Flash Cards...Not for Dummies!

Marilyn L. Brown

Flash cards can be a tool to make learning facts more fun. They can easily be individualized, used in games, and transported.

Card drills can be individualized to build the skills your child needs. For example, in the beginning, a child may use only five (5) cards and add two (2) each day. Then after he has twenty (20) or so then the easy cards can be weeded out as more difficult cards are added. A certain card stays in the stack until you are sure your child knows it.

Later, when your child knows many facts, mix them all together and use the flash cards like you normally would. Show your child a card and he answers. If his answer is correct it goes in one pile and if not it goes in the other. Celebrate how many are in the “I know it” stack. Then use the “I need to work on it” stack for several days.

Card drills can be used with many ages. Younger children will need to learn letter names and sounds and the addition and subtraction facts. Elementary children will need to learn multiplication and division facts. Also, states and capitals make great elementary flash cards. Advanced students may use cards to learn common fraction/decimal equivalents, prefixes and suffixes, common abbreviations, chemical elements, and foreign vocabulary.

Each day do flashcards. For example, begin with only two (2) or three(3) very simple facts such as 1+1, 1+2, and 2+1. Then each day add a fact or two, related facts such as 3+4 and 4+3. Do card drills for up to five minutes. Longer may become drudgery to both you and your child. If the flash cards seem to become a chore, then for a few days use only the easy facts to get success again. Success breeds success. Also, be sure to vary the way they are presented. Try a different game, for instance.

To use flash cards in games, I find it worthwhile to make my own cards that do not have other problems on the back. Often I do not write the answer on the back if it is a common math fact. I use index cards and cut them in half for a set of small cards. Some people use colored or shaped paper for more appealing cards.

Some Great Games!

*If your child gets the right answer, he gets to lay the card down end to end so he can build a road to a place. Place a prize (or prize card) a certain distance away and let your child build the road to reach it. Some inexpensive prizes could include video game or TV time, family story time, a special extra break time. Also a child could be given a tally card and each time he reaches the goal he adds a sticker to his card. When he gets 10 he gets a bigger prize.

* Play math-tac-toe. Set up a tic-tac-toe board. To place a figure he must get a card right.

* Rather than saying the correct answer put/toss a bean bag on it.

* Have your child ask you the problems on each card. (Encourage him to check your answers.)

* Lay several cards on the floor . Have your child stand back several feet and flip a coin to them. He gets to answer the one it lands on.

* Do backward flash cards. Give the answer and let your child give some problems. For example, if you say "7" let your child suggest 1+6, 2+5, 8-1, 9-2… He may have a stack of flash cards and find the problem to show you.

* Each correct answer means adding a block to a tower. Try to get it as high as you can. Can you build it higher than yesterday’s tower?

Some Great Hints!

Flash cards can be taken with you and used when you're in a waiting room or must spend several hours in a car. Laminated cards are sturdier. You may laminate them yourselves, or if they are small enough, clear shipping tape can be used to cover them. If you punch holes in a corner, the cards can be threaded on a snap ring or a key ring. This way they're always available.

If you do it right, Card drills can be educational and fun. And they're something you can do anywhere. Try it some time!

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