Brainscape is among the most popular web and mobile study platforms for high school, college, medical students , and other adult learners who realize that adaptive flashcards are powerful and effective tools for learning .
But recently, we’ve seen an increasing number of parents and teachers discovering Brainscape as a new way to teach and engage their younger students. Curious, the team here at Brainscape did a little investigation into the practice of flashcards for kids, and here's what we found and how YOU can incorporate this essential tool into your kids' or students' learning journey!
How parents and teachers are using flashcards for kids
Flashcard learning for children is quite popular as a playful means to introduce them to new words, images, or concepts. They make it easy to maximize the benefits of repetition and to improve kids’ important (if debated) memorization skills .
Of course, we tend to take a different approach to learning (or teaching) at different ages. Learning at a young age generally suggests the need for a more playful element , because kids learn through play . The great thing about flashcards, therefore, is that you can introduce them to a child in fun ways, which over time might evolve into a more involved yet natural form of studying.
Do you want to get a head start on your child's learning using digital flashcards? Here are some fantastic pre-made collections of flashcards for kids:
How to use flashcards with kids As previously stated, flashcards are an all-age learning tool; even toddlers can learn effectively with them. While the traditional flashcard format involves two sides—one asking a question and the other depicting the answer—a spoken word to accompany a picture also targets language development in younger children.
Repeating words to children so they mimic them is already the most natural form of early teaching; adding a pictorial clue offers great visual stimulation in addition to auditory learning. When you are using flashcards with your children, you can add written words over time to help develop reading and writing comprehension. And once a child reaches a certain stage, it is important to go beyond mere recognition of words and sounds and toward the actual spoken or written production of the word itself.
Nowadays, introducing flashcards is easier than ever thanks to digital flashcard tools. Systems like Brainscape allow you to create (or find) online flashcards for just about any subject—including comprehensive collections of flashcards for kids—so you can take them with your family wherever you go.
How to find or create flashcards for children
Online flashcard marketplaces like Brainscape allow you to find flashcards for kids and for just about any subject. But flashcard creation is also a great activity for older children; one that helps them learn how to create their own assets for learning , a skill that will serve them throughout life. It is also a first step towards learning the material that will be covered with the flashcards themselves!
Children can be involved in the flashcard creation process in several ways:
If there is no ‘required learning’ or you simply want to introduce cards as a learning game, get your child’s input on a subject to study. Once you have made a choice, get creative on the card creation process: Your child likes to draw? Allow them to draw the question side of the card. S/he’s learning to write? Help them spell out the answer. When images are involved (and they should be wherever possible) you can pick them with your child: Find images to color in, give the child magazines/newspapers/coloring books to choose and cut out images from, add these to the flashcards. Creating flashcards for kids: Start small and build As long as you are the primary educator and have a firm grasp of the subject matter and its boundaries, compiling flashcard material is fairly easy. Motivating a child to condense material covered in school into flashcards can be difficult, because it may seem like an arduous task.
To facilitate the evolution from voluntary (fun) learning to required flashcard learning, start small. Children in elementary school won’t need to cover complex or even very detailed material. A first project that will also encourage automatic learning is to ask your child to write down a few important words or sentences that s/he took away from that day’s (or that week’s) classes.
Over time, you will have a nice collection and a great starting point for your flashcards. When you implement these pointers it will be fairly easy to add the details or expand to related concepts.
A final word on flashcards for kids If flashcard creation and learning are supposed to be—and stay—fun for your child, there are some easy ways to keep things interesting. Engaging the child in fast-paced quiz activities can turn flashcards for kids into a great game with other learners, for example. When the material has been covered by all children, quiz your child with a classmate, friend, or sibling.
The important thing is that the parent or teacher serves as the initial guide for individual or group flashcard activities, before “taking off the training wheels” and allowing the child to use the app or paper flashcards on their own.
By teaching kids how to learn deliberately , flashcards can instill good study habits that will last a lifetime.
