Where do I get the cards?
Every room's cards are on Kadoo's word pages, as a PDF of A4 sheets with nine cards each, laid out to print on US Letter too. Each word page also shows the pictures on screen, and a tap plays the word, so you can check how a word sounds before the lesson. The voice speaks American English.
The cards are free to print for home and classroom use. Printing on card or laminating them makes them last through many games.
Which set should I start with?
Start with words children meet every day, then follow your topic:
- Food: the kitchen set has apple, banana, bread, cheese, egg, cup, plate and spoon, among 45 cards.
- Animals: the farm set has cow, horse, sheep, pig, goat, hen and lamb.
- School things: the classroom set has pencil, eraser, ruler, notebook, scissors, glue and crayons.
- Toys and bedtime: the bedroom set has bed, pillow, teddy bear, doll, kite, robot and pajamas.
- Outdoors: the playground set has slide, swings, sandbox, bubbles and a sandcastle.
Five to eight new cards per lesson is plenty for this age. Bring back a few from last time before adding new ones: young children remember new words better when they meet them on several different days (Childers and Tomasello, 2002).
Ten flashcard games
- Where is it? Lay five cards face up. Say a word; the children point or slap the card. With a class, two teams take turns. This asks children to find the word, which works well before they can say it.
- What's missing? Show five cards, have everyone close their eyes, and take one away. "What's missing?" Children can point to where it was or say the word.
- Bring me. Put cards around the room. "Bring me the cup!" One child fetches it. Then a child gives the instruction.
- Sort it. Mix two sets, such as kitchen and farm, and ask children to sort them: "Food here, animals there." Say each word as it lands.
- Memory. Print a set twice and play the matching game face down. Each time a child turns a card, everyone says its word.
- Picture bingo. Give each child a grid of six cards. Call words; children cover the pictures they hear. The first full card says "Bingo!"
- Slow reveal. Hide a card behind a book and pull it out slowly. The first child to say what it is wins the card.
- Simon says, with things. "Simon says touch the apple. Simon says put the spoon on your head." It mixes words and actions, and lots of laughing.
- Story chain. Turn over three cards and make a tiny story with them: "The cat is in the bed with a cup." Older children can add the next sentence.
- Real or picture? Put a card next to the real object, if you have it: a real spoon next to the spoon card. Ask, "Is this the spoon?" The word then belongs to something the child can hold, not only to a picture.
How do I keep it right for 4 to 8 year olds?
Keep games short, five to ten minutes, and stop while the children still want more. Let the youngest answer by pointing; speaking comes when they're ready. Praise the try, not only the right answer. And mix in a song: many sets match songs about food, animals or colors.
Can children play with the words on their own?
Yes, on the word pages: each picture says its word when tapped, which helps children who can't read yet. In Kadoo, the English learning game the cards come from, children find the same things in painted rooms, hear the words and collect them, with words coming back on later days.
Sources
- Childers and Tomasello (2002), Two-year-olds learn novel nouns, verbs, and conventional actions from massed or distributed exposures, Developmental Psychology.
