What are Boom Cards?

Never tried Boom Cards?  Your students will LOVE them!  In a nutshell, Boom Cards are digital, self-checking, interactive activities.  Students are shown one question at a time and get instant feedback on their answers!  Check out the short video below to see a few examples, then keep reading to see my top 7 reasons to love them.

​These digital, self-checking task cards are my new favorite way to help students practice a skill. Here are the top 7 reasons I'm a fan:

1) They're DIGITAL.  No printing, laminating, or cutting out sets of paper task cards. Less prep = more time for teachers.

2) They're SELF-CHECKING.  Students type in their answer and get instant feedback!  If they get a question wrong, they can submit a new answer or "give up" the card and go to a different question if they get stuck.
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3)  You can use Boom Cards for free.  There are lots of free decks available (here's an example).   You can always use Boom Cards for free by using the Fast Play option (see my post on getting started with Boom Cards for more details).  This option allows you to create a link to send to students.  Important Note: The Fast Play option doesn't record their answers, but you can upgrade your account for a reasonable fee if you want to track student progress!  Right now they're offering a free trial period when you sign up if you want to test it out.  You'll always be able to use the Fast Play option for free even after your trial period ends, you just won't get student reports.

4) You can preview 4 cards from any deck for free.  Try it before you buy it! Check out this preview to see an example. Make sure to click on Full-Size preview to get the full effect.

5) It's super easy to differentiate instruction with Boom Cards.  Once you have a deck of cards in your library, you can assign them to individual students or to the entire class.

6) Not 1-1? Use them on a Smart Board or use a projector to work on them with the whole class.

​7)  Did you know you can use Boom Cards with your Google Classroom?  Check out this video to see how.  You can assign Boom Cards with a link, so they can be assigned using about any learning management system.  So yes, you can use them with Google Classroom, Schoology, SeeSaw, Canvas, Moodle, PowerSchool, Class Dojo, Microsoft Teams, and more!  The link above is specifically for Google Classroom, but the same idea works for about any LMS.

Update: Boom Learning just added a new feature that makes me love them even more! You can now hide any card in a deck that you don't want students to see.  Simply go to your library and open a deck.  You can go through the deck of cards and click the "Hide Cards" button on any you don't want to be assigned.  

Update #2:  You can also now customize a deck even more!  When you click on the Action button on a deck in your library, the last option is now "Custom Play Settings."  You can now choose if you want students to see the correct answer after giving up a card, if you want them to be allowed to play a deck multiple times, and you can also adjust how many cards from the deck you want them to see per play.  These are great options to customize the deck to meet your students' needs.  Just note that these options don't work for Fast Pins, students need to be logged in for these settings to take place.

Download a FREE set of Boom Cards

Want to test out a set of Boom Cards? Grab my free set of Order of Operations Boom Cards.  I also have a whole bundle of Algebra 1 Boom Cards if you want to see some more examples.  I hope you give them a try - your students will LOVE them!

Interested in using Boom Cards, but need help getting started? Check out my Complete Guide to Getting Started with Boom Cards to learn how to set up your classroom, create student accounts, and assign decks of cards.   

​Want to learn how to create your own decks?  You'll want to sign up for my Boom Cards Bootcamp! It includes 18 short video tutorials, 100+ images you can use to create your own decks of Boom Cards, and more!