Do you remember everything you read in a textbook, or any other book when you were in school? Probably not! That’s because when we read through something passively, our brains are not forced to think. But, when it comes to answering questions, our brains will have to take some action – and tools like flashcards are your besties, because they keep your brain stimulated to actively recall information. Let’s take a look at what they are!
Flashcards – What Are They?
Let’s break it down:
- Flashcards are basically cards with words/numbers on one side and a corresponding image on the other.
- Flashcards make for pretty cool tools for captivating and stimulating learning amongst toddlers!
- They’re a fun way of teaching, and can cover a whole gamut of topics and even be represented visually or via audio – key points that help grasp a child’s attention.
Studies suggest* that toddlers start understanding the difference between sounds and colours between the ages 12-18 months. This is why flashcards can really have a positive impact, making them an ideal early learning element. Take, for instance, the Intelliskills Learn With Fun Flashcards, a set that makes sure that you’re actively engaging your kids in a repetitive question-answer learning format, which is so great for them! Check it out here and here!
You might have a bunch of questions you want answered – How do you introduce them to your child? Will they be effective? What is their importance?
Let’s get to them.
When Can You Introduce Flash Cards?
Parents, you can start using flashcards when your child is as young as six months old! While that may seem a tad early since a baby can’t read, research shows that exposing babies to flashcards can be beneficial for two reasons – giving them visual stimulation and also improving their overall cognitive development.
How To Introduce Flashcards To Your Kids
Since they are all-age learning tools, it’s quite easy to introduce them to your child. Repeating words to children so that they mimic them is something that’s been done for a very long time, and adding a pictorial clue helps so much with visual stimulation in addition to auditory learning.
According to an educator at the FirstCry Intellitots Preschool, “Flashcards can be introduced not just to visual learners, but also to auditory and kinaesthetic learners. A visual child can randomly see the flashcards, or move through them in a sequence as per the topic which it represents. For an auditory child, one may read out the text, as the child observes the words. A kinaesthetic child will enjoy pretend play, song or dance related to the flashcard. Remember, a child will find the flashcard fun when he or she is able to associate some meaning to the printed words or numbers on the flashcards!”
When you use flashcards with your child, you can add some written words over time to develop their reading and writing comprehension. Once your child reaches a certain age, it is important to go beyond mere recognition of words and sounds and towards the actual production of the word in question.
Flashcard & Its Benefits
There are a host of benefits that we’d like you to focus on –
- It is known to improve metacognition and understanding of one’s thought process
- It helps make associations in kids to communicate and learn languages!
- Links the creation in the brain and helps in the identification of objects
- Improves awareness of the world around your kids
- Helps with ‘active recall’ and memorisation
- Stimulates thinking for themselves
- Improves fine motor skills
- Helps enhance visual memory
- Gives a boost of confidence!
How To Make Learning With Flashcards Interesting!
If flashcard learning is supposed to be, and stay, fun for you and your little one, there are some easy ways to make sure they remain interesting. One form of engagement is in fast-paced quiz activities, which make for a great game with other learners as well. If all the material has already been covered, quiz your child with a classmate, friend or anyone else, to offer a lot more enticement to remember.
When used properly, flashcards are a simple but effective tool. They can be used in many ways:
- Retell Stories: This can be a fun bonding activity with your child where you actually make some flashcards based on a book and get your child to use them to retell the story orally. This allows them to hold up a card when they remember the concept but not the word and pick and choose which elements of the story they want to retell.
- Sentence-building Activities: Lay the cards down on the table, facing upwards. Make your child say a sentence, using as many flashcard words as they can use. Once your child has used a word in a sentence, they can keep that card. Play till all the cards have been used.
- Create Personal Concept Bags: Now, this is a fun one! Every time your child’s learnt a new letter, sound, word, or even math concept, add that letter to a pouch or ziplock bag. This helps them understand how far they’ve come ahead. Also, you can increase the difficulty level by adding in a bonus card, which is unexpected but so much fun!
- Flashcard Scavenger Hunt: Another fun activity where you can engage your child for as long as possible! Here, pick up a flashcard and ask your child to find something in the house that starts with that letter, has the same colour as the word mentioned, or even the number of items on the flashcard. This can also be a way to make clean-up time at home both fun and educational!
Children love to taste, hold, grab, pull, and touch anything around them; and flashcards are a great way to get them to learn by involving things they love to do daily.
Studies suggest source *
