What are Boom Cards, Why Use Them, and How?

Boom cards became a buzzword within the teacher community during virtual learning. But what are boom cards and how do they work? 

They are basically digital task cards. When several digital task cards on the same subject are put together in the same spot, it is called a boom deck. 

Read on for the why boom cards are amazing and how to use boom cards in the classroom. 

Why Use Boom Cards? 

Teachers and parents are loving digital task cards because they present information in a fun, interactive way. 

Due to this game-like format, boom decks are enjoyable for the student. Many students feel like they are playing a video game. And we all know how much so many kids love playing video games. Digital task cards tie this well-loved pastime with learning. 

Another reason is that they are self-checking. Students know right away if they are on the right track or not. This data is also shared with the teacher right on the Boom Learning site. 

Using these digital task cards is also an easy way for teachers to make sure their students are still learning while not having to be completely hands-on. This is super helpful when students are working on different subjects or at different levels. Boom Cards make it easy to differentiate the instruction. 

Yet another reason for the booming craze (ha-ha, booming…get it?) is that data is collected while students play. This valuable data is shared with teachers right on the site. Use this data to know where a student is at in their understanding of a concept. The Emotional Identification Boom Cards below are a quick assessment to see which student can match the emotions on a face. Such an easy way to collect IEP goal data. 

How to Use Boom Cards

These digital task cards can be used in many different ways. Here are just a few ways that I use them within my own classroom: 

Independent Reinforcement Of A Taught Concept

Boom cards are excellent to use when having students reinforce the information that they were previously taught. 

This can be done in either a center at school or while doing distance learning. 

The three main ways I do this is:

⭐ Right after a lesson. I will ahead of time assign a deck that works with the skill I am going to teach during the lesson. After instruction, I’ll have students complete the deck either while sitting at my teacher table or in their own workspace. This helps me see who does and who doesn’t understand what was taught. 

⭐ For review of a topic that I previously taught that was part of a bigger unit. At the end of the unit, I’ll assign a deck for concepts that were individually taught. This helps me see who really gained the information and who needs some reteaching. 

⭐ With behaviors – if I’ve already taught the expected behavior but a student is struggling to display that behavior, I’ll use a Boom deck. These decks often have different scenarios around the main skill for students to select what is expected. This helps to get them thinking about the behavior in different settings/ways to help with generalization. I’ve even used Boom Cards as a tool to help behavior when writing a behavior intervention plan. 

Assessment 

You can assess how well a student understands a concept by assigning him/her a boom deck and having them complete it individually. 

If you are going to go this route, I’d suggest that you make sure the student knows how to navigate the specific boom deck (if it is a drag and drop, select the correct answer, etc.). 

It is also a great idea for it to have auditory support if there is heavy reading (this way you know the student’s reading level wasn’t a factor in how well/poor they did). 

Note that if you plan to get data directly from the Boom Learning platform on how a student did, you will need to assign the deck the traditional way. This is the only way for Boom Learning to collect data during play. 

For example, this fun partners of 9 math deck would allow the teacher to see if the student knows their number partners. Additionally, it gives information on how many cards had mistakes. This makes it an excellent way to collect data on student goals. 

Can Boom Cards Be Printed?

Yes! 

Sometimes technology just doesn’t seem to be working despite everyone’s best efforts. It takes literally moments to print them off from my teacher account. 

Simply find the deck you are looking for, and under ‘action’ click ‘print’. All the cards in that deck are downloaded into a PDF. Then just print it off as you would any other file. Easy-peasy. 

This makes buying these digital task cards a great way to actually save money on resources. It allows the teacher to use it in different formats so if there is ever something like a pandemic where everyone had to stay home but still learn (far stretch of the imagination, right?), there is a format for it. But if learning is taking place in person, there is also a format for it. This helps stretch that tight budget just a bit. 

Check out this deck of Boom Cards on School Bus Choices that were printed out and used in a traditional classroom setting. 

For a more in-depth look at different ways to use boom cards, check out this post. You’ll learn how to assign boom cards to students in either the traditional or fast play way. There are also more ideas of how to use Boom Cards to gather assessment data on students’ skills. Find all this great information here. 

How to Make Boom Cards

Making Boom Cards isn’t a super difficult process. 

It will take you some time to figure out how to get all the features to work. This is just a trial and error process.

Personally, I’ve found it easiest to make most of the card using a different program like PowerPoint. Here, I make the background and put most of the text on the card. This background uploads directly to Boom very easily. 

From there, you select how you want the student to answer. This can be drag and drop, typing in a number, or pushing the correct button. 

If you are looking for a great step-by-step tutorial on how to create boom cards, check out this video to learn the basics of the creator’s studio. Here you will find the foundational skills for how to make boom learning cards.  

How to Buy Boom Cards

Buy these digital task cards either directly on the Boom Learning site or through another vendor. 

On the boom site, you purchase points. But what are points in boom cards? Each deck is worth a certain amount of points. So after purchasing points, you can select whatever deck(s) you want using those points us. The more points you purchase at the same time, the cheaper it is. 

There are other sites out there where you can purchase a deck and redeem it on the boom site. My favorite of these is teacherspayteachers.com. Here, you purchase them by paying money on the site and are directed to download a file. The file will contain a link that takes you directly to Boom Learning and will ask if you are trying to get the selected deck. Once you confirm, it is put in your library on boom ready to be assigned to students. 

How much are boom cards?

Most single decks are anywhere from 150-400 points. This equates to $2-5 per deck. 

Free Boom Cards

There are plenty of free boom cards out there. I’ve found two great places to look for these decks. 

1. Go to boomlearning.com and in the search bar within the store type on the words ‘free’ or ‘freebie’. I’ve found that you need to be a bit careful when just typing in ‘free’ because sometimes a store owner has a larger paid product linked to a free product so it shows up in search results. On the left side of the screen, you can narrow down your search by selecting a subject area. 

2. Search for free decks on teacherspayteacher.com. Here, again you type in the search bar ‘boom cards’ but this time select ‘free’ under the price category on the left side of the screen. This will show you all the great teachers pay teachers decks of cards that don’t cost you anything. You simply find what you want, and select ‘download now.’ Each seller has a slightly different way of how they give you the deck whether it be a link within a PDF or a link within Google so just follow the seller’s directions on how to access your free deck. 

Looking for a great set of free math boom cards? 

Click here for an awesome deck on coin identification. 

This deck has students feed the pig the asked about coin for a silly twist! This deck is not only made for use on the Boom Learning site but also within Google Slides in case that route is better for you/your students. Find the Coin Identification Games freebie here.

So…Is It Worth It?

Whew! Lots of information above!

In the end, are boom cards worth it? 

In my opinion, absolutely. It is another awesome tool for students to use to say engaged while learning. 

If you are looking for some awesome boom card sets, check out my TeachersPayTeachers store here or my Boom Learning store here (there are some great FREE sets to begin your boom-loving adventure!). 

Hopefully, you have a better understanding of what are boom cards and how to start using them in your classroom today.

Happy Teaching!