Free Printable Vintage Vegetable Nomenclature Cards

  Nomenclature or Flash Cards?

I suppose nomenclature is a type of flash card. Both cards are used to dispaly information in order to teach. However, the main difference is the type of information. Nomenclature cards have a picture of an object and a name (both on the front). Flash cards contain a small amount of information:words, pictures, numerical facts, etc. Both cards are used to aid learning.

Why Use Nomenclature Cards?

Young children learn language by learning the names of objects. What is one of the first things little ones ask if they do not know what something is? What’s that?  We comply by assigning a name to the object.  Nomenclature  comes from the  Latin word nomenclatura ; which means assigning of names.

How to Use Nomenclature Cards

In our homeschool, we use several types of nomenclature cards. They cover several subjects: Latin, grammar, Botany, etc.  They can cover many subjects and be used for many ages. There are two ways to use these types of cards.  The first way is to use them as is: show them to the child, name the object, have them repeat it, then show them again. After some time, they should be able to name the object. This method is perfect for non-readers.

The second method is known as a 3 part system. This system is made up of pictures and labels.  You can print two copies of the cards, one set with the name on the card and another with labels and pictures printed separately. The set that is printed separately is used to figure out which label goes with which picture. This can be used with preschool children, or with older kids learning a foreign language or complex vocabulary.

Vegetable Nomenclature

For my first set of cards, I used vegetables of course! It’s cold and I miss the summer bounty of our garden, so I decided to “grow” some veggies in Photoshop. I curated vintage botanical prints of vegetables and flowers for a while and I have been working hard on creating graphics from them. Most of my prints were sourced from old, out of print public domain books that have been scanned for royalty-free use.

My set includes the name of the vegetable on the card. If you are interested in using these cards as a 3 part system, you can cover the label on the second set or, cut them off and use the cut pieces as the labels. I am also working on fruit, flower, bird, animal,  and Latin and Greek root word sets. Stay tuned.

You can download them by saving each jpeg. They are 8.5 x 11 each:

Or, if you prefer a pdf version, you can download the file here.

Please shoot me a note or leave me a comment if you would like to see other vegetables or any other subjects covered. Thanks!