For many kids (and their parents!) computer based “flash cards” work the best. The easiest way to show them is using Power Point Presentation. This program allows to setup sideshow, adjust timings between the slides, easily add sound effects, etc. You can dowload existing presentations and see our recomendations on how to use them , or create your own ones. So, here are a few tips for those who are new to this process.

1. Use file templates:
   • Book, encyclopedic bits template
   • Couplets file template
   • Template for creating multilingual slides. Includes randomizer (for 10 days). It’s great for both encyclopedic knowledge, single words, couplets presentations. Thanks to Isa for sharing this amazing template and directions:
     

     This template has the “palmchristy” randomizing table at the beginning and allows you to choose 30 different sequences (10 days x 3 sessions) but has been modified by me to allow bilingual powerpoints (word 1st language, word 2nd language, image etc.).

     You put the describing words on the slides 1,4,7,10 etc. in the first language and also in the second language on slides 2,5,8,11 etc. (slides 3,6,9,12 are for the image) and then you can choose from the randomizing table (10 days with 3 different sessions each) at the beginning if you want to run the slide show in 1st language or 2nd. language.

     Very important: you need to paste images or words onto the EXISTING slides, they can never add or delete slides otherwise the randomizing table doesn’t work.

     I use it for German & Spanish (and later on will introduce English as well) but I make sure that between showing the powerpoint in German and than in Spanish is a time difference of at least 2 weeks (but that´s my personal opinon).

2. Adjust the text and pictures of all the slides.
   • TIP: Use the largest font size that will fit on the page. If I can, I use 200pt. If the word doesn’t fit on a page, I keep reducing the size to find the largest possible - remember, the larger, the easier it is for your baby to learn!
   • Note: A lot of users get confused by the limited selection of font sizes offered in a dropdown. You don’t have to be limited to those sizes: select the text, highlight the font size number in the dropdown box and type the desired size. Once you hit “Enter” your selected text will grow to any size you specified.
3. To insert a new picture click on the existing one, hit “Delete” to remove it, select in the File Menu “Insert”=>Picture From File.
   • TIP: Insert JPEG or GIF images instead of using “Copy” and “Paste”: pasting images right into the file is easy, but the final file size is going to be humongous - I was able to reach 30mb file at some point.
4. You can record your own sounds by following wonderful directions from Deneen: How To Add Audio to a PowerPoint Slide Presentation
5. Or you can insert an existing sound effect: select and “Delete” the old one, and then in the File Menu click on “Insert”=>Movies and Sounds=>Sound From File
   • I like the following sites for getting sound effects of animals, tools, instruments, etc: Find Sounds.com. Another one is Sound Snap. Please let us know if you know other good places.
   • If your file is .wav or other officially unsupported format, you can still add sound to your presentation by the following trick:
     1. Download a sound file on your harddrive.
     2. In a File Menu select “Slide Show”=>Slide Transition
     3. Select “Modify Transition” part of the newly appeared viewing pane and use a dropdown menu next to “Sound”. Keep scrolling through the selections until you see “Other Sound…”. Now select the sound file from your harddrive. Done!
     4. Note: I like this method better because sound transitions are seamless, clickless, etc - as soon as you get to the slide, the sound will play.
   • If you need to add more slides, I prefer duplicating slides, rather then inserting them all over again: you painstakingly created all the settings for your slides, why waste the time doing it all over again? Just select the slide you would like to duplicate (slide with text or an image), in a File Menu select “Insert”=>Duplicate Slide or simply hit Ctrl-D (hit both keys simultaneously).
   • You can rearrange the slides in Slide Sorter: in a File Menu select “View”=>Slide Sorter. Drag and Drop the slides where you like them to be.
   • Bingo! You’ve got a whole new presentation! So, the last tip on saving: once you completed all the adjustment, even though I know that you were very careful and were saving them along the way (you don’t want to lose your work in the middle of the process, so I know you were very diligent, right?), Save As with a different file name. Power Point has a bad habit of storing every step of your process in its scripts, so the files get unjustly large because of this unnecessary information. Saving the file under a new name, reduces the file size slightly since you get rid of this unnecessary information.