How to Make Picture Flash Cards for Babies
Flash cards are useful tools when teaching children and stimulating their minds. Flash cards geared to babies and young children are plentiful in stores and online. To save money, make a set of flash cards at home. With this method, you can decide what colors and pictures are used for a completely customized learning experience.
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Things You'll Need
- Thick paper, index cards or cereal boxes
- Markers, colored pencils or crayons
- Tape
- Pens
- Embellishments such as ribbon, glitter and cotton balls
Instructions
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Choose a material for your index cards. The cards should be made from something very sturdy and durable. Card stock and index cards are good choices. You can also cut cereal boxes into 3-inch by 5-inch rectangles for an environmentally friendly option.
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Draw pictures onto each card using markers, colored pencils or crayons. If you’re not artistic, you can print pictures off of the Internet and tape them to the cards. The pictures can be of anything you want such as fruits, barnyard animals, zoo animals, shapes or toys.
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Add embellishments to the flash cards for added visual appeal and textural learning. For example, a flashcard with a picture of a sheep may have a cotton ball glued to it. The age of your baby will dictate items used on the cards and the complexity of the cards. Babies under 1 year of age may do better with very simple cards and as they get older, you can add to them.
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Write the name of the object on the back of the card. As your child gets older, you can use the words to help teach letters, sounds and reading.
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Tips & Warnings
Use bright colors to help catch the baby’s attention.
When using flash cards with babies, remember that their attention span is very short. Use only a few flash cards at a time and make it engaging.
If your flash cards have embellishments, do not let your baby handle the cards unsupervised due to possible choking hazards.
References
- Photo Credit Jupiterimages/Goodshoot/Getty Images
