This article is a guide for those interested in or just starting out creating decks of Boom Cards either to use with their own students or to sell in the Boom Store and other marketplaces.
Note that the free trial Starter Membership will allow you to create a limited number of decks on your account, while the Publisher Membership allows you to sell the decks you create. For more information on the different membership levels, please read through our join page, linked here, and then select the membership level that is right for you.
Those interested in selling the decks of Boom Cards they create should have a look at our New Author Quick Start Guide.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
- Navigating Your Studio
Navigating Your Studio
To get started making your own Boom Cards, go to the Studio tab.
If you intend to publish your decks for public use (either for sale or as a free resource), please see our New Author Quick Start Guide for steps on how to set up your store.
Scroll down to the bottom of the Studio and click on "Decks" under the Asset Managers section.
You will be prompted to create a Pen Name if you haven't already. You can find information about Pen names and what they are in this article: Pen Names: Author Name, Store Name, Brand
When you first click +New Deck, a pre-made deck called "Get Started Creating Boom Cards" will open.
This deck will walk you through the basic tools and give you a chance to play around with them any time you need. Once you have a handle on the basics. To start making your own deck from scratch, click on the blue "New Deck" button.
The Slide Sorter feature for card management is a great way to sort through decks that have a large number of cards within them. To open the Slide Sorter, click on the Window icon near the "Template Card" text.
This will open a new mini-window where you can see all of the cards in your deck. In this example, I have placed colored circles across a large number of cards. From this window, we have access to all of the same features that the standard Slide Sorter panel has.
The Slide Sorter allows you to:
- Add new cards to your deck
- Create a new card from an image (generates a card with a background image of your choosing)
- Duplicate existing cards
- Delete existing cards
- Rearrange the order of the cards in your deck
All of these settings can be seen as icons in the top right of the Slide Sorter panel.
You can highlight a card by clicking on it. If you close the Slide Sorter, the card you will see in the editing screen will match the one that you selected. We can rearrange cards by clicking and dragging them to the location where we want them to be. This is faster and easier than using the vertically stacked side panel that you have access to within the standard Studio view.
Once you have made your adjustments, simply press the "X" in the top right of the window to exit and return to the Studio.
The first card you'll see is your Template card. Anything you add to the template card will appear on every card in the rest of your deck. We recommend using this card to apply a background or other elements that you'd like to have uniform throughout your deck.
Next to this, you'll find a thin, blue toolbar. Here, you have the options to add text, buttons, images, and different answer options in the thin blue bar towards the left.
For more information about the types of answer options you can use in Boom Cards, check out our FAQ: What answer types are there? Does every card need to have a question?
In the center of your screen is your actual card, where you'll be placing all your buttons, images, questions, and answer options.
To the right of this, you'll find another blue Card editing toolbar with a few different sections and many options to help you create and edit everything you add to your Boom Card.
Card Editing ToolBar
The Answer Options section is where you can both see and modify whether any given answer option is flagged as correct or wrong.
Any time you create multiple answer options for a student to respond with, you will need to pay attention to which options are marked as correct or wrong. To change whether an option is correct or wrong, simply select the answer option and then click on either "correct" or "wrong" to set how that option will be graded.
You'll notice a red border outlining any answer options that are marked as wrong and a green border around any that have been marked as correct. In the selectable list, you will see a Green Check or Red x next to all answer choices, notating their classification as well.
The option to Outline your answer will appear next to the Correct and Wrong options once you have an answer option selected.
By default, an outline will appear showing students if the option was correct or not. You can remove that outline by selecting the answer option and then clicking on "Outline" to remove it. Similarly, you can click to put the outline back if you change your mind.
The Drag/Drop Options section is where you find the tools to flag an option as a drop zone and how you make an item draggable so that it can be moved and placed in the drop zone.
Using Drop Zones in Boom Cards from Boom Learning on Vimeo.
This section works together with the answer options when you create drag-and-drop style answers.
For example, once you've made several possible answers that are all draggable and created a drop zone for them, you can flag the correct option(s) as correct by linking them to the drop zone. This way, students can select and move any of the options, but only moving the linked one(s) into the drop zone will mark their answer as correct for that card.
The linked Draggable is the correct answer. if a player drags a non linked Draggable into the Drop Zone, the card would be marked as wrong.
In our other FAQs, you can learn how to Create Multiple "Correct" Drop Zones on One Card here, or get help Troubleshooting Drag and Drop issues.
Under the Media Options section, you can turn on Voice. When "Allows Voice" is turned on, the student will be able to record themself and listen to their recording. This could be used for pronunciation practice decks where they can practice and listen back to their pronunciation.
At this time, Voice Memo is solely for student use. Voice Memos recordings do not save and cannot be accessed by instructors.
You can see more information in the How to use Voice Memo in your Boom Cards including how a student's view looks.
Under the Ink Answers Options section, you can turn on Ink. Ink can be required or optional. This feature can be used for Student writing practice or showing their work on a math problem.
You can find more information about Ink in the article How to use Ink in Boom Cards
In the Transitions Section, you can select an element to disappear from view when tapped.
If there is another object hidden under it in the Z-order of the Card, it will be revealed. This could be used for puzzle or memory-matching games.
Under the Copy/Delete section, you can duplicate or delete an item on your card.
For instance, if you would like multiple of the same image, you can select the image and click duplicate until you have generated the number of copies you would like. If you create too many or wish to remove an image, you simply click select the item you want to be removed and click delete.
Precise Aligning and Positioning Elements
You can use the Position Section to Position elements in your card to adjust where buttons, images, and text appear on the card.
You can use the Size and Rotate Section to control the Width, Height, and rotation of the element you are working on.
Center
Align
Z Order is how elements are presented in your cards, as well as how accessibility devices like screen readers will interact with your cards.
When creating your decks, you can ensure your decks are set up to allow for Screen readers and Keyboard navigation by using Proper Z Order. You can learn more about proper Z Order in the article Making your Self-Made Boom Decks Accessible.
To learn more about how to use Z Order to position elements in the article Z-Order - Moving Objects in Front of or Behind Other Objects.
The Item Section allows you to lock an element and control Opacity.
The Lock feature allows you to lock an object in place. By default, objects will be locked unless they are made draggable.
The Opacity Feature allows you to select the Opacity of an element. At 100% opacity, the element will not be see-through at all, and at 0% opacity, the element will be invisible
100% Opacity
0% Opacity
The Border section allows you to change details, such as the Pattern, color, and width, of the border.
The Background section allows you to edit the background image and color of an element, like a text box or button.
In the Image Tools Section, you can choose to rotate your image clockwise or counterclockwise and flip it horizontally or vertically.
In the Image Properties Section, you can change the image, add Accessibility Text, Stretch to fit, Zoom to fit, and add chain images.
You can add alt text to your images using the image properties panel, click on "Accessibility Text."
Screen readers will read the ALT text of the image, allowing the student to understand the image's content or its context in the card. Without descriptive text, the program may skip the image altogether or offer a notice to the user that no description is offered.
For more information about adding accessibility to your deck, read this article: Making your Self-Made Boom Decks Accessible
Chain images allow you to connect multiple images to an image element. When playing the deck, you can scroll through the images by tapping or clicking on the first image in the series to see the next one.
This could be used for creating memory games, puzzles, or to show multiple examples of a concept.
You can add chain images by highlighting an image and clicking "Add Chain Images" button.
When playing the deck, the Blue Star would be displayed by default. When clicked, it would move to the next image showing an Purple Star. If clicked for a third time, if will show the image of a Green Star.
Additional Tools, Tips, and Resources
Decks will default to a randomized presentation of the cards. This can be turned off, or back on in the Details menu. For additional details and steps, please see our FAQ: Randomizing Features.
Likewise, all decks have a default set of sounds: a "ding" for correct answers as well as a "whoops" for incorrect answers. Those with either the Publisher or Premium memberships can create decks with their own customized sounds. For more information on the whole process, from recording to adding those recordings to your cards, check out our video below:
Adding Sound to Boom Cards from Boom Learning on Vimeo.
For steps on adding a drag/drop picture with a caption or to create other more elaborate items on your cards, see our FAQ: Advanced Containers.
You can find information on image editing in: How to Crop an Image or How to Fix Rotated Images. Once you start uploading images, things may get messy. Check out our FAQ Managing Images in your Studio for tips on how to quell the chaos.
To finish the look of your deck, you'll want to create an identifiable and informative cover. This is especially true if you intend to sell your deck - you'll want a professional cover image that conveys exactly what the deck covers. Take a look at our FAQ: Making a Cover Image for tips. We also have a troubleshooting guide to help Prevent Blurry Images.
If you'd like to make simple rectangles, squares, and circles, watch the video below:
Make Shapes Using the Text Tool from Boom Learning on Vimeo.
We also have an FAQ that shows you how to add a special symbol or character, which will teach you how to add an on-screen keyboard for math and foreign language cards.
And if you'd like to add a video to your Boom Card, please read our FAQ on Adding Video first for guidelines and steps.
Collaborate with other Creators
Just don't forget to cite your sources by Acknowledging Artists and Font Authors.
Publishing Your Finished Boom Cards Deck
Once you've published a deck (either privately or for sale), you'll be able to assign it to your students or share it with fellow educators. The deck doesn't have to be perfect for you to hit publish either- see Editing Published Decks for details.
If you would like to publish your decks for sale in the store, please check out our Quick Start Guide for Authors: Learn to Sell Boom Cards, and then read through FAQs: Quality over Quantity - Publish to the Store, Logos, Badges, Trademarks, and Service Marks, and Selling on Other Marketplaces if you are thinking of offering those decks outside of the Boom Store as well.
Icons and What They Mean
When the deck has been published to the Boom Store, a green cart icon will appear in the bottom right corner of the deck, showing the successful publish. (see image below)
When the deck has been Privately Published, a red briefcase icon will appear in the bottom right of the deck, symbolizing that the deck is in the creator's library, ready to be used with their students. (see image below)
When a deck is featured in your store, a blue star icon will appear in the bottom right of the deck, symbolizing that the deck can be found in the author's Featured tab in their store. (see image below)
The 3 circled icons below are Accessibility Badges; they show what accessibility features your deck has. If you want more information, take a look at this article: Making your Self-Made Boom Decks Accessible
Related topics:
Find out How to Share, Clone, and Transfer Decks that You Create with fellow educators.
Learn How to Create a Bundle of related Boom Cards Decks - especially useful for sellers.
Read tips on How to name your decks.
Join us for a Live webinar to learn how to use your Boom Learning account for live help from a Customer Sucess Specialist!