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.
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!
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!
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?