- Pictured: Three custom flashcards, one with the word WINK written with bold marker and braille at bottom of card, a second with the word SMILE, and a third with CLAP.
Are you planning to travel to a place where a foreign language is spoken? Do you have young kids just learning to read? Are you learning braille? These are just a few ways flashcards could prove very helpful.
It is easy to make your own flashcards, flashcards that are designed to meet your needs. Flashcards can be created not only with the specific content you want to learn, but also using bold markers or colors that help you to see what is on them. You can even add braille to your flashcards so that a sighted person, a blind person, and a visually impaired person can work together or separately using the same set of cards. Oh, the flexibility!
Laminated (or dry erase) index cards add yet another dimension to your flashcard project. Blank laminated index cards are inexpensive. Their benefit is that once the content is learned, the cards can be wiped clean to be used again with new learning material. With the laminated cards, I do recommend wet erase markers because these will stay fresh on each card until wiped clean with a moistened cloth. Dry erase markers, on the other hand, wipe away too easily, even accidentally, and so the lifespan of a laminated flashcard with dry erase marker can be quite short. If adding braille, however, plain index cards are best because the braille cannot be easily erased for reuse.
Some suggested activities for flashcards:
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Arrange selected cards in a row on a table to create words or sentences, patterns, or designs.
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Review the content of the cards, one at a time, from a pile.
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Use them to create games, such as drawing a card for pantomime or timed challenges (in a group, who reads it correctly first?).
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With the laminated cards, copy or trace the written material using a dry erase marker right on the card. Studies show that writing new words helps to preserve them in memory. Great for penmanship practice too.
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Create a set of activity cards. For young children learning to read, sight words such as RUN, HOP, SKIP, JUMP, HUM, SMILE, CRY, etc., can promote learning new words and test comprehension at the same time by asking the child to read and then perform each word. This also works for learning a foreign language or even braille.
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Arrange pairs of flashcards face down on a table or floor and play the matching game. Find pairs. The winner is the player who has found the most pairs.
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Place a series of instructions on separate cards, like recipes, knit and crochet patterns, etc. As you complete each step, move that card to the bottom of the pile. In this way, you will not lose your place. (Remember to number your cards.)
Flashcards can be fun! Do you have some helpful ideas to add?
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Links to items mentioned:
- Ordinary index cards
- Dry erase index cards
- Wet erase markers
- Slate & Stylus – free on request
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Legally Blind 