Using Flash Cards with Toddlers

3 or 4 is young enough for flash cards. The kids are learning so much now through their environment and reading of books, just stick with that. If you give them flash cards at one, they will just eat them. :-)

Susanne,
Snuggle, sing, talk, dance, love, hug, play, and FORGET THE FLASH CARDS (LOL)! I've always felt that flash cards at ANY age are entirely too OCD.

i agree with the others, at this age you can't do the traditional "flash card" things. my daughter is 2 and she likes to look at them like they are a book as well. we just say what is on the card, usually everyday objects or animals. She knows her letters and numbers up to 20 so we'll do these cards to and she will "read" me the numbers. but it's more of a game and whatever she wants to do with them at this point.

I used to just look through them with my kids like we would look through books. I'd spread them out and as we looked at them I'd say the object name, talk about what I saw, ask simple questions, let them chew on them. LOL I also had a set that I hung on the walls of the playroom with poster putty for them to look at.

I bought some flash cards from Amazon because I was running out of things to do and was hoping for some creativity. My son started looking at them around 1yo, just flipping thru, loving the animal ones and hearing me make animal noises. Now at 16mos, he says "cards!", brings them to me and sits in my lap. We start going thru each one, pretty quickly, just saying the word/noise. Then we lay them on the ground and he picks out ones that he wants me to say again. I'll also ask him to help me find one, like "where's the pig?" and he looks for it.

So far, he's loving them and I'm glad I bought them.

I feel that, at O., they are too young for structured flash cards. Put them away for a year. My son had a cool set of Baby Einstein animal flashcards which he loved and used to learn all of the animals, but I'm sure he was older than O.. I would look through them and if they are interested, and talking, they could repeat the word you say.....

Flash cards with one year olds ??? I'd save them until the kids are older. There is so much to learn by experiencing it at this age, and so much to learn by interacting wtih Mom and Dad, learning to speak the language, to accomplish stuff, etc. Explore the world together. Save the flashcards for a later date. :-)

I also wouldn't worry too much about the flash cards. If you have them, just mix them in with other things like puzzles and books. At one, everything is a learning opportunity so don't stress out about "academics" at this point. Let them set the pace and in the long run they'll probably love learning so much more. Good luck!

I work with children in the Birth-3 age range with Early Intervention. I also think you should hold off on flash cards at this age. Children learn the names of objects more quickly through experiences rather than pictures. For example, seeing a rabbit hopping around outside and showing them...."rabbit, hop, hop", then maybe having them hop,etc. will have more meaning than just seeing a picture of a rabbit and telling them the word. There are so many natural teaching moments that happen throughout the day at this age.
That is not to say that some children enjoy looking at flashcards. Have them available and if they choose to pick some up, use it as a teaching moment but know that they may leave this activity if they are not interested and that's ok.

i used to show my older son the cards and he would tell me what was on the picture. then he would take a turn asking me. i would pretend not to know some of the pictures and he would crack up laughing at me "no mommy, it's a ..." so cute and soooo much fun. he was closer to 2 years old. my little guy now (who is close to 2years old now), i try to do them with him and he grabs them out of my hand and then takes off running around the room. i think you have to kinda figure it out based on your child/ children. i don't know what to do with my little guy either... love this age!!
what ever you do, just have fun and laugh a lot... it's the memories of the fun of it more than the actual learning that stick with me as i remember back (my oldest is a preteen already)!!

First of all, aren't twins fun? Mine are three and (almost) a half, and they sure do keep things interesting!?! I wouldn't have it any other way :)

As for flash cards, I think it's a bit early . . . unless they are the ones showing interest. We used board books at that age - they seemed to hold up better to the constant chewing ;) I can't imagine trying to play a game with them at that age, unless it is to lay out several face up and ask them to find a specific item . . .

You can show them the pictures and if you can get my baby can read (it really works) but they are too young to sit and learn the flash cards.
good luck T.