App
Reading Eggs
$13.99/mo(0)
Online flashcards for kids
Updated · By Edulist · 5 sources
Card 1 of 144
Tap the card or press Space to flip. Arrow keys move between cards.
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How to use it
- Pick a deck
Choose Math facts, Sight words, Spelling, Vocabulary or My decks, then the list. Sight word cards have a sentence on the back; vocabulary cards have a definition and an example.
- Learn, then practice
Learn flips through every card (tap or press Space; arrows move). Practice shows cards one at a time: say the answer, flip, then tap I knew it or Not yet.
- Quiz or challenge
Quiz is 15 cards, multiple choice, timed. For word decks the card is read aloud and your child taps the word they hear. Challenge is 60 seconds with streak bonuses.
- Make or print a deck
New deck lets you type your own cards, one per line. Print this deck opens our flash card makers with the same cards, ready to cut out.
Printables to go with it
Online flashcards from real word lists
Most free flashcard sites give you an empty box and ask you to type. These decks are ready: they come from the same lists as our printable sight word lists, spelling word lists and vocabulary word lists, and the math decks come from the fact engine behind our math games.
| Deck type | Decks | What's on the back |
|---|---|---|
| Math facts | Each times table 2 to 12, all multiplication to 12 × 12, division, addition and subtraction within 10 and within 20 | The answer |
| Sight words | Dolch pre-primer, primer, first, second and third grade, Dolch nouns; Fry first, second and third 100 | The word in a short sentence |
| Spelling | Kindergarten to 5th grade lists | The word spelled letter by letter, and its spelling pattern |
| Vocabulary | 1st to 8th grade | A kid-friendly definition, the part of speech and an example sentence |
| My decks | Anything you type | Whatever you write |
Word cards have a Hear it button that reads the word aloud with your browser's voice, so a child practicing alone hears the right pronunciation.
Four ways to use a deck
| Mode | How it works | When to use it |
|---|---|---|
| Learn | Flip through every card in order or shuffled. Tap the card or press Space to flip; arrow keys move. | Introducing a new list |
| Practice | Spaced repetition. Say the answer, flip, then tap I knew it or Not yet. | Daily review, five minutes |
| Quiz | 15 cards, multiple choice, timed. Word cards are read aloud: tap the word you hear. | Checking a list before moving on |
| Challenge | 60 seconds of multiple choice, one try each, streak bonuses | A quick game at the end |
Practice is self-graded, the way paper flashcards work. That's deliberate: deciding honestly whether you knew an answer is part of learning. If your child taps I knew it for everything, the Quiz tab is an honest check.
How spaced repetition works
Flashcards work because they make a child pull an answer out of memory, and every successful pull makes the next one easier. Researchers call this retrieval practice. A 2013 review of ten common study techniques by Dunlosky and colleagues rated two as most useful: practice testing (flashcards are the classic example) and distributed practice, meaning review spread out over time.
The Practice tab combines both using the Leitner system, a box method invented for paper flashcards:
- Every card starts in box 1.
- I knew it moves a card up one box. Box 2 comes back tomorrow, box 3 in three days, box 4 in a week, box 5 in three weeks.
- Not yet sends a card back to box 1, and it comes back a few cards later in the same session.
- Each session starts with the cards that are due, lowest box first, and adds only a few new cards, so a child isn't flooded with words they don't know.
The result: your child spends most of their time on the cards they're still learning, and the known cards still come back now and then so they aren't forgotten. The line under the deck picker shows how many cards are fluent, getting there, still learning or not tried yet.
Sight word flashcards
Sight words are the most common words in English, many of which don't follow regular phonics patterns (said, was, of) or appear so often that children need to read them instantly. Kindergarten standards ask children to read common high-frequency words by sight (RF.K.3c).
Flashcards work best for sight words when they're mixed with reading. The What Works Clearinghouse guide on foundational reading skills (2016) recommends teaching children to decode words, analyze word parts, and write and recognize words. That's why the back of every Dolch card has a short sentence using the word: after reading the word alone, your child reads it in context. For irregular words, point out which part is regular (the s and d in said) and which part has to be remembered.
A practical plan: introduce three to five new words a week in Learn, practice daily, and keep old words in the mix. The spaced schedule does that for you. Our guide on how to teach sight words goes deeper, and the Dolch pre-primer list is the usual starting point.
Math fact flashcards
The math decks cover the same facts as our games: each times table on its own, all 144 multiplication facts, division, and addition and subtraction within 10 and 20. In Quiz and Challenge, math cards offer four answer choices built from common mistakes, like 7 × 7 or 7 × 9 for 7 × 8.
Math cards share their records with the times tables game and the addition and subtraction games, which add typed answers, timing and a color grid of every fact. Use the flashcards for quick review and the games for timed fluency practice.
Spelling and vocabulary flashcards
Spelling cards show the word on the front and the letters spelled out on the back, with the week's spelling pattern (short a, silent e, -tion). The best way to use them: read the word, flip it face down, spell it aloud or write it, then flip to check. In Quiz mode the word is read aloud and your child picks the right spelling from four similar-looking words.
Vocabulary cards put the definition and an example sentence on the back. In Quiz mode, your child reads the word and picks its definition from four. For extra practice with the same words, try hangman for kids, which uses these spelling and vocabulary lists, with definitions as clues.
Make your own deck
Press New deck, give it a name, and type one card per line:
| You type | Front | Back |
|---|---|---|
| habitat | the natural home of an animal | habitat | the natural home of an animal |
| 7 x 8 = 56 | 7 x 8 | 56 |
| because | because | because |
You can separate the front and back with a bar, an equals sign, a colon or a tab, so a list copied from a spreadsheet works. Decks are saved in your browser, up to 200 cards each, and use the same spaced repetition as the built-in decks.
Print a deck
Every deck has a Print this deck button. Math decks open our math flash card maker with the matching facts, answers on the back. Sight word decks open the sight word worksheet generator set to flash cards for that list, and your own decks send their words there too. Printed cards are handy for the car, for a word wall, or for a child who needs a break from screens.
For a full reading program, Reading Eggs, Hooked on Phonics and Vocabulary.com, listed below, add structured lessons; save the ones you're considering to your wishlist.
Sources
- Dunlosky, J., et al. (2013). Improving students' learning with effective learning techniques. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 14(1)
- Cepeda, N. J., et al. (2006). Distributed practice in verbal recall tasks. Psychological Bulletin, 132(3)
- What Works Clearinghouse (2016). Foundational Skills to Support Reading for Understanding in Kindergarten Through 3rd Grade
- Common Core State Standards: Reading Foundational Skills, Kindergarten (RF.K.3c, high-frequency words)
- Common Core State Standards: Grade 3 Operations and Algebraic Thinking (3.OA.C.7)
Questions
Where do the sight word lists come from?
The Dolch lists are Edward Dolch's 220 service words in five levels plus his 95 nouns. The Fry decks are the first 300 of Edward Fry's 1,000 Instant Words, in frequency order. They're the same lists as our printable sight word lists.
How does the spaced repetition work?
Each card sits in one of five boxes. I knew it moves a card up a box, so it comes back later (tomorrow, then in 3 days, a week, 3 weeks). Not yet sends it back to the first box, and it comes back a few cards later in the same session. Practice always starts with the cards that are due.
Can I make my own flashcards?
Yes. Press New deck, name it, and type one card per line as front | back, for example habitat | the natural home of an animal. A line with just a word makes a word card. Decks are saved in your browser, up to 200 cards each.
Do the math cards share progress with the math games?
Yes. The times tables and addition decks use the same fact records as our times tables game and addition and subtraction games, so a fact your child knows in one shows as known in the others.
What if the read-aloud doesn't work?
Read-aloud uses your browser's built-in voice. If your device has none, word quizzes show a sentence with the word missing, or the word itself to find, instead.
Can I print these flashcards?
Yes. Print this deck sends math decks to our math flash card maker and word decks to our sight word worksheet generator with the flash card layout, so the printed cards match the deck.