Hi! I'm Marcy from Fabulous Classroom! Right now, like you and so many others, I am stuck at home and trying to make the best of it. Since my kids are 18 and 15 (senior and freshman in high school), I am fortunate that they don't need much help from me. However, I know that things are extremely difficult for parents and teachers (especially those doing double duty!) during this time. For this reason, I wanted to share a wonderful resource with you: Boom Cards.

Basically, Boom Cards are digital task cards. Accordingly to the Boom Learning site, Boom Cards are "self-grading exercises that are gamified for students and provide the data that teachers want." They can be used both at home and at school, which makes them perfect for distance learning. As an example, here is a short clip of one of my Boom Decks showing what happens when both correct and incorrect responses are given:

As you can see, I easily played this on my phone, and when I chose an incorrect answer I was given the chance to correct my error. Once all 4 answers were correct, the game automatically moved on to the next card. While the decks I create focus on early Spanish, you can find decks for a huge range of subjects for grades K-12!

How do Boom Cards Work?

Boom Cards can be played on any device that connects to the Internet. In addition, there are specific apps available for Android, iPads, iPhones, and Kindle Fires. If your child has been assigned activities on Boom Learning by his or her teacher, they will already have instructions and login information. However, if you would like to "assign" activities to your own kids (this is especially great with younger kids or to introduce new subjects to bored older kids) you will need to sign up as a teacher. In order to do this, simply click here to sign up for a free trial account (which will stay free as long as you have 5 or less "students").

How Can I Get Boom Cards?

There are actually 2 different ways you can get Boom Cards (also called Boom Decks - each card is part of a full deck). First, you can purchase them directly from the Boom Learning site, where there is a store. You can filter by subject or price range. For example, here is what it looks like when I filtered for math resources:

On this site, you shop with "points" which you can buy via store credit. There are also TONS of free decks you can get, so definitely try those first to see which sellers and types of cards you think will work best for your kids. 

In addition, you can also purchase (or find many for free!) Boom Decks on Teachers Pay Teachers. Simply search for Boom Cards or Boom Decks along with the subject you are looking for on the Teachers Pay Teachers site. Also, many sellers who create Boom Decks have a custom category in their stores to make them easier to find. Although I have just started creating decks and only have 2, you can see an example of what custom catorgories look like in my store by clicking here. On the left side towards the top you will see a list of Custom Categories; under this you'll see Boom Cards.

While we are engaging in distance learning there is no right answer to this question. Boom Cards are great for extra practice to reinforce subjects, to learn a new language, or to just have some fun! If you have more questions on how to use Boom Learning, their YouTube channel has some really helpful videos! If you'd like some additional distance learning resources, please check out this blog post featuring tons from a huge variety of subjects!

Stay safe and healthy!!

Marcy