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39. Children's Flash Cards
Better Known Songs
It is well worth the time to copy out the better-known songs on sheets of card, two or three times the size of regular flashcards for children's work. They make it easy to maximize the benefits of repetition and to improve kids' memorization skills. Rounding the children's flashcards corners will also help them travel better, and a clear book covering may be useful in protecting them from sticky fingers! For the little children, ordinary upper case lettering rather than bubble or ladder lettering may be more legible. Upper case letters on flashcards may be best for small children as this is how they first learn to read. Paul Kropp (1948-2015), the eminent writer on learning skills in children, wrote, "Between the ages of four and nine, your child will have to master some 100 phonics rules, learn to recognize 3,000 words with just a glance, and develop a comfortable reading speed approaching 100 words a minute. He (or she) must learn to combine words on the page with a half-dozen squiggles called punctuation into something – a voice or image in his mind that gives back meaning." No matter how you write out the sheets, be sure to speak the words out loud anyway for those who cannot read. Actions will further help to remind the children of the words as in "Zacchaeus was a very little man," or "The wise man built his house upon the rock," or "If I were a butterfly." Many of the children's songs have memorable words when combined with hand actions. ✞
Making Flash Cards
It is essential to learn how to use chorus sheets, a stand, and drawing guidelines for color flashcards for singing with children in teaching groups. When you make up your color flashcards for choruses, carefully map out the whole card before committing pen to paper. Draw guidelines in pencil across the page four inches deep and two inches apart. Letters will be two inches wide with a quarter-inch between them. Allow a two-inch gap between words. For the best contrast on white paper, use black or dark blue colors and avoid oranges and yellows, which are not as clear at any distance. When you have finished your work, you might like to embellish your flashcards with a border scroll in a bright color or a giant sticker. The "artist's touch," you might say! ✞
Stencil Letter Cards
You can use stencil letter cards to produce chorus sheets in freehand lettering for a children's meeting. If you should have a problem with creating lettering, you can always resort to stencil letter cards. Various sizes in plastic or cardboard are available from any large stationery store. There is also a "metal cutting dies stencil" for producing 2" high capital letters for card making. The correct way to use stencils is to draw around each letter outline, remove the stencil, and color the shape you have made. Be sure to set the words on a horizontal guide and keep them upright and evenly spaced. Beautiful calligraphy styles are available for stencils for special events. Stencils may be a little slower than freehand lettering, but they will give you the first-class appearance every time, which might not have been possible otherwise. It may be helpful to hang several chorus sheets upon a stand before the children's meeting begins or have the children come to the front and hold them up for you. ✞
Flash Card Stand
A flash Card stand made of aluminum for the display of chorus sheets works very well with Sunday school children singing as a group. Two kinds of flashcard stand or easel are available from artist's supply shops. You can purchase both the table top easel and the full height stand from aluminum. Aluminum stands are very light, compact and are easily set up and taken down. Both types of display stand can be sloped according to need and are lightweight for portability. A full-size easel made from timber can carry a handy paint tray or a series of visual aids on the center struts. However, you may wish to make up your display stand out of timber, especially if they do not have to fold up to be stored away in a permanent Sunday School room, for example. A handyman will not have difficulty making this kind of support out of two inches by one-inch timbers and quarter-inch bolts and wing nuts. Like the Old Testament builders of the tabernacle, God gives his Spirit to those craftsmen who work for his glory. Exodus 31.1-5 says, "Now the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 'See, I have called by name Bezalel, the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah. I have filled him with the Spirit of God in wisdom, in understanding, in knowledge, and all kinds of craftsmanship (or "workmanship"), to make artistic designs (or "devise devices") for work in gold, in silver, and in bronze (or "copper"), and the cutting of stones for settings, and the carving of wood, that he may work in all kinds of craftsmanship.'" The bracketed words are alternate translations of the Hebrew and Greek original texts. ✞
"Children's Flash Cards"
by Ron Meacock © 1982-2021
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