Card Games for Math Fair



Dear Parents,

We are so glad that you attended the math fair today! Our goal was to give you some fun ideas for “doing math” at home. This handbook contains some fun games you can play with a deck of cards, some dice and a few other items you have around the house.

We’ve also included some great websites for math practice and a few other surprises.

Have fun!

War

Concepts: greater than/less than; addition/subtraction; multiplication

For Kindergarten/1st grade:

Divide the deck of cards into black and red. One player gets the black cards, the other player gets the red cards. Players turn over the top card and compare – larger number wins and takes the other person’s card. Aces are the highest card. Play continues until one person has all the cards. If the cards match, then there is a War: players each play two cards face down near their card. Third card is turned over and the larger card wins all of the cards.

For 1st grade/2nd grade:

Addition (or Subtraction) War:

Each player gets their own deck of cards, remove face cards, and aces are equal to one. Players turn over two cards and add (or subtract) them. Larger number wins.

For 3rd grade/4th grade:

Multiplication War:

Each player gets their own deck of cards, remove face cards, and aces are equal to one. Players turn over two cards and multiply them. Larger number wins.

Missing addend "mind reading" (Grades 1-3)

In this game for three players, one student is the leader and the other two are the players. The two players each draw a card and, without looking at it, hold it up to their foreheads so that everyone else can see it. The leader announces the sum of the two cards. Each player must figure out which card is on his or her own forehead. When both players have figured out their cards, a new leader is chosen and the game continues. Try playing this game with four or five players for a challenge!

Missing factor "mind reading" (Grades 3-6)

This is identical to the previous game, except the leader announces the product of the cards. A nice feature is that all players get practice with products and factors in every round.

Sums of Ten Pyramid

Concept: sums of ten

Grade level: 1st/2nd grade

1. Remove the 10’s, jacks, queens and kings from a deck of playing cards.

2. Shuffle and lay the cards face down in a pyramid pattern, corners overlapping.

3. Lay the sixth row of cards face up. Place the remaining cards in a pile face down.

4. Remove pairs of cards from the pyramid that add up to equal ten (2 & 8, 5 & 5, etc.)

5. Once you have removed all possible pairs, begin to use the pile of cards to help you make pairs. Turn the cards in the pile over one at time and try to match with cards on the pyramid.

6. As you remove cards from the pyramid, you will uncover other cards. Once the cards that were overlapping a card have been removed, you may turn that card over and use it in making matches.

7. The goal is to get rid of the entire pyramid. (That’s what the students think the goal is anyways! The real goal is to practice math facts, but don’t tell them!)

The 1 to 10 Game

Concept: addition

Grade Level: 2nd – 4th

You need: 2 dice, 1 deck of cards, and a partner

Use only the ace, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10 cards.

One of you takes the red cards, one of you takes the black cards. Take turns. On your turn, roll the dice and figure out the sum. Remove enough cards from your hand to add up to that sum. For example, if you roll a 5 and a 3, you can make 8 in many ways (5+3, 4+4, 4+2+2, 8, etc...). If you can't make the sum with the cards in your hand, roll again. If you can't make a sum after three rolls, you lose the game. You win if your partner can't make a number in three rolls or if you use up all of your cards.

Number Family Rummy

Concept: fact families

Grade Level: 1st – 3rd

Use a deck of 40 cards: Four suits of ace through ten. The goal is to make families of three cards that are related by addition or subtraction. For example: 5, 5, and 10 are a family because 5+5=10, and 10-5=5. 6, 3, and 9 are a family because 6+3=9, 9-6=3, and 9-3=6.

Shuffle the deck and deal 6 cards to each player. Place the remaining cards face down in a pile. If you have any families of cards, place them aside. If you don't have any families, you may draw one from the pile and discard one of your own. You may also discard the one that you picked up, if you don't want it. The first player to get rid of all 6 cards (2 fact families) is the winner. Remember that the ace equals one.

Tic Tac Toe

Concept: adding 3-digit numbers, missing addends

Grade level: 3rd – 6th

PLAYERS

• 4 players (2 teams of 2)

EQUIPMENT

• playing cards Ace (=1) through 9

• paper and pencil

GETTING STARTED

The goal of this game is for pairs of students to work together cooperatively to find missing addends. Teams try to get Tic Tac Toe before their opponents get it.

Each team draws nine (9) cards from the deck. They use those cards in the order drawn to create an addition sentence/problem in which three 3-digit numbers are added.

Example

Player 1 turned over these nine cards: 4, 7, 9, 3, 2, 1, 8, 7, and another 2. The problem he creates is:

|4 7 9 |

|3 2 1 |

|+ 8 7 2 |

|--------- |

|1 6 7 2 |

The team figures out their sum and then turns over three of the cards in a diagonal row and displays the sum to the opposing team.

Example

| 7 9 |

|3 1 |

|+ 8 7 |

|--------- |

|1 6 7 2 |

The other team now has the opportunity to figure out the missing addends. When they figure them out, they tell their opponents the missing addends. If they are correct, they may put one X mark on a Tic Tac Toe gameboard.

The other team now has their chance to figure out the missing addends in a math problem created by their opponents and to add an O to the Tic Tac Toe board.

Play continues until the Tic Tac Toe game is completed.

Place Value Game

Concepts: place value, reading/writing six-digit numbers, ordering six-digit numbers

Grade level: 3rd/4th grade

Each player gets a sheet of paper. On the paper, draw 6 blanks and the comma for a six-digit number: ___ ___ ___ , ___ ___ ___.

For the first round, the player with the largest number will be the winner. Using a deck of cards, player 1 draws a card then decides and names where he/she would like to place the corresponding number. For example, if he drew a 5, he might say I’ll put the 5 in the hundreds’ place. The player then writes the number in the chosen place. A’s equal 1; 10’s, J’s, Q’s and K’s equal 0. When everyone has completed his/her number, players take turns reading their numbers and then determine who has the largest number.

For the second round, the player with the smallest number will be the winner.

Modified version for 2nd grade:

Play to complete a four-digit number.

What's Your Number?

Concept: 4-digit place value; decimal place value

Grade level: 4th – 6th

PLAYERS

• 3 or more

EQUIPMENT

• playing cards Ace (=1) through 9

• "What's Your Number" printable chart (optional)

GETTING STARTED

The goal of this game is to create the largest number possible.

Each player needs to make a chart that looks like the "What's Your Number" printable chart. Alternatively, you can print the chart out and hand it out to students.

Place the deck of cards face down in the middle of the playing area.

Player 1 draws a card from the deck and places it face up. All players must write this number down on their gameboard. Players may choose any place value position on their board.

Players draw five or more cards, one at a time, and fill in their boards; they choose what they believe to be the best possible place-value position for each number. Once players write a number on their grids that number cannot be erased.

At the end of the round, the player with the largest number earns 10 points.

Example

• Player 1 uses the cards drawn to create the number 9,652.41

• Player 2 uses the cards drawn to create the number 9,564.21

• Player 1 has the larger number. She wins the round and earns 10 points.

Play until one player achieves 100 points.

Your Place or Mine?

Concept: identifying place value from 10,000 - .000,01

Grade level: 4th – 6th

PLAYERS

• 2

EQUIPMENT

• playing cards Ace (=1) through 9

• 2 dice

• BINGO chips, or another small marker

GETTING STARTED

Each player takes six cards from the deck and uses them to make a 6-digit number face up. Each player rolls a die to determine where to place the decimal point in their number; if a 1 is rolled the decimal point is inserted before the last number in the string, if a 2 is rolled the decimal point is inserted before the next to the last number… Players use BINGO chips, or another form of marker, to represent the decimal point between cards.

The players verbalize their numbers to one another.

Next, a die is rolled to determine who scores a point.

• An odd roll (1, 3, or 5) means that the lowest, or smallest, number scores the point.

• An even roll (2, 4, or 6) means that the player with the larger number scores the point.

Example

• Player 1 arranges his six cards to form the number 641329.

• Player 2 arranges her six cards to form the number 526914.

• Player 1 rolls a 2 on the die; he places his decimal chip/marker to form the number 6413.29

• Player 2 rolls a 4 on the die; she places her decimal chip/marker to form the number 52.6914

• The die is rolled and a 5 (and odd number) comes up. That means the player with the lowest/smaller number wins the round. Player 2 scores one point because she has the smaller number.

Players draw six more cards and play again. Play continues until a set number of points is reached.

Subtraction Pole-Vault

Concept: subtraction with regrouping

Grade Level: 3rd – 5th

|Materials: |1 deck of number cards, four each of the numbers 0 through 9 |

| |(You can make the number cards from a regular deck of playing cards.  Take the 10's, |

| |jacks, and kings out of the deck.  Aces are 1's, queens are 0's.) |

| |calculator |

| |paper |

|Number of Players: |One (1) or more (you may play alone or with other players) |

|Object of the Game: |To get as close to 0 as possible, without going below 0, after five subtractions from a|

| |target number. |

|Directions: |Shuffle the cards and place the deck facedown on the playing surface.  Each player |

| |starts at 250.  They take turns doing the following: |

| |Turn over the top 2 cards and make a 2-digit number.  Subtract this number from 250 on |

| |scratch paper.  Check the answer on a calculator. |

| |Turn over the top 2 cards and make another 2-digit number.  Subtract it from the result|

| |in Step 1.  Check the answer on a calculator. |

| |Do this 3 more times:  Take 2 cards, make a 2-digit number, subtract it from the last |

| |result, and check the answer on a calculator. |

| |The closer to 0, the higher the pole-vault jump.  If a result is below 0, the player |

| |knocks off the bar; the jump does not count. |

|Sample Jump: |Turn 1: |Draw 4 and 5. |Subtract 45 or 54. |250-45 = 205 |

| |Turn 2: |Draw 0 and 6. |Subtract 6 or 60. |205-60 = 145 |

| |Turn 3: |Draw 4 and 1. |Subtract 41 or 14. |145-41 = 104 |

| |Turn 4: |Draw 3 and 2. |Subtract 32 or 23. |104-23 = 81 |

| |Turn 5: |Draw 6 and 9. |Subtract 69 or 96. |81-69 = 12 |

Build a number

Concept: number sentences involving addition/subtraction/multiplication/division

Grade level: 4th – 8th

When playing this game with younger children, remove the face cards; with older kids, make Jacks worth 11, Queens 12 and Kings 13. If your deck has Jokers, make them worth 0.

Each group of 2-5 students selects a target number from 1-30. Five cards are then flipped face up, and the object is for students to make a number sentence using all five cards with any operations to reach the target number.

For example, suppose the target number is 20 and the cards in play are 5, 5, 6, 2, and Ace (worth 1). One winning combination is: 5 x 2 + 5 + 6 - 1 = 20. Another is (6 x 5) - (2 x 5 x 1). Also, (6 ÷ 2) x 5 + (5 x 1) works, as do many more.

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The first player to find a winning combination keeps the cards and chooses the next target number. If no combination is found in about a minute, flip over another card and try to make a combination using six cards.

To keep the game fair for players of different abilities, introduce the rule that if a player hasn't made a combination in three rounds, he or she may make combinations using four of the five cards; other players must use five.

Multiplication Dice Toss

Concept: multiplications facts to 36; immediate recall

Grade level: 3rd

PLAYERS

• 2 - 4 players of equal skill

EQUIPMENT

• 2 dice

• counters -- pieces of cereal (Cheerios or Chex, for example) make good counters

GETTING STARTED

Player 1 rolls the dice. Players multiply the two dice. The first player to say aloud the correct answer collects one counter and becomes the next dice roller.

If there is a tie -- if both players say the correct response at the exact same time -- then both players may pick up a counter.

Players must give back a counter for any incorrect answer that is called out.

After a set amount of time, players count up their counters. The player with the most counters is the winner.

VARIATION

Play the game using multiplication facts to 144. In this version of the game, each player rolls 2 dice twice. The dice are added together and then multiplied.

Example

• On the first roll, the player rolls a 6 and a 3, for a total of 9.

• On the second roll, the player rolls a 4 and a 7, for a total of 11.

• The first player who calls out the correct answer to 9 x 11 (99) earns a counter.

Multiplication zone

Concept: multiplication; estimation

Grade level: 4th – 8th

This game for two to four players encourages the use of multiplication facts and estimation. Jacks are worth 11, Queens 12 and Kings 0 or 13. Each player is dealt 10 cards.

A card from the remaining stack is flipped face up. Its value is multiplied by 10, and players try to find a pair of cards whose product is in that "decade." For example, if the flipped card is a six, then the zone is any number in the sixties (60-69), so a winning pair would be 9 and 7 (product 63) or 12 and 5 (product 60), etc.

Any player who can make a pair removes those cards from his or her hand. Play continues until one player's hand is empty.

Dice Deluxe

Concept: 3-addend addition; subtraction from 12; immediate recall; odd/even

Grade levels: 2nd and 3rd

PLAYERS

• 2 players of equal skill

EQUIPMENT

• playing cards Ace (= 1) through 9

• 2 dice of one color

• 1 die of another color

• paper and pencil

GETTING STARTED

Player 1 rolls the dice. Player 2 flips over a playing card from the deck to determine whether the dice are added or subtracted.

• If Player 2 flips over an odd-numbered card (Ace, 3, 5, 7, or 9), the numbers on all three dice are added together.

• If Player 2 flips over an even-numbered card (2, 4, 6, or 8), the numbers on the two dice of one color are added together. Then the number on the third (colored) die is subtracted from the answer.

The first player to say aloud the correct answer to the roll of the dice earns 1 point.

Players alternate rolling the dice. They continue to accumulate points. Players subtract a point for a wrong answer. The first player to reach 18 points is the winner.

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