Seriously, don’t underestimate the value of a simple deck of cards! I love using playing cards to practice addition, subtraction, place value, and number sense skills. One of my favorite games to play with cards is basic War. I love this game because it can be altered to fit any age or ability level!
The simplest way to play War, for your basic learners practicing number sense, is to remove the face cards and Jokers from the deck and split the deck in half equally. Each player flips over 1 card at a time and determines who has the highest card. The player with the highest card takes everyone’s cards! To increase difficulty and practice addition play Adding War. Have each player flip over 2 cards at a time, add them together, and determine who has the largest sum. Work up to drawing multiple cards at a time to practice more challenging addition. To work on subtraction skills, have each player draw 2 cards and subtract the smaller number from the larger one. This one is called Subtraction War. Whoever has the smallest difference takes all the cards!
Another game that works great with a deck of cards is Make Ten. Start by removing the face cards and dealing 5 cards to each player, leaving the remaining cards in a deck in the center. Aces are worth 1. Using the 5 cards in their hand, each player tries to make ten as many times and with as many cards as possible. For example, if I had 3, 6, 2, Ace, and an 8, I could make 8+2=10 and 3+6+1=10. Since I used all 5 cards to make equations that equal 10, I keep all those cards in a pile of my own and draw 5 new cards. The player with the most cards at the end of the deck wins!
One of the best ways to spice up a generic paper/pencil activity is to make them hands-on. There are so many DIY manipulatives and games that can be created with just paper! One of my favorite games is, “I Have… Who Has?” because you can create them to fit any subject and age. To make your own set for simple addition practice, begin by creating a Start card. “I have the first card. Who has 3+5?” Card #2 could then read, “I have 8. Who has 6+4?” You could create as many cards as you have students, or make a large deck so that students have multiple cards to keep track of.
This game can also be created with reading and English in mind. Let’s say you’re practicing identifying nouns. The first card could read, “I have the first card. Who has the noun in the sentence – The dogs ran fast.”? Card #2 could then read, “I have dogs. Who has the noun in the sentence – The bird chirped.”? These are so simple to create, are accommodating to all ages, abilities, and topic you’re teaching, and is also a great way to practice speaking and listening skills.
Below you will see a few of the worksheets that I like to use with playing cards. You can get the student to flip over a card and then count up from there. This works great with first grade. You can also get them to flip over 2 cards and use the ‘greater than’ and ‘less than’ symbols between them. I especially like using cards to reinforce skills like fact families. The great thing about these worksheets is that once the kids get the hang of them, you can assign these little activities for early finishers, and train them to use a whiteboard or scrap piece of paper to record their answers. This is not only less prep for you, but doesn’t waste extra paper as well.
All of the worksheets you see above can be yours for free by clicking on this purple framed image here. If you want more ideas I also have a comprehensive package available by clicking on the green framed image below.
