Flashcards can be an amazing tool when it comes to teaching your child new skills. They’re a fun way to combine play with learning, so you can give your child new skills in a dynamic and exciting way! At Strong Minds, we offer educational flashcards for teaching your preschooler language, math, visual and listening skills using a novel and interesting approach.
Rather than forcing children to sit down and memorize information through repetition of boring tasks, introducing new concepts in a more relaxed and fun way can have a whole host of benefits. Some of the benefits associated with flashcard use in early education include improved confidence and attention span, an enriched vocabulary, and enhanced cognitive development.
How do you properly use flashcards?Read on to find out.
Using Flashcards Correctly
Flashcards are relatively simple to use, which is another benefit that comes with their use as a teaching method. Our flashcards are double-sided; one side includes an image or illustration, and the other includes a word or other relevant information. How do kids use flashcards? Let’s go through a couple of examples to make this super clear.
Educational Flashcards: Help Your Child’s Early Development
For our first example, we will first look at the alphabet pack, designed to help your child become familiar with the letters of the alphabet in a relaxed and fun way. If we take the letter ‘D’, one side of the card includes an illustration of a dolphin as well as the letter ‘d’. The other side includes the letter in both its capitalized and regular format – ‘Dd’, and the word ‘dolphin’.
To use this card, you could show your child the side of the card with the image of the dolphin, and ask them to pronounce the letter/word associated with the image. Then, when they get it right, you can flip the card over and go through the answer with them to confirm. In this way, your child will learn to link visual cues with letters, which strengthens their knowledge and improves their cognitive abilities. You can use the flashcards however you see fit for your child’s needs – the important thing is that they are learning to connect visual aides with other information, so they can process information in a fun and interesting way.
Spanish Flashcards: Help Your Child Learn A Second Language
As a second example, we will focus on our Spanish flashcards, which introduce your child to a second language (which has a whole host of benefits)! How do you use flashcards for vocabulary? Looking at the first words set, we can see an illustration of a common object/shape (such as a tree, or ‘árbol’) with the relevant Spanish word for this image included too.
The idea is that your child will see the image of the tree and become familiar with the Spanish word – seeing how it is written and pronounced – with the help of a parent or guardian. This links the image of the tree with the correct word in Spanish in a natural way, which does not involve forced learning of vocabulary, taking a more relaxed approach.
How do kids use flashcards?In many different ways!
How Do You Properly Use Flashcards?
We have discussed the basic steps when it comes to using flashcards to support your child’s early development. However, there are some other tips which may help you get the most from your educational flashcards, which we will go through below:
Sit Comfortably
Ensure you and your child are facing each other, and that you are both in a comfortable position
Arrange The Flashcards Beforehand
Make sure that you have the flashcards in the correct order before you start, so that things can move more smoothly. For some packs such as the alphabet pack, you may wish to go through these in order. This may not be so important for other packs and you may wish to scramble up the order a bit! It’s up to you, but it is best to minimize the amount of card organizing that you do while you have your child’s attention.
Timing Is Everything
Typically, it works best to wait three seconds to allow your child to process the correct answer. If they do not answer correctly (or at all), read out the correct answer and move on to the next card. Spending too much time on one particular card could cause your child to lose focus, which is the opposite of what you want! You can come back to the unanswered cards at the end, and try again.
Practice!
Practice using flashcards with your child on a regular basis, until they are very comfortable and familiar with the information.
How To Use Flashcards Effectively
Now that we’ve gone through the methods involved in using flashcards correctly, are you tempted to try them with your child? Flashcards can make learning fun, and are an excellent way to teach your child new skills in a natural and exciting way. Using bright colors and playful illustrations, our educational flashcards are as durable as they are beautiful, and can withstand even the most energetic child’s lifestyle.
Are Flashcards Good For Early Development?
The world is full of flashy new devices. From smartphones to tablets, there is a lot of technology out there to choose from (and it’s always being updated). But sometimes, going back to basics is the most effective parenting tool you have to help your child develop and learn – which is why educational flashcards never go out of style!
Educational flashcards can play a key role in a child’s development, even for very young children and babies. But when should you start using flashcards with babies, and how do flashcards help babies learn? These are good questions! Read on to find out more about the benefits of flashcards for preschoolers and babies.
The Development of Young Minds
How do you stimulate cognitive development in infants? This is an interesting question, because babies – while they may not be able to complete tasks on their own just yet – have brains that grow at an astonishing pace.
In their first year of life, babies will learn a multitude of things. They learn how to reach, focus, explore, and discover the world around them. Their cognitive development (the development of the brain that includes processing, memory, reasoning, and language) is in overdrive. That’s why infancy is a good time for parents to seize the opportunity to help their little ones develop cognitively.
There are some very easy ways that parents can do this, some of which you’re likely already doing. Some great ways to help your baby develop include:
Reading to them
Talking to them
Answering them when they make sounds by adding words or repeating them
Singing to them
Giving them lots of love and praise
Holding and cuddling them
Playing with them when they’re relaxed but alert
While it may not be the first thing that comes to mind, using flashcards with your baby and then your toddler is a great way to stimulate their learning – and they’re likely to really enjoy it.
Image by Yuri Shirota on Unsplash: Are flashcards good for children? Anything that piques a child’s interest is good for them!
The Benefits of Flashcards for Babies and Toddlers
It’s no surprise that bright, colorful cards are something that can grab the attention of a young child. Showing your child flashcards exposes them to new information – information their brain is learning how to process.
Flashcards are an excellent way to present new concepts to even the smallest of children. If your baby can hold up their head and focus, they can benefit from the use of flashcards for short periods. Many experts say that children as young as six months can benefit from the introduction of simple flashcards that depict colors, numbers, pictures, and shapes.
Some of the benefits your child can reap from early use of flashcards include:
Strategies for Using Flashcards with Babies and Toddlers
It’s vital to remember that even babies are fast learners. That’s why flashcards are so ideal for them. They promote quick and active recall. The trick is to keep your child engaged and play games that are appropriate for their stage of development.
When you use flashcards with your child, you should:
Avoid showing the same cards repeatedly
Choose a subject for the flashcards your child has an interest in
Update the content of the flashcards continuously, otherwise your child may get bored
Make sure they’re in a good mood when using flashcards with them
Take breaks
Make playing with flashcards seems like a fun game – keep the energy up
Use bright, large flashcards to keep your child’s interest
Flashcards should be presented in sets of 12 to 15 cards. Try to present several sets of cards each day and only spend a few seconds on each card.
Image by Jelleke Vanooteghem on Unsplash: Are flashcards good for early development? Yes! Your baby is just waiting to learn every day.
Every child is unique. Their brains are poised and ready to learn from the moment they are born, and it’s OK to give them a nudge in the right direction to seize upon this rapid phase of development. Flashcards are a tool you can use to engage with your child and help them learn – and kids tend to like them if you present them in a fun way.
When you give flashcards a try with your little one, you may be amazed at not only how much your child enjoys them, but how much they can learn. Strong Minds is here to support you and your child in your journey together – a journey that can include flashcards for even the youngest children!
Phonics are the foundation of reading. They help children to understand letter sounds, which makes them very important for young minds and a big emphasis in the early years of a child’s education.
Phonics may seem like uncharted territory for a lot of parents. After all, most parents aren’t professional educators and even though they too learned phonics at one time, it was long ago and likely not easy to remember! However, gaining an understanding of phonics and how to teach it is important for parents who are invested in their child’s educational future – which is where educational flashcards come in handy.
Flashcards make learning phonics (and teaching it) simple and fun. Still, many parents wonder how to use phonics flashcards effectively. So how do you teach phonics with flashcards?
We’re here to take the guesswork out of supporting your child’s learning. There are many things you can do at home to help bolster your child’s studies in preschool and school, including the use of phonics flashcards to help lay the groundwork for lifelong reading and learning. Let’s dive in!
What Are Phonics Flashcards?
To understand phonics flashcards, we first need to understand what phonics are. To put it simply, phonics help a child understand the relationship between the sounds of language and the letters that represent those sounds. Using flashcards to support phonics learning will help a child to learn simple concepts like letters, then the sounds of those letters and combinations of them, which ultimately become sight words.
Sight words are words such as the, and, and is that children see repeatedly when reading. The idea is that by being able to pronounce sight words fast without sounding them out, reading more complicated things will become easier over time. The second nature with which you’re reading this article, where you just know the words you’re reading without really having to think about them – that’s all thanks to the phonics and sight words you learned as a child.
Image by Picsea on Unsplash: How do you make phonics flashcards fun? The same way you make any activity fun for kids – keep things interesting and exciting!
How To Use Phonics Flashcards
When you’re working with a child on their phonics, it helps to follow guidelines, like those that come with a set of phonics flashcards from Strong Minds. You must present things in certain stages to make it easier to teach them other things later. You’re laying the groundwork, which is a careful process.
You don’t want to simply sit down and start presenting flashcards one after the other to your child. Let’s be honest: that’s not fun for anyone. This is why you need to incorporate activities that can make phonics flashcards interesting and fun for both your child and you!
Physical activities are a great way to engage a child in learning. Try something like a phonics hunt, where you spread phonics flashcards out with letters facing up, then ask your child to go find an object in your home that begin with that sound. This activity encourages a child to explore, repeating the sound in their heads as they search for something suitable to bring back to you.
Recognition activities are also a great way to present phonics, since learning them is just as much about building recall of the letters as it is about the sounds. To do this, all you have to do is get magnetic letters or letter tiles and match them with the flashcards.
Image by MART PRODUCTION on Pexels: Why are flashcards effective in phonics? Because you can use them in so many ways that pique your child’s interest.
Finally, if you have kids, you know they love to touch things. You can harness this curiosity with more tactile phonics activities and sensory play. One of the best ways to incorporate phonics with a tactile activity is to create a sand tray. Fill a small tray with fine sand (this is usually the easiest to find, but you can also use anything your child is interested in such as rice, slime, jelly, or even small pasta shapes). Take one card at a time and have them trace the letter in the tray, saying the sound as they do so. This repetition helps to encourage their recall and improves their confidence in recognizing letters and sounds.
As you embark on this phonics journey with your child, it’s important to remember that everyone learns at their own pace and in their own way. What helps your kids truly learn is finding things that work for them.
5 Ways To Incorporate Flashcards In Your Daily Routine To Improve Child Development
Flashcards have been used in classrooms around the world as an effective teaching tool for years. Teachers like them because they’re easy to use and helpful – but it’s not just teachers who can help kids learn through the use of flashcards. Parents can get in on it too!
Many parents have discovered flashcards as an easy at-home learning tool. If you’ve not yet boarded the flashcard train, don’t worry – there are plenty of ways to incorporate flashcards in your daily routine.
How do you use flashcards for kids, including daily routines flashcards? We’ve outlined some ideas for using flashcards in your everyday life to improve your child’s learning!
Flashcards: What Are They?
Parents may recall using flashcards when they were younger as a way to memorize facts or study for tests. Today, they’re an effective learning tool that helps kids to form a deeper understanding of the world around them.
The information on the cards has a learning concept on one side and the answer on the opposite side. Flashcards are often grouped together to represent a collection of information that you’re teaching your child or helping them to remember.
Should You Use Flashcards?
Many parents want the home to be a place of continual learning for their child outside of preschool or school, but may not be sure how to do it. Flashcards are a great way to strengthen the bond between you and your child as you learn together!
Flashcards are learning tools for all ages! Even toddlers and younger kids can use them as a way to learn more about the world. When they’re introduced and used appropriately, flashcards are a very effective way to reinforce the information that your child is learning through everyday activities at home.
Image by Ryan Wallace on Unsplash: Should I do flashcards every day? It depends on your child, but repetition is important.
What Are the Advantages of Using Flashcards?
Flashcards can help build confidence in kids – but the advantages don’t stop there! They help kids develop their visual memory, identify objects and begin making associations at a fairly young age.
Flashcards are popular as a learning aid because:
They Stimulate Visual Memory
Flashcards are visual aids. They can make it easier for kids to learn new concepts or reinforce what they’re learning about a particular topic. Studies have found that kids who use flashcards grasp topics faster, as they work to enhance memory when a child sees an image from a flashcard. They quickly remember what they’re learning because the brain tends to absorb visual information at a faster rate.
They’re Easy To Take With You
As a parent, you’re often on the go. Flashcards are the perfect portable learning tool since you can take them with you anywhere! They’re easy for kids to handle too.
They Increase The Pace Of Learning
If you want to help increase the speed at which your child learns concepts, then flashcards are the way to go! Big concepts can be broken down into small, more digestible segments through flashcards which can help increase the rate in which children learn.
They’re Versatile
You can use flashcards to help teach just about any subject, from shapes and colors to foreign language or math. That’s because it doesn’t matter what subject you’re teaching – flashcards take big ideas and break them down into smaller parts that make it easier for children to learn.
They’re Inexpensive
In the grand scheme of learning, flashcards are very cost-effective – especially considering how much a child learns from them!
How Often to Use Flashcards
You may be asking yourself, “Should I do flashcards every day?” As a parent, you naturally want to ensure you’re not overwhelming your child but also using flashcards frequently enough to work.
The answer to this question may not be as simple as a yes or no. You do want to use them frequently because it’s a dynamic way of teaching children that requires repetition in order to be effective.
If you don’t want to overwhelm your child, then it’s really all about how to present flashcards to them. Is it fun or is it a chore? If you work to make it fun, then it may be something they want to do each day!
Image by Marisa Howenstine on Unsplash: Why are flashcards important for children? It exposes them to key concepts early in life!
Fun Ways to Incorporate Flashcards In Your Daily Routine
Now that we’ve covered what flashcards are and why they’re beneficial to use, it’s time to understand how to seamlessly make them a part of your daily routine with your children. When used the right way, this simple yet effective learning tool can be used in a variety of ways!
Some of the best include:
Using Flashcards For Simple Math
You can go beyond simple flashcards with numbers to create a fun game for your child. Take flashcards with two different categories of something on them and place them side by side. Next, take two bowls or two bags and ask the child to put the cards in the right bowl or bag. This type of exercise – in which a child works to sort and classify something – is a fundamental math skill and helps to hone their ability to clearly recognize patterns and groups of numbers. Eventually, this will strengthen their problem-solving and multiplication skills. You’re laying the groundwork for success! Once they’ve mastered two categories, consider increasing the level of difficulty by adding more.
Play Memory
If you have flashcards with pictures on them, choose a handful and arrange them in any order you choose. Ask “what is on the flashcard?” in order to help establish a pattern in your child’s mind. Then, take one of the cards away and see if they can repeat the pattern without all the pictures there. This is a great way to stretch your child’s memory and teach them skills that use visualization. If that’s too easy, add more cards to the game.
Vocabulary Applications
Incorporate language learning into your everyday life by attaching flashcards of different objects around your home to that object! Depictions of items on a flashcard often aren’t lifelike, so attaching it to something real can help kids make that connection. If that doesn’t pique your child’s interest, bring the real-life object to your next lesson and have your child pick out the card that matches.
Interaction And Communication
Tap into your child’s love of playing pretend and set up a shop stocked with flashcards! It can be a market or a pet shop – something your child has an interest in. Pretend to be the store owner, ask what they want to buy and have them describe it. If your little one is more take-charge, switch roles and describe to them what you want to buy without saying the name. Not only does this work with flashcards, but it’s also a great way for your little one to practice conversation skills!
Work On Presentation Skills
Ask your child to choose a few flashcards from a set, then have them make up a storyline from the cards. If they’re having trouble beginning the story, start them off with a couple of sentences or tell your own story first to show them how it’s done. These stories can be as simple or as complicated as your child wants them to be – just let their creative juices flow!
Image by Ravi Palwe on Unsplash: How often should you use flashcards? Let your child be the guide but remember repetition is key!
Let Flashcards Light the Way
For many years, teachers and parents alike have used flashcards as a way to help learners retain information and actively recall it. Flashcards help build connections in your child’s brain! Flashcards are also easy to use and easy to bring around, serving as a valuable resource to teach your child a variety of concepts.
With flashcards, your child can boost their language skills, improve their ability to tell stories, help them memorize and grow their vocabulary. Plus, they’ll be proud of what they’re capable of learning and get the opportunity to flex their creative muscles in the process. It’s win-win!No matter where your child is in life, no matter what they’re learning in school, and no matter how busy your family may be, finding the time to work with flashcards each day has many benefits. So, what are you waiting for?
Flashcards: You probably remember them well from your high school or college days when you used them to memorize the periodic table of elements or cram for a final exam. While older students are well acquainted with flashcards and their effectiveness, flashcards have a lot of benefits for younger children, too.
Teachers have been using flashcards for decades to help students learn core skills, but parents have also jumped on the flashcard bandwagon. Why? Because flashcards are an easy way to continue learning in the comfort of your own home. There are several fun ways to effectively use flashcards!
How do children learn using flashcards and are flashcards good for early development? Read on to find out the answer to these questions and more!
Are Flashcards Effective for Learning?
Flashcards are an active learning method that helps to improve a person’s ability to identify concepts and remember information, no matter the age of the student. Even with the latest technology out there today, flashcards are used more than ever – because they’re effective. Do flashcards actually work? Yes, yes they do!
How flashcards work is interesting in and of itself. When they are used in the right way, this tool allows a student, young or old, to interact with information in a way that makes it much simpler to retain. They are designed in such a way that it encourages and enhances the child to actively recall what they are studying. Typically, the format of a flashcard is a question or object on one side of the card and the answer to it on the other side. When presented with a flashcard, a learner has to look at the card to recall what the answer on the other side of the card is.
Image by Ashton Bingham on Unsplash: How do children learn using flashcards? Easily, it turns out!
How Flashcards Improve Memory
Active recall, when practiced, helps to create very strong connections between neurons in the brain. That’s how this method of learning actively works to improve memory. And if you run into a flashcard that a child struggles with, you simply repeat them until that connection in the brain is better formed. A method educators refer to as confidence-based repetition, it’s been shown by researchers to be incredibly effective at making the mind like a steel trap. That is to say, it gives the memory quite a boost!
As your child gains more experience with active recall and repetition through the years, utilizing flashcards will lead to another key process: spaced repetition. This is a technique where the time between studying naturally increases your ability to recall that information. When using flashcards, this is a process that happens naturally as you run through the deck and create space between the recall for each card before it appears again. Repetition solidifies information in your mind so it can be retained in the long run.
On top of all that, flashcards also work to help develop something in children called meta-cognition, which is how they judge their performance based on what they get right. It’s a natural confidence booster! Additionally, flashcards can be used by a child alone, which allows them to learn independently when they’re ready.
Using Flashcards
There are many different ways to use flashcards, all of which can target different areas of learning for your child. If you want your child to get a better grasp on language, you can get flashcards that will provide them with that. Math is another area many parents focus on. And for younger children, it’s easy to get simple flashcards that teach numbers, letters, shapes and colors to help get their learning started from as young as six months old.
You can also use flashcards in different ways based on your child’s age and preferences. After all, everyone is wired a little differently so some methods will be more effective than others when it comes to incorporating flashcards into your child’s learning.
Image by Jason Goodman on Unsplash: Do flashcards work for language learning? Yes, they do!
Some great games to try with your children to incorporate flashcards include:
Matching flashcards
Playing memory games with flashcards
Playing the passing game with flashcards
It’s a good idea to start your children off with flashcards that appeal to them, such as flashcards with farm animals and their names, or flashcards with trucks, planes and trains. You know your child best, so start with flashcards that will pique their interest!
Flashcards are not a flash in the pan. They’ve been used for hundreds of years to teach information as well as retain it. Start your child off early with flashcard learning and you’ll set them up with great study habits and memorization techniques for later in life.
Featured image by Ben White on Unsplash: Do flashcards actually work? Yes!
How To Teach Your Child To Use Flashcards
If you’re looking for an effective, relatively easy and engaging way to teach your child, then look no further than flashcards! Teachers love using flashcards when introducing new information to kids. Flashcards are easy to use and have been shown to help students commit the new information to memory via active recall – which makes them a very popular learning tool. Many parents have also experienced how simple flashcards are to use at home, even from an early age. They’ve found a lot of success getting their little one started on the road of lifelong learning.
There are many ways to use flashcards to teach your child. Read on to find out more about how to teach your child to use flashcards as well as other burning questions you may have about this popular teaching tool.
How Do I Start Using Flashcards?
Before you start using flashcards, first find the balance between how much you should teach your child at home and what they’re learning at school.
To answer this question, rely heavily on your parental intuition. If you enjoy learning together with your child, then it would be a natural progression to begin using flashcards at home to bolster information they may be learning at school. Plus, it can work to bring you and your child even closer together and strengthen your bonds!
On the flip side, if you feel like working with flashcards at home may put a strain on your relationship or cut into crucial family time, then you may want to examine if flashcards are the right avenue. Remember that no matter what age your child is at, the most important thing isn’t what they already understand, but if they are eager to learn!
Image by Jesus Loves Austin on Unsplash: What age should you start using flashcards? Whenever you think the time is right, but the earlier, the better!
What Age Should You Start Using Flashcards?
This is another scenario where your intuition plays a major role. If you feel as if your child is receptive to it, then you can begin with simple flashcards as young as six months old. At this point, as long as they have good head control and vision, you can begin introducing flashcards in short intervals. Research has shown that simply exposing young babies to these types of activities helps to stimulate them visually and boost their cognitive development.
The time between six months old and six years old is when your child will learn the most rapidly, so any time within that window is great to introduce flashcards when you feel your child is ready. If you want to wait until they are toddlers, find flashcards that are visually engaging – so, choose something with bright colors for children that tend to be more visual learners!
How Do You Introduce Flashcards to Toddlers (And Beyond)?
Once you’ve chosen flashcards that will appeal to your child, it’s time to introduce them. Remember, if you’re starting in the toddler phase then they may not have a long attention span, which is why you should start small and grow from there.
Show your child each card by introducing the side with the picture first and then the word – making sure to say the word to them correctly. They will work to make the connection between the sound and the picture, which the brain will then store in long-term memory for future recall.
Don’t flip through the flashcards quickly when you start. Instead, make sure to go through each one and say the word associated with it. You don’t have to show them the word because, with toddlers, it’s going to be all about the sounds at this stage. You may want to focus on only a small set of cards at a time until your little one has grasped them. Repetition is encouraged – it’s key to effectively using flashcards with your child!
Image by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash: How do I teach my child to use flashcards? Start small and take them through it step by step!
Have Some Fun!
Most kids learn best when they’re incorporating fun into learning. After all, kids tend to learn a lot through play! You can make flashcards a part of that play, too. You may want to consider these strategies based on the age of your child:
Bingo
You can make a bingo board with the words you’re learning on it, or pictures from the flashcard. Call out the word and find the picture or word that corresponds to it. Most kids love a rousing game of bingo!
Bean Bag Toss
Take the flashcards and lay them out on the floor. Have your child throw the bean bag and then identify the card that it lands on!
Seek & Explore
Use the flashcards to help your child explore the world around them. Ask them to find things in your house, at the park or beach – whatever environment you’re in – that match what’s on the card (i.e. ‘Red’ – find something red, the letter ‘M’ – find something that begins with the letter ‘M’, the number ‘4’ – find four of something).
You’re well on your way to helping your child learn for a lifetime. Why not make flashcards a part of that learning?
Children are like sponges, constantly learning and absorbing information about the world around them pretty much since birth – and in some limited cases – in-utero! As knowledge truly is power, it’s never too early to start your children on their educational journey, exposing them to as much age-appropriate stimulating and beneficial information as possible.
Flashcards are a great way to reinforce the things your children are learning about the world around them. In fact, from a very early age, they can make a connection between words and pictures – both spoken to them and written down, as you’d find on a flashcard.
What age can children start using flashcards? Read on to find out all you need to know!
What Age Should You Start Flashcards?
You may assume that flashcards are something that should be used with older children, but in fact you can start educational flashcards with a child as young as six months old. Using flashcards at this age will help to stimulate the development of the right side of the brain.
What is the right brain? The two sides of the brain are divided into left and right hemispheres. The left side of the brain is generally thought to be responsible for language, information processing and analysis. The right side of the brain is connected to visual imagery. A strong right brain will help a child to develop skills later on, such as reading and memorization – plus it will help them think in a more efficient way.
By starting flashcards with a child as young as six months old, you’ll take advantage of a critical formative period for right brain development that begins around this age and continues to about six years old.
When you start flashcards with a child this young, you should begin slowly. Remember, they don’t have a very long attention span, so you should use colorful and bright cards to engage them in short sessions!
Image by Jason Leung on Unsplash: Are flashcards good for a one-year-old? Yes! You can start with a baby as young as six months.
How Do You Start Flashcards For Toddlers?
Toddlers may not be easily convinced to do a lot of things with their fierce independence streak, but you may be able to easily engage them with flashcards.
Flashcards help to make learning fun for a toddler! Simple concepts related to shapes, colors, numbers and letters will help them to learn and get a leg up on their peers at this age.
Try using flashcards in short sessions with toddlers in which you show them the card and ask them to repeat what you’re saying. This repetition, play and encouragement will help to solidify learning concepts early on.
How Do Flashcards Work?
As mentioned, flashcards are a great tool to help stimulate the right brain. They have many benefits for children who are developing rapidly over a relatively short period of time, from six months old to six years old.
The benefits of flashcards for kids in this age range include:
When flashed quickly to a child, the cards stimulates the right brain to process the information rapidly. This helps to exercise this right side of the brain and build connections that can help them as they continue to grow.
Another advantage to using flashcards is the development of memory in a child. As they work to recall the information in a flash, they are triggering their ability to memorize things.
Connections Between Both Sides Of The Brain
When you use flashcards, you should show the card and say the phrase on it. This works to stimulate both the right and the left sides of the brain, merging the two hemispheres to encourage whole brain development.
When it comes to flashcards, you should start small and build from there. You don’t need to begin with complex material at first. In fact, your goal in the beginning should be to simply encourage your child to have fun with it!
For younger kids, short sessions are key. But as children get older, you’ll want to incorporate games into your flashcards to help inspire them to remember the material you’re covering.
Remember, when using flashcards with your child you should first serve as the guide in using them. Once your child has grasped the concept, you can throw off those training wheels and allow them to use flashcards on their own! Teaching children how to learn through flashcards is something that can stick with them their whole lives – translating later into good study habits that will serve them well and bring them success!
Language Flashcards: Help Your Child Learn Alphabet & Vocabulary
From the moment you hold that precious bundle in your arms, to the day they take their first step, say their first word, and enter the classroom, your child’s brain is continuously learning. Literally from day one, the sights and sounds your child is consistently exposed to play a critical role in their development, particularly their language development.
As a parent, you may have heard of speech and language milestones. These are stages at which your child is able to hear, understand and express themselves using language to communicate. The language babies learn and eventually use is generally that of their parents, but it can be any language they are exposed to up to the age of six months. This is because, by six months, babies have already learned to recognize the sounds of their own native language.
Typically these milestones are linked to specific age groups. For example, at birth, your little one will respond to factors such as pitch, stress, and the pace of your voice. Then, as they mature, they learn to recognize the spoken word and, at six months, should start to coo and babble, showing they are beginning to learn a language.
The ability to learn language is already present at birth for every baby. In fact, some neuroscientists say babies start learning sooner, from within the womb. According to a study by Kathleen Wemke published in Current Biology 2009, an unborn fetus can memorize and recognize the sound and pattern of the language spoken by its mother and replicates this when crying! Of course, your child won’t enter the world with a full set of vocabulary– that takes time as the brain matures. However, this ability to learn is most pronounced during your baby’s early developmental years, when your child’s brain develops at its fastest rate.
From the day a baby is born, its brain quadruples in size over the first five years. Although, at birth, a baby’s brain is only a quarter of its intended adult size, this doubles in the first year and reaches nearly 80% of adult size by age three. By age five, its brain is 90% fully grown. During this period, your child absorbs information like a sponge, which is why learning the fundamental basics of language during these formative years is so important.
How Does Language Development Work?
All brain cells have appendages called dendrites that link to other brain cells. The point at which each dendrite connects is called synapses, and it’s here that electrical signals pass one brain cell to the other.
When the synapses are stimulated repetitively, it forms a permanent neural pattern or pathway that allows information to be transmitted quickly and aids the learning process. So it makes sense to say that repeated positive learning experiences can significantly enhance your child’s brain development and language skills. That’s why playing repetitive language flashcard games makes so much sense!
Photo by Jerry Wang on Unsplash: How do you use language flashcards for kids?
What Are Language Flashcards?
Language flashcards, like any other flashcard, are small colored cards used to improve language skills. Language flashcards typically have a picture or shape on one side with the associated word or alphabet letter represented above or below.
How Do Flashcards Help The Brain?
As a parent, you’re probably asking yourself, how do language flashcards work? The answer is simple. Using language flashcards for early development aids the brain’s active recall process, enhances metacognition, and as a result, increases your child’s confidence levels.
Furthermore, boosting the brain’s ability to recall information using some of the best vocabulary flashcards will improve your child’s understanding of their language. And, make it easy for them to apply this acquired knowledge when needed.
Lastly, the more your child uses language flashcards, the more likely the information will move from their short-term memory to long-term memory, where it’s stored and remembered.
What Are The Major Benefits Of Flashcards?
The benefits of language flashcards can be seen in several ways. These include:
Flashcards Engage Active Recall
When your child looks at language flashcards, they engage in a mental process called active recall when trying to think of the correct word or alphabet letter. This creates strong neural pathways (neuron connections) that aid with memory. In addition, the constant repetition when using flashcards creates multiple memory recall events, which helps with language retention.
Flashcards Engage Metacognition
Metacognition, also known as the act of self-reflection, involves asking yourself how the answer you gave compared to the answer on the flash card. Did you know the answer? Were you partially right or totally wrong? Using some of the best alphabet flashcards or language flashcards can help your child develop their metacognition skills as they learn to judge their performance based on the number of cards they remember. Using metacognition skills creates permanent memories and provides positive learning outcomes.
Spaced repetition or spaced learning is where learning sessions occur with intervals between training. Short bursts of training, according to research, are considered a more effective way of learning than one single lesson. This is what makes learning with flashcards so effective. For example, using flashcards to teach your child language concepts such as the alphabet, in short, repetitive lessons promotes long-term memory formation, which is more beneficial than trying to instill this information in a one-off lesson.
Confidence-Based Repetition
Flash cards also allow information to be broken down into manageable chunks that can be separated and reviewed individually. This means that children can focus on the concepts they aren’t confident in more frequently and review those they are confident in occasionally. This learning technique optimizes and improves memory performance, similarly to spaced-repetition.
Image by Vix MSF from Pixabay: Example of a language flashcard used to help children learn the alphabet and how to read basic words.
Are Language Flash Cards Appropriate For Preschoolers?
As a parent, you may wonder whether this form of learning is appropriate for children of preschool age, and the answer is a resounding yes! Engaging your child in fun, early learning activities stimulates and motivates a natural self-curiosity that encourages them to learn more. Furthermore, introducing language concepts using things they enjoy, such as toys, patterns, or colors, is an excellent way of getting them interested in the world around them. This is especially true when appealing and vibrant language flashcards like the ones in stock at the Strong Minds store are used.
Benefits of language flashcards for preschoolers include:
Improves visual memory
Creates awareness of their surrounding environment
Improves meta-cognition
Engages active recall and develops strong memory skills
Stimulates independent thinking
Encourages identification of objects
Enhances confidence
Helps confidence-based repetition
Improves their motor skills
How To Use Language Flashcards Effectively for Toddlers
As you can see, language flashcards are a fun, playful way of maximizing repetition, which is powerful for improving memory skills. As parents or educators, you know that learning through play is important for young children. Therefore it makes sense that using language flashcards alongside playful teaching techniques can be an effective, interactive teaching tool.
Of course, using language flashcards to teach kids of school-going age makes sense, but how do you introduce language flashcards to toddlers? This is a question many parents raise when researching what is the best way to use language flashcards.
Below we have collated some basic steps you can use to introduce language flashcards for early development in your toddler.
Step One
Our language flashcards depict the letter or word at the top with the associated picture below. Select an age-appropriate set of language flashcards and sit facing your child.
As you show your child the flashcard, repeat the word or letter accompanying the image. This targets proper language development in young children. Remember, repetition is key.
Step Two
As your child gets older and remembers the information, when you repeat the word, ask your child to copy the words or letters you say. Providing a visual cue stimulates both visual and auditory learning.
Step Three
Once your child recognizes the words or sounds (this will take time and practice), you can progress towards asking them to produce the relevant word or letter according to the picture depicted.
Hold each flashcard so your child can see it clearly, and wait for approximately three seconds. You won’t need a timer, just count to three in your head. This gives your child three seconds to consider the flashcard and provide an answer. If they answer correctly, place the card to one side in the ‘right answer pile’. If their answer is incorrect or they don’t give an answer, place the card in the review pile.
Once you have finished going through the language flashcards, you can review the incorrect flashcards again. Remember to include lots of fun and encouragement during each flashcard session, as children retain information better when they don’t realize they are learning!
When your child has mastered the flashcards, you can practice them occasionally to ensure they remember the information. Then, as your child develops and progresses, you can use language flashcards with written words to help teach them to read and write.
Image by 14995841 from Pixabay: There are key steps to follow when aiming to teach children using flashcards.
Typical Language Flash Card Activities For Preschoolers
An important aspect of using language flashcards is the actual flash rate. Using a flash rate of 0.5 seconds per card when showing your child the flashcards ensures the information is unconsciously absorbed by the cerebellum (part of the brain that controls cognitive function, memory, reasoning, and language). Maintaining this fast pace during each flashcard session improves your child’s ability to identify and understand better.
Here’s how language flashcard activities boost a child’s early learning development.
Object search – identification and name recall
Days of the week and months of the year – memory and recall
Colors – identify colors in the surrounding environment
Alphabet – repetition helps with memory and language development
How To Include Language Flashcards Into Your Daily Routine
Language flashcards can be used to teach almost any topic relating to early years development. They’re also easy to use in any setting, home or school, and can be incorporated into playtime or homework time to help easily develop their memory and classification skills.
Below are some flashcard tips to keep things interesting and engaging because a motivated child is an attentive child!
The vital thing to remember when using flashcards is to keep each session fun and interactive.
Take regular breaks between flashcard sessions, spaced-repetition is crucial.
Ensure you provide rewards and praise for a job well done. These could be free rewards like high-fives, hugs, or your child’s favorite activity.
Keep those brain cells pumped with a healthy snack before a flashcard session.
Fun Interactive Ways To Use Language Flash Cards
Often we are asked by parents and educators what is the best way to use language flashcards? Our answer is always the same– in any fun way imaginable! Because language flash cards are super versatile, they can be incorporated into many activities. To illustrate how to do this, we have provided three examples below.
Naming Game
Stick the flashcards to the items they relate to in the home or classroom. Whenever you use the item, point and say its name. This will help your child with memorization and identification skills.
Flashcard Bingo
This game is perfect for small groups of two or more. Set out 6 to 12 flashcards in a row and give your child a set of stickers. Then call out a word, and if your child spots it in their group of flashcard pictures, they can put a sticker on it. The first person to tag all their flashcards is the winner and gets a treat.
Speedy Gonzales
This language flashcard game is great for improving fluency. Select a group of flashcards your child is familiar with and include one or two that are new. Then stand or sit in front of your child with a space between you. Show each card quickly to your child and ask them to answer as fast as possible. If they don’t answer or get it wrong, move on to the next card – speed is the key here. Toss each used card over your shoulder for added fun and dramatization! You needn’t worry about your cards wearing out – the durable design of our flashcards enables kids to be kids when learning. Get physical, keep things fresh and never worry about needing replacements.
Photo by Atikah Akhtar on Unsplash: Flashcards can help children learn and retain information in several ways.
Incorporating language flashcards into your child’s everyday activities significantly and positively impacts their learning and language development. However, remember to be creative and fun during each flashcard session to ensure each learning opportunity is beneficial and doesn’t become a drag! Lastly, every child is different and therefore responds differently to learning. Always follow your child’s lead. For example, if they don’t respond well to flashcards, trying another way to supplement their language knowledge is also a great idea.
Head on over to the Strong Minds Lab and check out our stunningly illustrated range. Our free ring sets let you switch up your decks to keep the learning rolling. Unlock the power of knowledge for your child today and pick the pack that suits your style!
Educational Flashcards: Help Your Child’s Early Development
We all want what’s best for our children. That includes the best education possible. Whether your child attends a public school, a private school, or is home-schooled, there are many ways you can help them excel with their studies. As parents, there’s nothing quite like seeing your little ones grasp a new concept or learn a new word – it’s a level of love and pride that is unparalleled.
We believe that the best way to help your child developmentally is to show an interest in their learning and get actively involved. This doesn’t have to be boring or tantrum-inducing (for either of you!) – learning together can be a beautiful bonding experience that’s both fun AND educational.
You might be wondering if there are educational aids available to help your child advance? The answer is of course, yes! There are many educational aids that can make wonderful additions to your child’s daily study routine, no matter their age.
In this article, we’ll be covering everything you need to know about one such aid: educational flashcards. We’ll be talking about how they can help your child developmentally, as well as a few tips and tricks on how best to use them.
Ready to dive in? So are we!
What Are Educational Flashcards?
Educational flashcards are a versatile study/memorization tool that are beneficial to individuals of all ages, from babies to seniors. Flashcards display information on one or both sides. One-sided educational flashcards are typically used to aid learning, whereas double-sided education flashcards can be used to help someone study.
Educational flashcards can be purchased ready-made, or you can customize your own set to suit the learning needs of the person they’ll be used for. They can be brightly colored or plain, textured or smooth. How they look/feel will depend on the type of student you’re using them for. Educational flashcards are particularly useful for visual and kinesthetic learners. However, they can be used to convey details on any subject, regardless of academic level.
Educational flashcards can change up your child’s studying style.
How Do Educational Flashcards Work?
Educational flashcards can be customized to suit any need. Education flashcards used to teach something are usually one-sided and contain pictures and/or writing to depict the information. However, educational flashcards for studying purposes are generally double-sided, with details on both sides. This is usually a question on one side, either written or graphical, with the answer on the other side of the card.
Flashcards make it easier for students to retain new information as they are designed to encourage and enhance active recall skills. By practicing active recall skills, you create stronger neural connections in the brain, making flashcards a very effective method for improving memory. In addition, educational flashcards allow you to study the same information over and over again, increasing your chances of recalling the information. As you run through a set of cards, there will be a natural gap before a card appears twice, therefore triggering your memory.
By practicing active recall skills, you create stronger neural connections in the brain, making flashcards a very effective method for improving memory.
Flashcards can also work by helping develop a child’s meta-cognition, where they judge their own performance based on the number of cards they remember or answer correctly. If your child is old enough, they can use their educational flashcards to study or learn on their own.
What Are The Benefits Of Educational Flashcards?
Anything that makes learning fun already has a big tick in the plus column from us. Brightly colored and engaging designs make learning with flashcards an experience that your little ones will actually look forward to and potentially even ask for on their own. Digging a little deeper into the neural pathways involved and how our brains actually develop with the use of flashcards is where things get really interesting. Here are just a few advantages you can expect from using educational flashcards.
Advantages Of Educational Flashcards
Stimulates Visual Memory
Educational flashcards are visual aids that make learning new things easy and fun. Many people tend to remember what they see rather than what they hear when learning new topics, and that’s exactly how flashcards work. They give you glimpses of one set of information at a time, making it easier to learn many things in one go. Studies have indicated that learning through flashcards can make new information easier for young children to grasp and achieve deeper levels of processing.
Facilitates Bonding
Sometimes it can be difficult for parents to connect with their children at this age. Creativity and fantastical play isn’t something that comes naturally to everyone – and even when it does, having to constantly think of new and stimulating activities can be draining. Bright, colorful flashcards are a great way to spend time and bond with your children in an easy and stress-free environment. Prompts come naturally and so does the flow of play and interaction.
Reduces Screen Time
While there’s nothing wrong with a bit of screen time to help parents manage their busy lives, it’s also good to think of other self-led activities that your children can do while you’re occupied with other things. Flashcards are a perfect tool to get kids to be active with their hands and use their imaginations – the colors and pictures on flashcards are stimulating and there are a variety of ways your child can interact with the cards without getting bored.
Teaches Early Skills
From kickstarting STEM learning to encouraging language development and association skills, educational flashcards cover a wide range of subjects and can stimulate your child to start thinking about their world in a much broader way.
What Types Of Flashcards Are Available?
There are dozens of different types of flashcards available on the market, each with its own purpose. Here are a few types you might stumble upon:
Graphic Flashcards
Graphic flashcards give brief, visual information in the form of a story, steps, or points.
Quiz Flashcards
Quiz flashcards contain short questions on one side and answers on the other. They are best used for studying purposes.
Gaming Flashcards
Gaming flashcards add an element of fun to the learning experience by incorporating interactive play into the process.
Concept Map Flashcards
Concept map flashcards show the connection between different objects/things. These are also sometimes referred to as mind-map flashcards.
Naming Flashcards
Naming flashcards are usually a set of cards, one card with a picture on it and the other with the name of the object being shown. This allows students to make a visual connection between a word and what the word describes or means.
Infographic Flashcards
Infographic flashcards combine aesthetics and data to present complex information clearly and quickly.
Image by Nicola Barts on Pexels: Infographic flashcards can help better present data to children.
How To Use Educational Flashcards
Research has found that flashcards can be useful for all age groups, and that early introduction to them can greatly improve a child’s learning ability later on in life. You may be wondering, though: how do you use flashcards for kids? Find out below!
Educational Flashcards For Early Development
Educational flashcards can be extremely useful for any age group, including infants and toddlers. But how do you introduce flashcards to toddlers and babies? Is there a special trick to it? Let’s take a look at how to incorporate flashcards into your young child’s daily routine.
For babies and toddlers, you can use flashcards to help them learn words. Try using a few cards at a time, about five cards at most. Show each card to your baby and read the word aloud, pointing at each syllable as you pronounce it. Repeat this three times each day for about a week and then move on to a new set.
Flashcards can also be used to help preschoolers learn colors, shapes, numbers, or words. For example, if you’re using flashcards to help your child learn new colors, you can show them the card and then have them find an object in the house that is the same color. You can then have them read the name of the color if it’s present on the flashcard. This can apply to most other things you’d like your child to learn – however, be sure not to overwhelm your child with too much information, as this could potentially lead to improper knowledge retention.
How Do You Use Flashcards For Kids?
Using flashcards for kids is a lot easier than with babies and toddlers, as most children aged four and up can read basic words and numbers, as well as identify shapes and objects. Therefore, educational flashcards can be used to teach a child many different things.
Flashcards are most commonly used to help children advance in various school subjects. For instance, if you’d like to help your child improve their mental math skills, you use flashcards with simple equations and ask your child to answer the question without using a calculator or paper to aid them. You can also use flashcards to help your child learn to spell new words by allowing them to read the cards and then asking them to spell the words after a practice session.
How to Bring Flashcards Into Your Child’s Daily Routine
As we’ve just discussed, incorporating educational flashcards into your child’s daily routine can help them improve their literacy, numeracy, vocabulary and association skills. But what is the best way to add educational flashcards into their routine, so that they remain happy, engaged and learning? And are there different approaches for different age groups? Simply put, different ages will require different sets of flashcards and different introductory methods. As we specialize in early development, we’ve covered those ages ranges for you below:
Adding Flashcards To Your Baby Or Toddler’s Routine
When using flashcards to help your young child learn new words or the names of colors, it’s important that you do so in small sets. This is to avoid overstimulating their brain and therefore reducing their learning capabilities. To add flashcards to their routine, show them a maximum of five cards about three times a day for five days. This will allow your child to slowly learn and process the new information.
Most toddlers are more likely to learn through play rather than instruction. This means it’s a good idea to create interactive flashcards for them to learn from. These flashcards can include pictures to color in (if used to teach new colors), for example. This makes the learning experience fun for your child. You can use a new set of flashcards each day, depending on your child. However, you shouldn’t use the same set of flashcards more than three times per day as you may overwhelm them.
Adding Flashcards To Your Child’s Routine
For children ages five and up, it would be beneficial to give them a new set of flashcards every two to three days. These flashcards could be focused on what they are currently learning at school or what they need to catch up with. For example, you can give them flashcards to study over breakfast or include a set in their lunch bags for school to learn during recess. You could also use flashcards to spend quality time with your child after work by studying with them and helping them when they get confused or stuck.
Educational flashcards can make both classroom and at-home learning more engaging and fun.
What Are The Best Educational Flashcards?
The best educational flashcards are the ones that suit your child’s current needs. You can find many different kinds of ready-made educational flashcards both online and in-store. Our Educational Flashcard Set, designed specifically for children of preschool age, comes as four packs and includes 144 cards with original and fun designs that cover the alphabet, shapes, colors, first words and numbers with four binding rings that keep everything attached together.
It’s safe to say that educational flashcards are a great way to assist the learning of new material, regardless of which age group the student belongs to. Flashcards can be used to teach or study absolutely anything, from learning colors to learning the meaning of complex phrases. It’s never too early to start learning with educational flashcards – they offer a fantastic way to have fun and both with your little ones.
