Obsidian Soft - A Mom in Tech and Education

Gone are the days of A for apple, B for Ball...this is the time of synthetic phonics where each alphabet has a sound. Now, you don't teach children the name of the letter but the sound made by the letter. A has the sound that comes when we say the word apple, b has the sound that comes when we say bed, and so on and so forth. There are different systems of synthetic phonics but I have felt that Jolly Phonics is the best system. In fact, I made my first mobile app for my son based on the Jolly Phonics style of teaching. However, I know that many people want to limit screen exposure for their children so I decided to make these flashcards. You can use these flashcards independently or you can use them along with my app called Phonics Fun , available on Google Play Store. You can hear the sounds from my app. Practice using these flashcards and then, test learning using my app too...a win-win situation :) These cards are double-sided. I have told you in my previous articles too about h

Besides Computer Programming/Coding, the subject of Mathematics has been very close to my heart. A strong foundation of math is essential in almost all fields of study. Besides having a clear knowledge of math concepts, another aspect of mathematics that is usually ignored is doing math in your brain.  We often see videos of people doing math sums lightning fast in their brains. They are nicknamed human calculators and people are just awed by their intelligence. I believe that most of these people have trained their brains to answer math questions. They use tricks and techniques to answer questions super-fast. This requires patience and training. A person cannot become excellent in something from the very first day. Yes, I know that there are true prodigies in this world. but what I am trying to explain is that doing math in your brain is not Rocket Science!  It shouldn't be considered impossible to achieve if we start training our brain now. Moreover, when children are younger, th

As you must have learned by now if you are a regular visitor of my website or my FaceBook page that I am a passionate believer in the power of flashcards. Give a colorful picture on one side of a card and some information on the other side and this is enough to grab a child's attention. Flashcards are small so they give an impression of a game instead of studies and children can relate to them more and enjoy their learning process. Also, bite-size information is easily digested by small minds. So, after the success of my Geography Flashcards , I thought about doing the same thing for building types. Actually, I had thought about building types even before doing the landforms flash cards. I was thinking of doing reading comprehension worksheets with them. But after I saw how successfully the Geography flashcards were received by my FB page followers, I decided to forgo proper reading comprehension worksheets and decided to do flashcards instead. Flashcards are perfect for this task

Mathematics is a tricky subject. When taught well, it can easily become a child's favorite subject. However, it also has a tendency of becoming a child's worst nightmare if concepts stay unclear! Maths teachers have to be very patient as every child is different. Some children are comfortable around numbers. You will see them counting objects even as toddlers. It is the perfect time when you can introduce them to concepts like addition and subtraction. Adding things and finding their sum is a critical skill as it forms the basis of another essential skill called multiplication. Multiplication is basically repeated addition: adding the same number again and again. You have to slowly and steadily, with loads of patience, associate the concept of repeated addition to multiplication. This is why multiplication shouldn't be taught until children are very, very comfortable with addition. If you see your child struggling with addition, take a break and Some people start teaching m

If you are a parent or a teacher, you must have noticed that today's children are very, very curious. They want to try out new things all the time. If I think back to my childhood, I didn't have access to this much information through the Internet and the available toys were also very limited. Nowadays, there are more sources of enjoyment for kids of all ages due to the advancements in technology. However, there are pros and cons of modern technological advancements. On one hand, children have a lot of things to do. They can play with more entertaining toys or watch fascinating videos but on the other hand, it is also increasingly becoming more and more difficult to keep their interest involved in learning critical skills such as mathematics and reading comprehension.  All this made me think of going beyond my mobile apps and publishing unique and interesting content for children so that they start taking interest in school-related work. If you peruse my website, you will see

Our world, the planet Earth, is beautiful and unique. If we look at the pictures of other planets, we will see that no other planet has such a vibrant combination of blues and greens like our beloved Earth. Earth is the only planet in our knowledge that can sustain life. In fact, Earth is brimming with life. From intricately shaped flowers to fascinating insects, from sea dragons to echolocating bats: Earth is a marvel. Besides the animals and plants, the landscape of Earth is a sight to behold. From towering mountains to deep trenches in the sea, from sheer cliffs to vibrantly green valleys: Earth is beautiful! Let's learn about the landscape of planet Earth today. I have created these cute two-way flashcards for your children. They can be used by Preschool to Grade 3 aged children. Every card has a picture and name on one side and a description on the other side. How to Use: Cut out an A4 size cardboard paper or you can even recycle an empty cereal box. Cut in the middle lengthwi