Learning Addition Facts With Easy Math Games
How to Teach Math to Kids With Fun & Easy Card Games for Children
Sep 26, 2009
Playing classic card games for children, such as Go Fish! or Memory, is a wonderful way to spend an afternoon of family fun. With some small variations, these simple games can be turned into great teaching opportunities, helping kids to learn addition and math facts in an easy and fun manner.
Teaching Addition Math Facts to Kids With Go Fish!
This new twist on the old classic Go Fish! helps kids to learn addition by mentally working out simple math problems. Each round played practices math facts for a specific number, making it easy to stick with one set of facts for as long as needed to solidify them in the players’ mind.
All that’s needed to play this game is a standard deck of playing cards. It is best enjoyed with 2-4 players.
How to Play Go Fish!
- Sort through the deck to remove all cards that are higher than that featured number for the math game. For example, if the goal is to learn addition facts for the number seven, the game will be played with ones (aces) through sevens.
- Deal out five cards to each player and place the remaining cards in a draw pile.
- Have each player look through his or her hand of cards to find any pairs that add up to the featured number and place them face up in their discard pile. For example, if learning addition facts for the number seven, appropriate pairs would be 6+1, 5+2 or 4+3. The 7 card would also be laid aside as a correct solution that doesn’t require a pair.
- The person to the left of the dealer may now ask any other player for a card that will help create the sum required. If the person asked has the card in his hand, he must give it up to the player that made the request. A player can keep asking for cards until no further matches are able to be made, at which point he is told to Go Fish! from the draw pile and the next player takes a turn trying to make a match.
- If a player runs out of cards he can choose five more cards from the draw pile to stay in the game.
- Continue playing until all the cards in the deck have been matched into pairs. The player with the highest number of pairs at the end of the game is the winner.
Learning Addition Facts by Playing Memory
The card game Memory, or Concentration, is another great game that can be modified to teach addition facts to kids. As with the instructions for Go Fish! above, each game focuses on math facts for a specific number.
All that’s needed to play this game is a standard deck of playing cards. It can be played alone or with a group.
How to Play Memory
- Sort through the deck to remove all cards that are higher than that featured number for the math game. For example, if the goal is to learn addition facts for the number six, the game will be played with ones (aces) through sixes.
- Shuffle the deck and turn all the cards face down in a grid pattern.
- Taking turns, have each player flip two cards to look for a matching pair. For example, if learning addition facts for the number six, appropriate pairs would be 5+1, 4+2 or 3+3. The 6 card would also be laid aside as a correct solution that doesn’t require a pair.
- Continue playing until all the cards in the deck have been matched into pairs. The player with the highest number of pairs at the end of the game is the winner.
Many classic kids’ card games can be modified to help learn addition facts. Playing with the rules of favourite games can create many unique and fun experiences for teaching math to kids of all ages.
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Readers may also enjoy Teaching Math to Children Using Dice Games: Learn Addition, Subtraction & Multiplication with Fun Math Games.
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