Help

Getting started

Lexikit turns a list of words into illustrated games, cards and worksheets, ready to print or to show on screen. Everything happens in the browser, without an account.

1. Create a resource: on the home screen, “Create a resource” opens the list of resources: bingo, memory game, cards, activity sheets, Interactive activities… Pick one.
2. Write your words: type them one by one in the top bar, paste a whole list or start from a theme. Lexikit matches each word with a pictogram from its lexicon.
3. Adjust, then print: the preview follows every option of the side panel. The “PDF” button downloads the file to print. “Launch” opens the Interactive resources in full screen.

Everything is saved automatically, at every change, on this device. Your resources are on the home screen, sorted by project.

Words and their pictures

A word, a picture: that is what every resource is made of. Pictures come with the words, and each one can be replaced.

Add words

• Type a word in the “Add a word…” bar: the suggestions come from the lexicon, ARASAAC pictograms and your own words. Enter adds it to the resource.
• “Add several words” pastes a whole list, one word per line or separated by commas.
• “Start from a theme…” fills an empty resource with a preschool vocabulary list: animals, autumn, the kitchen, emotions…
• A word missing from the lexicon, a first name? Type it and confirm: Lexikit creates the card, to illustrate with your picture.

Where the pictures come from

The pictograms come from ARASAAC, a library of more than 13,000 symbols made for communication. A word can also carry a photo: a search on Wikimedia Commons, a picture from your computer or, on mobile, a photo taken with the device.

To change the picture of a word, open its window (“Edit” button, or click the card in the resource): choose among the pictures offered or add your own. A word keeps several pictures, and each resource can show the one it prefers.

The lexicon

The lexicon, the “Lexicon” button in the top bar, gathers every word: the ARASAAC pictograms and “My words”, those you created or changed. There you add tags, sort words into collections and archive those no longer needed.

The resources

About thirty resources, gathered in families. Each resource has its options: format, number of cards, handwriting, colours… and its preview updates with every setting.

• Games: bingo, memory game, Dobble, dominoes, puzzles, clothespin cards, goose game. To print and cut out, and several also play on screen.
• Cut-out cards: picture and word cards or nomenclature cards, sentences to put back in order, labels for first names, lockers and exercise books.
• Activity sheets: handwriting (trace, copy, write the word…), alphabetic principle, phonology, observation, sorting and numbers, follow-up and assessment. The mini book, the word search and the crossword are among them.
• Interactive: nine activities to project on the board, from the picture dictionary to the letter keyboard.
• Word list: words gathered now, a resource to choose later.

Useful options

• Handwriting: cursive, print or capitals, with or without the word under the picture.
• Syllables: Lexikit splits words into syllables, to colour or to separate. The split can be corrected in the word's window.
• Letters to color: in the word window, or in the options of a card, color the letters you click (the sound studied, a silent letter). Chosen for a resource, this format prints on the cards, the bingo, the memory game and the labels.
• Language: a resource can take another language for its words, and show a second one under each word.
• Readability: at the bottom of the Style panel, wider-spaced letters, and a larger line height on the cards, labels and sentences.
• My default settings: the bookmark at the top of the settings keeps those of the open resource for the next resources of the same type. The words, their pictures and the title are not part of them.
• Change the resource: the resource icon in the top bar turns a bingo into a memory game or a worksheet with the same words.

Print

Every resource downloads as an A4 PDF, ready for the printer or the photocopier.

• The PDF button in the top bar prepares the file and downloads it. Depending on the resource and the number of words, it takes a few seconds.
• Print at 100%, without “fit to page”: the cards keep their size and the pieces of a game fit together. Thick paper, or laminating, makes the games last.
• The picture quality is set in Settings › General: “High” for large, sharp pictograms, “Low” for a light file to send.
• The foot of every page says “Made with lexikit.app”: that is how colleagues find the tool.
• Decorated back: the games and cards to cut out add, under Printing, a back page after every page: squared paper and the Lexikit sticker behind every piece. Print double-sided, flipping on the long edge, and the backs land behind their cards. “Personalise the back…” chooses the pattern, the paper color and a text: the class, the year.
• Printed title: the cards, the memory game and the dominoes can carry a title and a subtitle at the top of every page.
• Fonts: Settings › Fonts imports your school's font (.ttf, .otf, .woff, .woff2) and gives it to the cursive or print writing of every resource. Belle Allure and Andika are offered too. Settings › General writes the class name in the header of the worksheets.

Interactive: playing on screen

The resources marked with a screen play in full screen on the classroom board, a screen or a tablet. The “Launch” button opens the activity.

• The Interactive activities: the picture dictionary, “Where is…?”, “What's missing?”, “Hidden picture”, “Sort into columns”, “Clap the syllables”, “Picture wheel”, “Mystery word” and “Letter keyboard”.
• The bingo, the memory game, the clothespin cards and the goose game also play on screen, word draw included.
• The device's voice says the words. Settings › Voice chooses it and sets its speed. For a mispronounced word, record your own voice in the word's window.

Languages

Lexikit exists in French, English, German and Spanish, and a resource can speak another language than the interface.

• Language of Lexikit: in Settings › Language. The interface, the lexicon, the themes and the starter projects follow. By default, it is the browser's language.
• Language of a resource's words: in its options, a resource chooses the language of its words, among about thirty. Type the words in your language, Lexikit finds those with the same picture.
• Bilingual resource: a second language shows the translation under each word (cards, labels, mini book) or makes picture and translation pairs (memory game, dominoes, bingo).
• Pupils' instructions: the instruction of a worksheet can be written in another language than the teacher's, in French, English, German or Spanish.

Outside French, English, German and Spanish, the words come from the names of the pictograms, sometimes machine-translated: check them, and correct them in the word's window.

Your data

Everything stays on this device, in the browser: words, pictures, resources, recordings. Nothing goes to a server, and there is no account.

• Back up: Settings › Data › Export my data downloads a file with all your work. Do it regularly, and before changing device or cleaning the browser.
• Change device: import that file on the other device, with “Import my data”.
• Share a resource: the “Share” button in the top bar, or “Share by link…” in the resource menu on the home screen, gives a link to copy or a QR code to scan. The link holds the words and settings of the resource, without your pictures or sounds. It opens in Lexikit, with no account, and the resource joins the chosen project. To send your pictures too, “Export as ZIP”.
• Offline: once opened, Lexikit works without a connection. The browser offers to install it as an app, with its icon on the home screen.
• Erase: “Reset the app” deletes everything, as does clearing the site data in the browser.

Keyboard shortcuts

A few keys to go faster. On a Mac, ⌘ replaces Ctrl.

• Ctrl + Z undoes, Ctrl + Y redoes.
• Ctrl + H opens the home screen, Ctrl + L the lexicon, Ctrl + , the settings.
• Ctrl + F searches a word, Ctrl + A selects all, Escape closes a window or a list.
• ? shows the full list of shortcuts, F1 opens this help.

Frequently asked questions

The answers to the questions that come up most often.