Flash cards are a very useful tool and can be a fun way to help refresh knowledge. They can be used for quick games while traveling or stuck inside on rainy days. If you are learning something, nothing beats quick refreshers like flash card reviews.

Many schools use flash cards to assist in learning or to incorporate a learning game to make a subject fun. Usually schools or other learning environments are where many people get their first experience with flash cards.

A teacher could divide the children into two groups and go from one team to another in asking a question that is on the card. If a student gets the answer wrong, they have to sit down. The game continues until only one group has students standing, or until the flash cards run out. Should the flash cards run out, then the team with the most students left is declared the winner.

Learning by using flash cards all by yourself can be a useful pastime as well. This method can be used simply and conveniently. Why not have something to do while you are waiting in lines, for a movie to start, at lunchtime, or even on the bus?

Here is one example of an adult using, or making, flash cards to help them learn and memorize the drinks for a bartending class.

Pick one side of the card to put the name of the drink. In this example, we will use the drink; Black Russian. The other side of the card will have the ingredients, activity and glass used. This is what the bartender would have to remember when making a Black Russian.

Should a friend decide to help the aspiring bartender learn their trade, he or she would call out the name of the drink, in this case: Black Russian. The bartender would then tell the helper what would go in the drink; 2 ounces of vodka and 1 ounce of coffee liqueur. The aspiring mixologist would also then say that he or she would pour over ice into a rocks glass.

Of course the answers are right there on the cards so that the helper need not have any experience in the subject. This can make learning and reviewing easier for some people.

With that example of a flash card, the reverse could also be true. The helper could show them the ingredients, activity, and glass to be used. The bartender would then have to tell the helper what drink it was that described.

For optimum learning, put the cards that are missed off to the side for further review and quizzing.