Flashcard Fun

Flashcards seem to be an inevitable part of education. It’s such an easy way to practice something until it becomes automatic. It’s really scary what I can still remember from Human Anatomy and Physiology due to flashcards. And that’s from over 15 years ago, so we should all be scared together!

But flashcards for kids tend to be boring. What bores children usually does not teach children–at least not much. So let’s make it more exciting, shall we?

Number one hint is let kids make their own flashcards. Even if your child can’t write them out or draw the pictures to prompt themselves, at least let your child decorate the cards. This is so much more interesting for her. I say her, because he might be a little less inclined for this suggestion. Accept this. Find another way to help him…like tip number two.

Make practicing with the cards a game. Let your child flip, blow, throw or otherwise fling the card when he practices it correctly. Boys seem to find this sort of “naughty” thing fun. So let them do it. Also, it can be fun to set a timer or have races. Divide the deck in half and see how fast you can do each have. You get the idea.

Finally, don’t ever, ever forget that short and sweet is best. Even if you have to practice three or four times a day to build up to twenty minutes, short, focused practice is ALWAYS better than long, drawn out, whiny practice. For you and for your child.

If you look online, you’ll find all kinds of flashcard sites. Personally, I think that they get in the way of the first tip–make your own. And, often the teachers send home flashcard sets anyway. However, I do like FlashCardExchange, because it allows you to play memory online with cards you make. This is best for older kids who are using flash cards for test prep in a question-answer format. It does not work for sight words, letters, colors, numbers and other items where the purpose is just recognition. It does have a “study” option which flashes the cards for you on the screen. This can be good if you have a child with a computer fascination. It might be the thing that gets him or her to practice. To get access to some of the more advanced options, you’ll have to pay a registration fee. I’ve never had a need for that, so I know nothing about it. If you do, I’d love to hear your opinion.

If you don’t want to spend money buying your preschooler flashcards, then abcteach has an excellent set of preschool concept flashcards for free. It even has some blank flashcard templates for you (or your child) to make. Again, if you want access to premium features, there’s a subscription fee, but I’ve never needed more than their free stuff.

So flashcards–make them fun, make them short and sweet. Do you have any other ideas? I could definitely use them. The multiplication tables are on the horizon and I’m going to need some fresh ideas for Dylan. So please share!

Tags: drill, flash cards, homework

Practicing in the Car

Part of the reason that practicing in the car can be effective is that car trips are of a limited duration.  Kids know that it’s going to be over when the trip is over.  So they seem to be able to focus and get some of that boring drill practice over with.

Making Car Practice Successful

• Keep it short
• Pay attention to your child’s mood
• Make it a routine to practice while driving
• Involve singing or chanting, if possible
• Turn practice into a game
• Provide reinforcement and rewards
• Take turns or practice with your child
• Don’t just listen; you participate, too
• Practice different things throughout the week
• Keep flash cards in the car
• Keep oral reading books in the car

Things to Practice in the Car
Names:  Help your child learn his full name, how to spell his name, and the full names of both parents. Use daily repetition for a few days and then periodically do a little “Facts About Me” quizz on names, phone numbers, address, etc. to make sure that your child is maintaining the information.

Phone Numbers: For safety reasons, the first phone number your child should learn is the one that is most likely to get her in contact with a parent (or parent-figure). Once you’re confident your child knows that number, you may want to add in a back-up phone number. Also, it may be wise to start out teaching your child the ten-digit phone number even if that is not required in your area. We have to reteach our kiddos ten-digit numbers by next summer.

Address: I chose to teach our children our address using single digit numbers. For example, I taught them our house number as “one two five six” instead of “twelve fifty-six.” I did this for safety reasons. They are more easily understood by others who may need to know their address and Emergency Operators (9-1-1) are trained to use this format to help prevent miscommunication.

Seasons of the Year, Months of the Year, Days of the Week, Child’s Birthday: I know little songs that teach these concepts. You can usually find examples online. If you ask nicely, maybe I’ll get around to making a video of the kids and me singing for you.

Flash Cards: You can make or buy inexpensive flash cards to teach colors, shapes, numbers, letter names and sight words. Let your child hold the deck and practice while you drive.

Quizzing: Do little quiz-style activities for colors, shapes, counting, rhyming, and letter sounds: What color is your shirt? What does the letter “A” say? What rhymes with “ball”? How many toys are in your car seat? Playing “I Spy” also reinforces color and shape concepts. Quizzing can also be used to teach opposites and synonyms, simple blending (C-A-T), spelling words, vocabulary words, foreign language vocabulary, math facts, states & capitals, and many other assignments. This often works better if you and your child take turns being the “asker.”

Chanting: Chanting is the method I used to teach rote counting (1, 2, 3, 4), ordinal counting (1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th), skip counting by 2s, 5s, and 10s, and saying the alphabet. This can also be an excellent way to work on memorizing parts for programs or presentations.

Storytelling: Ask your child about her day. Prompt with “What happened first, next, last?” if you need to. You can also ask her to tell you the story of a book she read or a movie she watched. Sometimes it’s fun to retell memories of fun activities with friends and family.

Oral Reading: If you keep a few books in the car, this can be a great time for your son to read out loud to you.

What else can we teach our kids while driving around town?  Leave a comment below and share!

Tags: drill, early elementary, homework, preschool

Indoor Obstacle Course

More Things to Include in Your Course

• If you have a mini exercise trampoline definitely pull this out and use it.
• Stack up a few medium or small shipping boxes and then kick or otherwise knock down the tower.
• Put down a strip of tape on the floor and try to walk on it like a tight rope.
• If you have a 2×4 type board that can be used inside your house, you can set it on the floor and have your child use it like a balance beam.
• You can scatter out some toys in an area and have them run through the toys quickly without touching any of them.
• Make a pile of pillows or blankets and swim through them.
• Lay out a blanket and have them roll up in it like a burrito.
• If you have a large exercise ball have them roll or bounce on it.
• Use a hopping ball with a handle designed for children to sit and bounce.
• Use a step stool or a chair to have children climb up and jump down.

Besides using the course for entertainments purposes you can use it as a reward for getting a spelling word right while doing drill practice. For instance, have your child spell one of his words and then let him move on to the next step in the obstacle course. This could also work with learning math facts.

If you have another idea for an indoor obstacle course, please share! Leave a comment and let me know what works for your family.

Tags: early elementary, exercise, homework, preschool