Flashcards for Teachers

Browse printable flashcards to develop your students’ active recall skills and improve their retention of key concepts.

Whether you’re teaching multiplication facts in maths, topic-specific vocabulary in science, or letter-sound recognition in English, you’re sure to find a flashcard to suit your specific teaching needs in our curriculum-aligned collection. Forget the work to make your own flashcards … Teach Starter’s diverse range of visually appealing printable flashcards has been created by our passionate team of teachers for teachers just like you!  

Are you curious about using flashcards as a teaching tool in your primary classroom? Read on for some great teacher tips on the versatility and effectiveness of these handy and easy-to-use resources!

What Are Flashcards?

Flashcards are a teaching tool intended to aid student recall of key information. Flashcards can be one- or two-sided. One-sided flashcards are typically used as a tool to assist with speedy and accurate recognition (think subitising flashcards or high-frequency word flashcards). Two-sided flashcards, on the other hand, can assist with active recall of new concepts, definitions or vocabulary (or just about any other concepts you can think of!) Flashcards can be as simple or as complicated as the task requires… the most important thing is that they are fit for purpose!

Are Flashcards Active Recall?

To answer this question, we’ll first need to provide a brief explanation of what active recall is.

Active recall occurs when we are required to actively think about the answer to a question. For example, if someone asked you what you ate for dinner last Tuesday evening, you would probably need to stop and search through your brain until you located the experiences you had on that particular day. This technique — as the name suggests —requires you to actively look for information stored in your brain, rather than passively absorbing it through reading or listening.

So back to the question at hand… do flashcards promote active recall? The answer is, absolutely! Flashcards require you to actively search through your memory to locate the relevant information needed to answer a question.

Flashcards can show information in multiple ways:

• Images
• Diagrams
• Graphs
• Mathematical equations
• Written questions
• The possibilities are endless!

Flashcards are a handy study tool, indeed!

When students use flashcards to actively retrieve information, the likelihood of them retaining this information and retrieving it at a later point in time is increased significantly.

Are Flashcards Effective?

The effectiveness of flashcards as a learning tool depends on factors such as how regularly they are used by the student, and how actively the student engages with the information on the cards. However, if used correctly, flashcards are a highly effective method of learning and retaining new information. They encourage students to actively search for and locate relevant information in their memory, rather than just reading it, listening to it, or simply recognising it by sight. 

Another reason why flashcards are so effective as a teaching tool is that they promote metacognitive skills. When engaging with the content on the cards, students might ask themselves questions such as: ‘How complete was my answer? What information did I leave out? Did I include any information that I shouldn’t have?’

Studies have consistently shown that thinking about their thinking leads to increased learning outcomes for our students… and that, after all, is what we teachers are aiming for!

How Can I Use Flashcards in My Lessons?

Now that you understand the potential benefits of using flashcards with your students, you might be wondering how best to incorporate these handy little gems into your lessons. 

As with any learning experience, adding a gamified element can increase your students’ level of engagement with the topic at hand. Remember, little learners have short attention spans, so the more game-like you can make your flashcard sessions, the more interested your students will be in participating!

Here are five easy activities you can try when using one- and two-sided flashcards in your classroom.

1. Quick as a Flash — Set a time limit for how long each flashcard will be shown, e.g. three seconds. Show each flashcard in turn and see if students can recognise and/or recall key concepts before the set time passes.
2. Slow and Steady — Cover the flashcard with a piece of paper, then slowly move the paper to gradually reveal the flashcard underneath. See if students can recognise and/or recall key concepts before the flashcard has been fully revealed.
3. One-Minute Challenge — Set a timer for one minute. See how many flashcards students can recall correctly during the course of the minute. Repeat the challenge to see if the students can beat their record! 
4. Memory — Instead of printing two-sided flashcards, print one-sided cards to allow students to play a game of Memory. Students must find two related cards in order to win the match.
5. Show Me! — Provide students with a mini whiteboard and whiteboard marker. Show students one side of a two-sided flashcard. Have the students write or draw what they think is on the other side of the flashcard. When they are done, have them flip their whiteboards to show what they have drawn or written. Flip the flashcard so the students can see if they are correct. (Points for correct answers could be added to this activity for an additional level of excitement!)

How Can I Easily Print These Flashcards?

Printing flashcards is easy if you know how! The most important thing to remember when printing flashcards is to choose the quickest and easiest method according to the type of flashcard you are printing.

Here are some simple tips for printing single-sided and double-sided flashcards for use in your primary classroom.

Printing single-sided, foldable flashcards

For the sake of convenience, some flashcards are designed in a side-by-side fashion, meaning the front card and back card appear next to each other, separated by a fold line. These flashcards make for easy, one-sided printing; however, you will need to put in a little extra work to carefully fold along each fold line to create the desired 'front-and-back' flashcard effect.

 Printing double-sided flashcards

On the other hand, if you need to print a set of flashcards where the fronts and backs of the cards are on separate, consecutive pages, you'll want to know how to print these pages so the flashcards are double-sided.

The easiest way to print double-sided flashcards is to use a printer with the capacity for double-sided printing. Be sure that your printer settings are set to print on both sides of the paper, and also ensure that you select the correct 'flip' setting for the document you are printing.

If your printer doesn't have the capacity for two-sided printing, don't despair! You can still create your double-sided flashcards by printing on one side, flipping the paper over, then printing the next page on the other side of the paper! It may take a little longer, but the end result will be worth it!