The research presented here relates to individual learning practices incorporated into Shichida classes rather than the complete Shichida Method as a single program. This is why we describe our approach as research-informed.
For each practice, we explain what relevant research suggests, how it connects with the Shichida classroom and the scope of the available evidence. Individual experiences and outcomes will naturally vary from child to child.
Children’s learning is shaped by their relationships, experiences and opportunities to interact with the people around them during the early years. These principles influence how Shichida classes are structured and how parents, children and Shichida instructors learn together.
Parent participation is a central part of Shichida’s early learning approach, creating a shared experience for children and their caregivers.
How This Looks in a Shichida Class
Parents join their child in songs, games and shared activities while instructors model ways to support participation. They observe how their child approaches new experiences and gain practical ideas for responding with reassurance and guidance, both in class and at home.
The Learning Principle
Shared attention and responsive interaction involve noticing and responding to a child’s interests, actions and communication. Learning together creates opportunities for these exchanges through play and conversation.
Research Behind This Practice
Research highlights the importance of responsive adult–child relationships in early development. Reviews of parenting interventions have found benefits for children’s development and parent–child interaction, while research on family involvement examines how parents support learning at home and in educational settings. These findings are relevant to shared activities and practical parent guidance.
National Scientific Council on the Developing Child (2004) · Harvard Center on the Developing Child · Research synthesis
Jeong, Franchett and Yousafzai (2018; finalised 2020) · Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health · Systematic review supporting WHO recommendations
Jeong et al. (2021) · PLOS Medicine · Systematic review and meta-analysis
Van Voorhis et al. (2013) · MDRC · Research review
Young children are more ready to participate when they feel secure, supported and connected to the adults learning alongside them.
How This Looks in a Shichida Class
A parent or caregiver stays alongside their child while instructors provide warm guidance and familiar routines. Children receive time and calm reassurance when approaching something unfamiliar or making mistakes, with participation supported without pressure or comparison.
The Learning Principle
Young children often rely on trusted adults to help them manage emotions, settle into an environment and approach new experiences. This support, known as co-regulation, helps children manage situations they cannot yet handle independently while their self-regulation develops.
Research Behind This Practice
Research highlights the importance of responsive relationships in early development. Evidence-informed guidance on co-regulation identifies warm relationships, predictable environments and adult coaching as key forms of support. These principles connect with familiar routines, calm reassurance and patient guidance during classroom activities.
National Scientific Council on the Developing Child (2004) · Harvard Center on the Developing Child · Research synthesis
Jeong et al. (2021) · PLOS Medicine · Systematic review and meta-analysis
Rosanbalm and Murray (2017) · Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation · Evidence-informed practice brief
Shichida instructors use songs, picture cards, puzzles, problem-solving games, stories and interactive hands-on activities to introduce children to specific concepts and skills.
How This Looks in a Shichida Class
Instructors combine playful participation with purposeful guidance, adjusting support and challenge in response to the children. Parents help their child take part while leaving room for them to try, contribute ideas and work towards solutions with appropriate support.
The Learning Principle
Guided play combines an adult learning goal with opportunities for children to make choices, experiment and try their own approaches. This distinguishes it from activities where children mainly follow instructions.
Adults can support learning through questions, demonstrations and prompts, adjusting their help as children become more capable. This responsive support is often called scaffolding. Guided play and purposeful instruction provide different ways to help children practise concepts and skills.
Research Behind This Practice
A systematic review found advantages for guided play over direct instruction in early mathematics, shape knowledge and task switching, and over free play in spatial vocabulary. Research also examines how the quality of adult–child interaction relates to learning and development. These findings are relevant to activities that combine purposeful guidance with opportunities for children to contribute their own ideas.
Skene et al. (2022) · Child Development · Systematic review and meta-analysis
Fisher et al. (2013) · Child Development · Experimental study with young children
Toub et al. (2018) · Early Childhood Research Quarterly · Preschool vocabulary intervention studies
Howard et al. (2024) · Educational Psychology Review · Systematic review
Shichida classes welcome children from six months of age, during a period of particularly rapid brain growth and development. At this age, babies learn through responsive relationships and age-appropriate sensory, social and movement experiences.
How This Looks in a Shichida Class
Children participate in songs, sensory play and shared activities suited to their age and stage, with a parent or caregiver alongside them. Familiar concepts are revisited and extended as children progress, with instructors supporting participation without pressure.
The Learning Principle
Starting early is not about rushing babies into formal academic learning or accelerating development. It means providing opportunities for warm, responsive and developmentally appropriate experiences while the brain is changing rapidly.
Different abilities have different sensitive periods, when particular developing systems are especially responsive to experience. The brain retains the capacity to change throughout life, although this capacity varies with age and the skill involved. There is no single deadline for learning.
Research Behind This Practice
Brain-imaging research documents changes in brain structure across infancy and the lifespan. Research syntheses explain how early experiences interact with developing brain systems, while caregiving reviews examine support for responsive interaction and early learning. Together, these sources provide a foundation for offering developmentally appropriate experiences during the early years.
Bethlehem et al. (2022) · Nature · Large-scale brain-imaging study
National Scientific Council on the Developing Child (2007) · Harvard Center on the Developing Child · Research synthesis, Working Paper No. 5
Jeong, Franchett and Yousafzai (2018; finalised 2020) · Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health · Systematic review supporting WHO recommendations
Harvard Center on the Developing Child · Research resource guide
Babies and toddlers encounter sounds, images, textures and objects through songs, sensory play and hands-on activities shared with an adult.
How This Looks in a Shichida Class
Visual materials, sounds and hands-on experiences are carefully selected and prepared according to the Shichida curriculum, with specific learning areas and age-appropriate goals in mind. Instructors guide these sensory play experiences while parents participate alongside their child, supporting learning and responding to their interests and comfort.
The Learning Principle
Sensory development includes children’s growing ability to notice, distinguish and make sense of information received through their senses. Looking, listening and handling objects provide different information about the world around them.
For example, hearing the word “ball”, seeing a ball and holding one helps a child to connect the word for the object with its appearance and physical properties. Sensory play gives children opportunities to investigate these connections through direct experience.
Clear, relevant sensory information can support particular kinds of attention and learning. Adults keep experiences manageable and respond to children’s cues.
Research Behind This Practice
Research shows that newborns can connect certain types of information across their senses. Experiments with five-month-old infants found that synchronised sights and sounds supported rhythm discrimination. A study of 18-month-olds found that naming objects during moments of clear visual attention was associated with successful word learning. These findings help explain the value of coordinated sensory experiences and attentive adult interaction.
Streri and de Hevia (2023) · Psychonomic Bulletin & Review · Research review
Bahrick and Lickliter (2000) · Developmental Psychology · Experimental study
Yu and Smith (2012) · Cognition · Observational study with a word-learning assessment
Shichida classes include short, varied activities, each with a learning purpose. The sections below explain what children practise, the learning principles involved and the relevant research.
Shichida classes include short, varied activities, each with a learning purpose. The sections below explain what children practise, the learning principles involved and the relevant research.
Repetition and Practice
Skills and concepts are revisited throughout the Shichida program so children can build familiarity, understanding and confidence over time.
How This Looks in a Shichida Class
The Shichida curriculum deliberately revisits concepts through varied activities, giving children opportunities to recognise, recall and apply their learning across lessons. Planned progression balances familiar material with new challenges, with repeated practice and instructor support allowing understanding to develop over time at each child’s own pace.
The Learning Principle
Revisiting information gives children further opportunities to notice, remember and use it. Familiar songs, stories and activities provide predictable contexts in which children can become more familiar with words and ideas.
Spacing repeated encounters over time can also support learning. Studies with young children have found benefits for particular memory, category-learning and word-learning tasks when encounters are spaced apart rather than presented together.
Research Behind This Practice
Research on early word learning highlights the value of repeating familiar contexts. Experiments with two- and three-year-olds also show benefits from spaced exposure for producing new words, remembering objects and learning categories. These findings support revisiting learning over time, while the most useful timing depends on the task and learning goal.
Horst (2013) · Frontiers in Psychology · Research review
Vlach, Sandhofer and Kornell (2008) · Cognition · Experimental study
Childers and Tomasello (2002) · Developmental Psychology · Experimental study
Flashcards are one of many short activities used in Shichida classes to introduce children to pictures, words, quantities and concepts.
How This Looks in a Shichida Class
Flashcard content is selected within the Shichida curriculum to complement broader learning themes, with familiar concepts revisited across the term. Instructors lead brief, engaging presentations that give children opportunities to observe and become familiar with the material, without being asked to identify or recall each card.
The Learning Principle
Repeated encounters with pictures and spoken words give children opportunities to connect visual information with language. Clear images and adult guidance can help children identify what a word refers to, while repetition provides further opportunities to become familiar with it.
Conversation, play and practical experiences give children further opportunities to connect pictures and words with their everyday world, adding meaning and context.
Research Behind This Practice
Studies of picture-based learning show that young children can transfer some newly learned labels from pictures to real objects, and that directing attention towards the relevant illustration can support word learning. Other research examines contextual repetition and vocabulary learning with word cards. These findings inform the use of clear pictures, spoken labels and repeated encounters.
Research also identifies associations between visual memory and vocabulary in children, providing further context for the visual and language processes involved in picture-based activities.
Ganea, Pickard and DeLoache (2008) · Journal of Cognition and Development · Experimental study
Flack and Horst (2018; first published online 2017) · Infant and Child Development · Experimental study
Lei and Reynolds (2022) · Frontiers in Psychology · Research synthesis of 32 studies
Pickering, Peters and Crewther (2023; first published online 2022) · Neuropsychology Review · Systematic review and meta-analysis
Horst (2013) · Frontiers in Psychology · Research review
Shichida gives children opportunities to practise attention and concentration through enjoyable, purposeful learning experiences.
How This Looks in a Shichida Class
Engaging songs, colourful pictures, stories, games and hands-on activities give children varied opportunities to practise looking closely, listening and following instructions. These experiences are purposefully planned within the Shichida curriculum, with attention demands suited to children’s development. Instructors and parents participate with children, sharing their interest and offering gentle support to re-engage when needed.
The Learning Principle
Attention involves directing focus, sustaining engagement and shifting focus when needed. These abilities develop throughout childhood and are influenced by maturation, experience, interest and the surrounding environment.
Shared attention occurs when a child and adult focus on something together. Time spent looking is only one indicator of attention; looking away briefly does not necessarily mean a child has stopped processing information.
Research Behind This Practice
A longitudinal study found that infant attention varied with age, activity and how attention was measured. A separate study of one-year-olds found that parent–child attention to the same object was associated with longer periods of infant engagement. These findings inform responsive adult support and expectations that take account of children’s development and the activity involved.
Bradshaw, Fu and Richards (2024) · Developmental Science · Longitudinal study
Yu and Smith (2016) · Current Biology · Observational eye-tracking study
Memory practice is a recurring part of Shichida classes. Children recognise and recall pictures, words, objects, sequences and numbers, with activities becoming more complex as they progress.
How This Looks in a Shichida Class
The Shichida curriculum brings together visual, verbal and sequential memory practice through purposefully selected games, silly stories and challenges. Distinctive activities include linked-image exercises and Musical Pi, with instructors guiding participation and offering repeated opportunities to practise as the material becomes more complex.
The Learning Principle
Memory involves encoding information, maintaining it and retrieving it when needed. Recognition involves identifying something encountered before, while recall involves bringing information to mind with fewer external cues.
Retrieving previously learned information can support retention. Strategies such as rehearsal, imagery, association and grouping offer different ways to organise material, although their usefulness varies with the child’s age, the task and the support provided.
Progress may include recalling more details, remembering a sequence with less help or recognising familiar material after a longer gap. Expectations remain appropriate to each child’s development.
Research Behind This Practice
Research examines how children recognise, retain and retrieve information, and how memory develops throughout childhood. Studies of retrieval practice support opportunities to recall learned material, while research on illustrated story reading examines connections between pictures, adult–child interaction and recall.
Mendonça and Ekuni (2022) · Avances en Psicología Latinoamericana · Systematic review of 41 articles
Leonard and colleagues (2019) · Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research · Experimental study
Leonard and colleagues (2019) · Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research · Experimental study
Greenhoot, Beyer and Curtis (2014) · Frontiers in Psychology · Experimental study
Simmering, Miller and Bohache (2015) · Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics · Developmental experiments and computational modelling
Sala and Gobet (2020) · Psychonomic Bulletin & Review · Meta-analysis
Miller, McCulloch and Jarrold (2015) · Frontiers in Psychology · Experimental study
Children have opportunities to build a growing vocabulary and take an increasingly active part in shared language experiences.
How This Looks in a Shichida Class
The Shichida curriculum introduces and revisits vocabulary through engaging songs, stories, games, flashcards and conversation, connecting words across varied learning experiences. Instructors guide shared reading and parent–child interaction, giving children opportunities to participate through sounds, gestures or words according to their stage of language development.
The Learning Principle
Children often understand words before they can say them. Repeatedly hearing language in meaningful situations helps them connect words with objects, actions and ideas.
Shared and interactive reading creates opportunities for children to listen, respond and take turns in conversation. Questions, comments and responsive adult interaction can extend vocabulary and understanding as children’s language develops.
Research Behind This Practice
Research examines shared reading, the questions and feedback adults provide, and relationships between conversational turn-taking and vocabulary growth. A trial of dialogic reading found benefits from parent questions and structured feedback, while longitudinal studies link early social interaction with later language development.
Noble and colleagues (2019) · Educational Research Review · Meta-analysis
Dong and colleagues (2024) · Journal of Research in Reading · Randomised controlled trial
Donnelly and Kidd (2021) · Child Development · Australian longitudinal study
Bosseler and colleagues (2024) · Current Biology · Brain-imaging study with longitudinal follow-up
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (2022) · Australia’s children · Government report and research overview
Children build familiarity with letters, sounds and written words as they begin learning to read.
How This Looks in a Shichida Class
Purposefully planned games, songs, flashcards and reading materials bring together letter knowledge, phonics and sight-word practice within the Shichida curriculum. Instructors guide children’s participation according to their readiness, providing opportunities to connect sounds, print and meaning as they move towards reading words and passages.
The Learning Principle
Learning to read involves connecting written symbols with spoken language and understanding what the words mean. Letter knowledge, awareness of speech sounds, vocabulary and comprehension each contribute to this process.
Phonics provides explicit guidance on letter–sound connections and using them to read words. With practice, familiar words can become recognised automatically. Research describes this process as orthographic mapping: connecting a word’s spelling with its pronunciation and meaning in memory.
Research Behind This Practice
A randomised preschool study found that teaching letter names alongside their sounds supported letter-sound learning.
Research reviews explain how sound awareness, systematic phonics and decoding contribute to word reading and automatic recognition. Broader early-literacy research also supports attention to vocabulary and comprehension alongside letter-and-sound instruction.
Piasta, Purpura and Wagner (2010) · Reading and Writing · Randomised controlled study
Ehri (2020) · Reading Research Quarterly · Research review
Ehri (2014) · Scientific Studies of Reading · Research review
Piasta (2016) · Child Development Perspectives · Research review
Children compare, group and arrange objects and pictures, noticing shared features, differences and repeating relationships.
How This Looks in a Shichida Class
Colourful materials, hands-on games and visual challenges give children opportunities to practise sorting, matching and recognising patterns within the Shichida curriculum. Activities are planned to build on earlier learning, with instructors guiding children to notice relationships, consider their choices and tackle increasing complexity as their understanding develops.
The Learning Principle
Sorting involves comparing features and applying a grouping rule. Classification helps children organise information into categories and recognise how objects or ideas are related.
Repeating-pattern activities involve noticing a predictable structure. Children can progress from copying a sequence towards identifying what repeats, anticipating what comes next and recognising the same structure in different materials.
Research Behind This Practice
Research examines how young children categorise objects and recognise relationships such as “same” and “different”. Early mathematics guidance also includes sorting, grouping and working with repeating patterns.
A randomised preschool study found that targeted instruction improved repeating-pattern knowledge.
Owen, Barnes, Hunt and Sheffield (2023) · Journal of Human Growth and Development · Categorisation assessment study
Walker and Gopnik (2014) · Psychological Science · Experimental study
Frye and colleagues (2013) · Institute of Education Sciences · Research-informed practice guide
Zippert, Douglas, Tian and Rittle-Johnson (2021) · Journal of Educational Psychology · Randomised controlled study
Children have opportunities to build number sense and become familiar with the mathematical relationships they encounter in everyday life.
How This Looks in a Shichida Class
Number songs, visual materials and hands-on games bring mathematics into playful, purposeful learning experiences. The Shichida curriculum plans repeated opportunities to work with counting, quantities and early arithmetic, with instructors helping children connect mathematical ideas and build on their understanding at an age-appropriate level.
The Learning Principle
Number sense involves understanding quantities and relationships between numbers. Alongside reciting numbers, children learn to connect number words with objects and understand that the last number counted tells them how many there are.
Working with objects, pictures and numerals helps children encounter the same quantity in different forms. Comparing groups, putting them together and taking them apart provides practical experience of the relationships used in early arithmetic. Recognising small quantities without counting each item is known as subitising.
Research Behind This Practice
Research identifies counting, recognising numerals, comparing quantities and understanding number relationships as important components of early numeracy. Longitudinal research links early number competence with later mathematics achievement.
Controlled studies have also found benefits from targeted number-sense instruction. These findings support purposeful number teaching and practice, with outcomes considered in relation to the activities and age groups studied.
Frye and colleagues (2013) · Institute of Education Sciences · Research-informed practice guide
Jordan and colleagues (2009) · Developmental Psychology · Longitudinal study
Ramani and Siegler (2008) · Child Development · Experimental study
Raghubar and Barnes (2017) · The Clinical Neuropsychologist · Research review
Jordan and colleagues (2012) · Journal of Educational Psychology · Randomised controlled study
Children have opportunities to think through challenges, make decisions and experience the satisfaction of finding a solution.
How This Looks in a Shichida Class
Puzzles, mazes and construction challenges are selected within the Shichida curriculum to give children opportunities to practise spatial thinking and problem-solving at increasing levels of complexity. Instructors and parents offer thoughtful prompts and reassurance, leaving children room to test their ideas and try different approaches.
The Learning Principle
Spatial reasoning involves understanding where objects are located, how shapes relate to one another and how they can be moved or combined. Puzzles and construction activities give children practical opportunities to work with these relationships.
Problem-solving involves observing, planning, testing and adjusting. Seeing the result of an attempt gives children feedback they can use to decide what to try next. Adult guidance supports them as they work through achievable challenges.
Research Behind This Practice
Longitudinal research has linked early puzzle play with later skill in mentally moving and combining shapes. Observational research also identifies connections between shape recognition, shape composition and the complexity of preschool children’s block constructions.
A randomised study found that guided shape-assembly activities improved spatial performance. Benefits varied by the guidance provided and the outcome measured.
Levine, Ratliff, Huttenlocher and Cannon (2012) · Developmental Psychology · Longitudinal observational study
Bower and colleagues (2020) · Developmental Psychology · Randomised intervention study
Zhang, Chen, Yang and Xu (2020) · Frontiers in Psychology · Cross-sectional observational study
Songs and rhythmic activities bring together language, listening, repetition, pattern recognition and movement.
How This Looks in a Shichida Class
Nursery rhymes and educational songs are purposefully selected within the Shichida curriculum to introduce and reinforce vocabulary, numbers and other learning concepts. Younger children join in through sounds, hand gestures, clapping and musical instruments, while songs paired with flashcards bring sound and visual information together.
The Learning Principle
Songs organise words and sounds through melody, rhythm and repetition. Familiar musical patterns can provide cues for joining in and recalling practised material.
Copying rhythms gives children opportunities to listen, notice a sequence and coordinate a response. Adding movement connects what children hear with physical actions.
Research Behind This Practice
Research has examined how interactive music activities relate to infants’ processing of rhythm in music and speech, and how structured music programmes can support preschoolers’ awareness of speech sounds. Findings relate to the particular activities and outcomes studied.
Zhao and Kuhl (2016) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · Randomised controlled study.
Degé and Schwarzer (2011) · Frontiers in Psychology · Randomised controlled study.
Good, Russo and Sullivan (2015; first published online 2014) · Psychology of Music · Classroom study.
Children develop the hand and finger control used in everyday tasks, creative activities and early writing.
How This Looks in a Shichida Class
Carefully selected materials and playful hands-on tasks give children opportunities to practise fine-motor control and hand–eye coordination within the Shichida curriculum. From babies handling objects to older children using drawing materials and simple tools, activities offer progressively more detailed challenges, with instructors guiding participation according to children’s development.
The Learning Principle
Fine-motor skills involve controlled movements of the hands and fingers. Many tasks also require children to coordinate what they see with how they move. These abilities are used when dressing, eating, handling learning materials, drawing and writing.
Research Behind This Practice
Research examines how structured activities support fine-motor development and how fine-motor skills relate to early learning. Intervention studies have reported improvements in motor skills, while observational studies identify connections with drawing, writing and academic performance.
Strooband, de Rosnay, Okely and Veldman (2020) · Journal of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics · Systematic review and meta-analyses.
Escolano-Pérez, Herrero-Nivela and Losada (2020) · Frontiers in Psychology · Longitudinal observational study.
Pinto and Incognito (2022; first published online 2021) · Infant and Child Development · Cross-sectional observational study.
Carlson, Rowe and Curby (2013) · The Journal of Genetic Psychology · Cross-sectional observational study.
Children build familiarity with mark-making, drawing and writing as ways to represent their ideas and communicate meaning.
How This Looks in a Shichida Class
Drawing songs, creative activities and guided pencil practice give children opportunities to express ideas and develop control on paper. The Shichida curriculum plans a progression towards letter formation and early writing, with instructors demonstrating techniques and supporting children as they become ready for new challenges.
The Learning Principle
Drawing and writing involve coordinating what children see with the movements of their hands. Lines, curves and shapes give children opportunities to practise controlling a drawing tool and forming movements also used in handwriting.
Early writing involves more than pencil control. Children also learn to recognise letters, form them and understand that written marks communicate meaning. Drawing, mark-making and letter practice provide different opportunities to work with these developing skills.
Research Behind This Practice
Research examines visual–motor coordination, letter formation and handwriting instruction. A study of five-year-olds found that printing letters by hand produced different subsequent brain responses to letters compared with tracing or typing. A systematic review and meta-analysis found that handwriting instruction improved writing fluency in kindergarten and primary-school students, with results varying across teaching approaches.
These findings support providing opportunities to practise letter formation and handwriting as children become ready.
James and Engelhardt (2012) · Trends in Neuroscience and Education · Experimental brain-imaging study.
López-Escribano, Martín-Babarro and Pérez-López (2022) · Frontiers in Psychology · Systematic review and meta-analysis.
Children have opportunities to think beyond what is in front of them and give shape to their ideas.
How This Looks in a Shichida Class
Guided visualisation and playful pretend scenarios are purposefully woven into the Shichida curriculum, giving children opportunities to form mental pictures and express their own ideas. Instructors guide participation through language, actions and creative expression, with activities becoming richer in detail as children’s abilities develop.
The Learning Principle
Mental imagery is the ability to represent something in the mind when it is not physically present. It can be used when remembering information, following a story, considering a solution or creating a new idea.
Pretend play also involves symbolic thinking, such as allowing one object, action or idea to represent another. Children vary in how clearly they form and describe mental images, so these activities provide opportunities to practise rather than test a special ability.
Research Behind This Practice
Research examines children’s mental imagery, symbolic thinking and pretend play. A longitudinal study found relationships between preschool mental-imagery abilities and later school learning.
Guarnera, Pellerone, Commodari, Valenti and Buccheri (2019) · Frontiers in Psychology · Longitudinal observational study.
Lillard, Lerner, Hopkins, Dore, Smith and Palmquist (2013; first published online 2012) · Psychological Bulletin · Research review.
Emotional learning is part of the everyday class experience, alongside opportunities to connect with others and try something new.
How This Looks in a Shichida Class
Stories, songs and shared games bring emotional learning into the Shichida curriculum, giving children opportunities to recognise feelings, take turns and work through manageable challenges. Instructors and parents offer patient guidance, acknowledge effort and treat mistakes as part of learning, helping children participate without pressure to get everything right.
The Learning Principle
Self-regulation includes gradually learning to manage emotions, attention and behaviour according to the situation. Young children are still developing these abilities and often rely on a trusted adult for co-regulation before they can manage them more independently.
Naming feelings, practising simple calming strategies and receiving supportive responses during moments of difficulty can help children build greater awareness of their emotions and responses.
Research Behind This Practice
Research examines how structured social-emotional learning programmes and responsive adult support contribute to children’s developing emotional skills and self-regulation. Relevant practices include talking about feelings, modelling responses, providing predictable routines and helping children manage challenges. These classroom experiences provide educational opportunities to practise emotional skills.
Blewitt and colleagues (2018) · JAMA Network Open · Systematic review and meta-analysis.
Rosanbalm and Murray (2017) · Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation, Administration for Children and Families · Research-based practice brief.
Children use their developing visual abilities to engage with the people and materials around them.
How This Looks in a Shichida Class
Puppets, toys and carefully selected visual materials create playful opportunities for children to follow movement and notice details. These short experiences form part of the Shichida curriculum, with instructors adjusting the pace and presentation to children’s ages and responses.
The Learning Principle
Visual tracking involves following a moving object with the eyes. Visual attention involves directing attention towards something we see. These abilities develop during infancy and childhood.
Research Behind This Practice
Research describes how visual tracking, contrast sensitivity and the ability to see fine detail develop during infancy. Studies also show that the size and speed of a moving target affect infants’ tracking responses. These findings help explain the developing visual abilities children use during classroom activities.
Pieh, Proudlock and Gottlob (2012; first published online 2011) · British Journal of Ophthalmology · Developmental eye-tracking study.
Norcia, Tyler and Hamer (1990) · Vision Research · Developmental visual-evoked-potential study.
American Academy of Pediatrics (updated 2024) · HealthyChildren.org · Parent information guide.
Children have opportunities to enjoy spoken language and practise remembering and expressing words with meaning.
How This Looks in a Shichida Class
From familiar rhymes to longer poems and well-known literary passages, recitation material is selected within the Shichida curriculum to offer increasingly rich language and memory experiences. Instructors model expressive speech and provide repeated opportunities to participate, with prompts and support that respect differences in children’s readiness and recall.
The Learning Principle
Recitation combines spoken language with memory practice. Listening repeatedly builds familiarity, while recalling words without hearing them first involves retrieving information from memory. Research with preschool children suggests that opportunities to retrieve newly learned words can support retention of those words over time.
Rhymes also provide opportunities to notice repeated sounds and patterns in language. Discussing vocabulary and meaning helps connect what children remember with what they understand.
Research Behind This Practice
Research examines how repeated retrieval supports children’s retention of newly learned words, and how structured music activities relate to awareness of speech sounds. These findings connect with the recall and sound-pattern elements of recitation, although the studies did not directly test memorising poems or literary passages.
Leonard and colleagues (2019) · Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research · Experimental study.
Degé and Schwarzer (2011) · Frontiers in Psychology · Randomised controlled study.
Makoto Shichida, founder of the Shichida Method, wrote extensively about parenting, early learning and children’s abilities. According to the Shichida Educational Institute, he authored 160 books on education. His writings explain the philosophy behind the program, including the importance of parental involvement, affection and nurturing each child’s potential.
These writings provide background to the Shichida approach. The independent research linked throughout this page examines the learning practices used in class.
The first three books are available in English through Shichida Australia. The remaining titles are presented in Japanese with explanatory English translations.
Shichida is a research-informed early-learning program. Research supports several learning practices incorporated into Shichida classes, including responsive parent–child interaction, shared reading, early numeracy and retrieval practice.
The research presented on this page examines these individual practices, rather than establishing the effectiveness of the complete Shichida Method.
Each activity section above explains the learning principle involved and links to relevant research, helping parents understand how that evidence connects with what children do in class.
With their families’ permission, we also share stories about children’s experiences and progress at Shichida. These are individual accounts, separate from scientific evidence, and do not guarantee particular results.
Research-informed means using relevant findings from education, psychology and child development to guide and explain learning practices. At Shichida, this includes practices such as repetition, shared reading, parent–child interaction, early numeracy and memory activities.
We link research to the specific practice it examines and consider the children’s ages, activities and outcomes studied. Research supporting an individual practice is not presented as independent testing of the complete Shichida program.
Shichida does not guarantee a particular IQ score, academic result or developmental outcome. Classes give children regular opportunities to practise memory, language, numeracy, concentration, reasoning, creativity and emotional skills.
Our approach values a broad range of abilities and gives children opportunities to use them in increasingly challenging activities as they progress. Each child’s development and experience will differ.
“Golden Period” is Shichida’s term for the early years of rapid development, particularly birth to three. Research supports the importance of early experiences and sensitive periods for particular abilities.
The term reflects an established developmental principle: the timing and quality of early experiences are important. Research recognises sensitive periods, when particular developing brain systems are especially responsive to experience. These periods vary across abilities, including aspects of vision, hearing and language. Research on early experiences and sensitive periods
Research also supports providing practical help for parents during these early years. A systematic review of 102 randomised controlled trials found that parenting interventions delivered during the first three years improved children’s cognitive, language, motor and social-emotional development on average. These findings support the value of responsive interaction and early learning opportunities; they do not evaluate Shichida specifically. Research on parenting and development during the first three years
In Shichida classes, we put this emphasis on early experiences into practice through shared activities, songs, stories, play and parent–child interaction, beginning from six months. We use “Golden Period” to describe an opportunity, rather than a fixed deadline. Different abilities develop on different timelines, and children continue learning throughout childhood and beyond.
At Shichida, “whole-brain learning” describes our holistic, whole-child approach to early learning, bringing together cognitive, social and emotional development. Children practise thinking, memory, language and creativity alongside skills such as taking turns, managing frustration and approaching challenges with adult support. The term describes the breadth of our educational approach, rather than a claim that every brain region is activated or trained equally.
In class, children work with numbers, words, pictures and problems while also practising listening, waiting, taking turns, communicating respectfully and trying again after difficulties. Parents and instructors provide guidance as children learn to approach and overcome challenges.
This emphasis is consistent with research recognising that cognitive, emotional and social development are interconnected. Skills such as holding instructions in mind, managing impulses and adjusting an approach help children participate in learning and everyday interactions.
The research below supports these developmental principles.
Modern neuroscience recognises that some brain regions have specialised functions, but learning involves coordinated networks across both sides of the brain.
At Shichida, “right-brain training” is traditional terminology for activities involving imagery, memory, creativity and visual processing activities. It is not intended to classify children as left-brained or right-brained, or to suggest that one hemisphere learns independently. We explain these activities through the specific skills children practise and the research relevant to each skill.
At Shichida, brain training means giving children playful, age-appropriate opportunities to practise skills such as attention, memory, problem-solving and self-control.
The Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University uses the phrase “brain-building through play” to describe how games and playful interactions can support developing executive function skills, including attention, working memory and self-control. This provides a useful framework for understanding the learning opportunities offered through guided play and parent–child interaction in our classes.
Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University (2022) · Research-informed activity guidance.
Shichida aims to nurture curiosity and a love of learning through varied activities, shared enjoyment and supportive guidance. Babies and toddlers can watch an adult demonstrate, reach for materials, respond through sounds and gestures, and try activities themselves. As children develop, they have opportunities to ask questions, test ideas and try different approaches.
Parents and instructors respond to children’s interests, acknowledge their efforts and offer support when something is difficult. Our aim is to make learning a familiar, enjoyable part of life from an early age, with opportunities to observe, participate and gradually do more independently.
Research suggests that opportunities to ask questions can support aspects of curiosity, while early adult responses to children’s efforts are associated with later attitudes towards learning and challenge.
Some former students and families describe continued curiosity and enjoyment of learning in their accounts of Shichida. We share these as individual experiences, rather than evidence that every child will have the same outcome.
Shichida classes use short, varied activities to give children opportunities to practise language, memory, numeracy, listening and coordination within one session. Each activity has a learning purpose, and familiar concepts return through different games, songs, pictures and hands-on experiences.
This structure is designed to offer manageable opportunities for participation while children’s attention is developing. Research shows that young children’s attention varies with the activity and social interaction, while studies of early word learning suggest that varied examples can help children apply what they have learned to something new.
The aim is to combine breadth with repeated practice, with parents and instructors supporting children’s engagement throughout the class.
Children are not expected to get every answer right or participate in the same way. When a child hesitates or finds an activity difficult, Shichida instructors offer reassurance and guidance, with parent support in parent-child classes.
Depending on the situation, this may mean demonstrating again, simplifying a prompt, allowing time to observe or offering another opportunity to try. The aim is to provide an achievable challenge while helping children feel comfortable participating.
If a child repeatedly feels unsettled or frustrated, parents can speak with their instructor or centre team about what they are noticing and discuss suitable support.
Parent participation is a central part of Shichida’s early-years classes. Joining in gives parents and children dedicated time to learn and enjoy activities together, with guidance from an instructor.
Parents can notice what interests their child, see how they approach challenges and practise ways to support them. They also gain ideas they can adapt at home, extending shared learning beyond the weekly class.
Parents can adapt games, songs and activities they experience in class using everyday materials they already have at home. There is no need to recreate a whole lesson – one familiar game or a few minutes of shared play can fit into daily routines.
Teachers can suggest ways to adapt an activity to your child’s interests and stage of development. Our parent portal also provides play-at-home ideas, printable resources and optional worksheets for older children who enjoy them.
Home activities should be enjoyable and manageable for your family, with room to follow your child’s interests and stop when they have had enough.
See how these research-informed early learning principles come together in an engaging, age-appropriate class. Each weekly Shichida session combines parent–child interaction with guided activities supporting memory, language, early numeracy, fine-motor development and imaginative learning.
Shichida early learning classes are available for children aged 6 months to 5 years across Sydney and Melbourne.
