How To Use Flashcards Effectively

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.

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. 

block letters
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!

toddlers playing with blocks
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!

colored cards and pens
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?

Featured image by Sue Zeng on Unsplash

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! 

children using cards
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!

blank flashcards
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?

Featured image by Eyes for Ebony on Unsplash