher guiding WB2's hands to connect the dots 

4^th Activity: not much of an activity, teacher literally just hands out ipads to the children and get them to play with pre-installed app. No surprises that WB2 catches on very quickly and needs little explanation.

 Teacher and WB2 pointing to their own selection on the ipad 

Meanwhile, WB3 is excited by all these activities but he neither has the physical ability nor the verbal capability to participate. All he can do, while body is fixed in the baby carrier, is to kick his legs vigorously, wave his arms around wildly, and babble in a language only he can understand.

At the end of the session, a small buffet spread awaits us outside, together with a team of “salesgirls” waiting to sell us the courses.

Pros: This place does provide the child with some kind of training in his fine motor skills, etc. Teachers are qualified (eg, MOE trained, certification in early childhood education, etc).

Cons: Location is too not convenient, and courses are pricey. Fees are paid on a term basis (4 months), which translates to $300+/month.

Conclusion: Lacking in this trial session is testimonials and "before and after" examples. Parents are not being shown convincingly where the activities lead to (smarter brain? really?)

For me: Not for me.