This fun learning game can be played in pairs with two students or between a student and an adult. It’s a basic addition and counting on game using playing cards for primary school and elementary school students. I hope you and your kids enjoy playing it and feel free to modify it to suit your needs.
Learning Outcomes:
- Basic addition
- Counting on
Required Material:
- A deck of cards
- Counters
Aim of the game:
- To collect as many counters as you can by placing cards in a row that equal the target number set by the players at the start of the game.
How to play:
- This game is for 2 players so put the students into pairs if you have a whole class.
- Take all of the jacks, queens, kings and jokers out of the deck of cards. You will only need ace to ten.
- Using the cards you have taken out place six of them face down in a rectangular grid 2 by 3. This forms the playing area.
- Decide which number you are going to aim for, you can choose between 3 and 20 but the numbers between 5 to 18 work the best. If you pick 20 for example you will have less card combinations to use that can equal 20.
- Shuffle the cards and deal five to each player. The remaining cards are placed in a pile face down to be used as the pick-up pile.
- Each player can place one card on the grid at a time, cards need to be placed face up. Cards can be placed on top of other cards but not the same as the card being placed. (So a 6 cannot be placed on top of another 6, an 8 cannot be placed on another 8 etc…)
- When a card is placed on the grid the player then picks up another card from the pick-up pile so that they always have five cards in their hand.
- To equal the target number players need to place a card that creates an addition sum that equals that number. (If the target number is 15 and a player places a 5 next to a 7 and a 3 then 5 + 7 + 3 = 15) Players can reach the target number by placing two cards in a row that equal the number or three cards in a row. However if there are three cards in a row and only two of them added together equal the target number horizontally then this does not count as all three cards need to be added together.
- When a player reaches a target number they score one point and take a counter.
- If a player places a card that equals the target number using three cards in a row horizontally and two cards in a row vertically then they score two points.
- The game ends when the players reach a certain time or point limit, or no more cards can be picked up. The winner is the player with the most counters at the end of the game.
Notes:
This game can be modified and the playing area made bigger or in different shapes. You might like to start with the cards in a 2 x 2 formation instead of a 2 x 3. Once the students become more skilled in the game you could introduce 2 x 8, 3 x 4, 3 x 5 or anything you would like. The children will take a bit of time working out the strategies they can use and will benefit from you playing with them and modeling some of the possible strategies you would use.
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