Tuttle Chinese for Kids Flash Cards Kit Vol 1 Simplified Ed: Simplified Characters [Includes 64 Flash Cards, Online Audio, Wall Chart & Learning Guide] (Tuttle Flash Cards) Cards – February 15, 2008

The layout is very well thought out. I'll explain below as I describe how the package has been used in the few days since its arrival.I got this for my sons, 7 and 4 of age, who speak pretty good Mandarin Chinese for their age. They instantly loved the poster, the cards and the CD. After I put the poster on the back of a door, they would go over the 64 words with the help of pictures and Pinyin spellings over and over again, and ask me for the challenge of showing them only the characters. This is when the intelligence of the layout really shine. The vertical sectioning of different components made our game easy to carry out. The top solid color bar contains the category name in small print, with Pinyin on the side. For example, for '''milk'or '''eggs), the top bar says '''food'. For '''shirt' or '' 'skirt'' the top bar says '''clothes). My older son relied heavily on the category names, learning them along the way, as he guessed his way through more than half of the cards. The bars are color coded, which serves as additional clue.Right below the top bar are the big bold main entry characters. Their Pinyin spellings are below them, in small print, and spaced a little apart. Further below is an illustration of the word. Both Pinyin and pictures serve as crutches before stand-alone recognition of characters is firm. So putting them below and spacing them apart is not a trivial thing, but is a balancing act of providing the crutches while preventing perpetual dependency on them.I especially applaud the small print of Pinyin. In most of texts for kids, the Pinyin can be overwhelming and visually drowning out the shapes of characters.The back of the cards is a rich resource for sample sentences, sequence of strokes in writing out the characters', with a smaller illustration. This would be the next step for my sons. So the cards will last a while, till they've learned the ins and outs of all 64 characters.I have to point out that these cards, or any flash cards, by their nature, are no good for teaching syntax, nuance of language, flexibility and resilience in speaking the language. The cards serve only to match up written signs with known words/expressions. That my two boys have pretty solid spoken Chinese, that they spent considerable time in China, should be taken into full account. Take all that out and I don't know how they'll react to the cards.

Out of the half dozen products for learning Chinese that I have purchased for my kids, these stand out as far and away the best. I am very, very pleased with the results of these flash cards and they are an excellent learning tool. In a little over a month, both my four year old son and my 6 year old daughter have learned to recognize and say (in Mandarin) everything on the cards. They are even starting to write the Chinese script and my daughter has mastered 1-10 in Mandarin writing. They both love the cards, are excited about using them, and like listening to the vocal recordings of people saying the words. The sentences with the words in them are too tough for them at this stage, so I mostly just skip over them after listening to just the individual word, but I can see how they would be useful at a later time. This is a great product and I am completely satisfied with my purchase. I have already ordered volume two.

This is a great resource for bilingual homes. I love that the cd has nursery rhymes on it in addition to the vocabulary, it really helps keep learning fun in the car. I love the flascards so much I laminated them to protect them for years to come. My daughter likes the poster and pointing at the symbols and drawings, it's so nice that we even framed it. Great set for the cost. The vocabulary is very practical as well, it's a good level for my toddler.

These cards have lots of useful information on the back, and seem like a good set of words for beginners to learn by topic, but the pronunciations are on the front of the card. That kind of defeats the purpose of a flash card. They’re on the back too so you can cover up the ones on the front with a sharpie or a sticker or something. The writing directions on the back of the card are also helpful.

The flash cards are made of very thin paper. I am afraid that my 2 and 4-yr-olds might get paper cut if they are not being careful. Otherwise, these are educational and enjoyable cards and poster for kids who just start learning Chinese.

I have these flash cards with me everywhere! Very practical way to learn Chinese. I love their big size. They have colorful drawings and pictures which makes if easier to remember the words. On the back of each, there are examples using the new word also it explains in detail how to write the new characters. These are great flash cards! I love them!

This is such a great resource to have when teaching Chinese! My 3yr old loves the cd. Comes with a large poster and flash cards to match. The booklet for the cd is very helpful with translation and Pīnyīn. We did have to laminate cards and posters!

I bought these for my 7 yo. When I suggested learning chinese, he was absolutely not interested. I encouraged him, and within 5 minutes of using these cards he was hooked. We study every night. Chinese is such a beautifully constructed language.My only issue is that you only get 64 cards. That lasted us about a week (although we continue to review them).I would have loved it if they gave us about 2x as many cards.I have looked at many ipad applications etc, but I haven't found anything that is as much fun and is as easy to learn.