heymomblog: Make your own sight words memory card game!

My 5 year old son loves to play games - either it be video games, computer games, or board/card games. When his teacher sent home a list of sight words he needed to learn, I noticed simply going through the flash cards wasn't helping. I grabbed some thick card-stock I had and make a quick hand written memory game with the 10 words. (20 cards - 2 cards of each word). He liked this a lot! We played every day after homework or before bed and he was always eager to win and play. The more we played, the more he remembered the words - to the point now he knows all of them easily and by heart.

I love to design and print things and often I will use a website called artscow, based in China. Since they are a company in China, they offer printing services at prices that cannot be beat here in the US. I've ordered blankets, change purses, books, pillow cases, canvas, cards, prints - etc. Every single thing has been of exceptional quality (NOT something you always see with a company based in China that sells at low price).

They have a product called multipurpose cards, and you can decide what to print on the front and on the back of each card. Each set comes with 54 cards (so you can make two ten word games, and leave the last ones blank if you want. With my first order I did this, and left the last 14 blank. When my two year old was bored of the word one that was too advanced for him, I make him a shape memory game which he really likes too.

I found that the printed ones work really well for my 5 year old, because the words are written in a font his teacher uses and teaches him with. Some people do not realize writing a small "A" differently typed can really confuse a child.

So I designed images in PAINTNET (free program I love) with the sight words on them in a font that matched the flash cards his teacher sent home, then on the back of each card I used a brightly colored digital scrap book image. I stayed away from images, like cute cartoons or things like that. Right now my son associates an Apple with the letter A, so I think putting any kind of image on the backside could cause confusion or distraction.

It's very easy to create the cards at Artcow. You click create, then upload your images and basically drag and drop them onto each card. Cards can come in shapes of rectangles, circles or hearts. I used circles because there are no corners to get bent, and so far they have worked well for us. They are perfectly sized as well for small hands (but bug hands too).

This is the preview the website gave me (of one card):

Cards are usually $10.99 plus shipping - but they ALWAYS have coupons going on. A quick check on retailmenot.com will almost always get you some kind of cheaper priced coupon. They offer free shipping with most deals too. Sign up for their newsletter to get the really great deals.

Currently right now the great deal is $8.99 with free shipping: