Suggested Card Games

1

Card Houses

Players: 2 players.

Ages: Pre-teens + Teens.

Time to Play: 10 minutes.

Split the deck of cards into 2 and hand each deck to the players. Set a 10 minute timer and challenge both players to build the tallest tower within the time limit. The player who builds the tallest, most secure tower wins.

2

Card Toss

Players: 2+ players.

Ages: Younger children.

Time to Play: 5 – 20 minutes.

Cards move very differently through the air than a ball, which makes them fun to toss. Set up any kind of container and see who can toss the most cards into it!

3

Card Constructions

Players: Individual or group.

Ages: All ages.

Time to Play: 5 – 20 minutes.

Site: http://www.georgehart.com/cards/cards.html

4

Color & Match Game

Players: 2+ players.

Ages: Younger children.

Time to Play: 5 – 20 minutes.

Color + Number Match in a nutshell:

Sort through all the cards, so you only have the colored number cards in a deck. Also, make sure your child has plenty of different colored items such as candy. Then, draw a card from the pile, the player needs to place the items which match the amount and color that is on the card.

5

Construction Set

Players: 2+ players.

Ages: Younger children.

Time to Play: 5 – 20 minutes.

Adding a set of cards to other building materials can be lots of fun. Try adding Uno cards, plastic cups, and craft sticks to make a fun construction set. Or simple add cards to regular wooden building blocks or another construction set for an added dimension.

6

Domino Effect

Players: 2+ players.

Ages: Pre-teens + Teens.

Time to Play: 20 minutes.

Start by dividing the deck of cards in half and handing it to each player. Set a 20-minute time limit, and each player needs to make the longest ‘domino train’ possible. The player with the longest train wins.

7

Find It

Players: 2+ players.

Ages: Younger children.

Time to Play: 5 – 20 minutes.

Use number cards in all colours, starting with just low numbers. When you turn over a card, you have find, or list things, that number of objects in that colour. Eg if you turn over a green 3, you need to run around and find 3 green things, or list three green things you can see.

8

Find The Items

Players: 2 – 5 players.

Ages: Children + Pre-teens.

Time to Play: 5 – 15 minutes.

Grab all of the number cards and shuffle them/ Draw a card from the pile. Players need to find as many items in the color of the card that is on the card. So if a ‘Red 4’ gets drawn then, players need to find 4 red items. A point gets awarded to the first player to complete each challenge. Most points at the end of the game wins.

9

Go Fish

Players: 2 – 5 players.

Ages: Children + Pre-teens.

Time to Play: 5 – 15 minutes.

Remove all cards except 2 of each color number. Shuffle and deal out 7 cards evenly to players. Players need to match 4 cards that are the same, and they ask the other players if they have any cards that they need to complete a set of 4. If they do not have the card, they get told to ‘Go Fish’, and the player picks up another card. The first player to get rid of their cards wins.

10

Guess The Number

Players: 2+ players.

Ages: Children, Pre-teens + Teens.

Time to Play: 5 – 15 minutes.

Shuffle the entire cards deck and hand out a card to each player. Players need to stick their given card to their forehead without seeing what card they have. They then ask questions to try to figure out what card they have on their forehead. Other players can only answer ‘yes’ or ‘no’ questions. The player that correctly guesses their card in the fewest number of questions wins.

11

Higher or Lower

Players: 2+ players.

Ages: Children, Pre-teens + Teens.

Time to Play: 5 – 15 minutes.

Shuffle the card deck, including some but not all of the wildcards. Draw the top card. The player will have to guess if it’s higher, lower, or a wildcard up next. See how many correct guesses players can get—the player who is correct the most wins.

12

Memory

Players: 2+ players.

Ages: Younger children + Children.

Time to Play: 5 – 15 minutes.

Gather together 20 cards that are in 10 pairs. Shuffle them and lay the cards out in a 5×5 grid pattern, ensuring they are in a random pattern. Challenge a player to find the 10 pairs with the least amount of moves possible. Record how many cards they overturned to complete the challenge, and the player with the lowest number wins.

13

Move It

Players: 2+ players.

Ages: Younger children + Children.

Time to Play: 5 – 15 minutes.

You’ll need number cards in all colours, plus wild cards (optional), and a bit of space to play this game. Assign each colour an action, each person turns over a card and they have to do the action assigned to that colour as many times as the number on the card. If you turn over a wild the person to your left gets to pick the action and number of times you have to do it (we limit the number to the highest card we’ve included in the deck!).

14

Number Grab Game

Players: 2+ players.

Ages: Younger children + Children.

Time to Play: 5 – 15 minutes.

This is a great way to work on number recognition. Using just the number cards in all colours turn over one card and the first person to say the number of the card gets to keep it. The winner is the person with the most cards at the end (counting the cards to work out the winner is another great number learning task!).

To make it a little harder you can turn over two cards and the first person to say the number those two cards make up keeps both cards. eg A two and a three card would be 23.

To make it even harder for older kids, turn over two cards and the first person to make a sum out of them and give the correct answer keeps the cards. eg. A two and a three card could be 2+3=5 or 2×3=6

15

Old Maid

Players: 2 – 5 players.

Ages: Children + Pre-teens.

Time to Play: 5 – 15 minutes.

Get all the number cards from a pack and 1 random wild card. Shuffle these cards and deal them out to all players. Players need to match cards, if they have a match in their initial draw, then they can put these aside. Hold up the remaining cards to the player on the right so they can pick 1 at random to potentially make another match. The player holding the wildcard at the end of the game loses.

16

Simple Patterns

Players: 2+ players.

Ages: Younger children + Children.

Time to Play: 5 – 15 minutes.

The ability to recognise and create patterns is another important maths skill and Uno cards are great for playing with patterns.

Set out a simple pattern for your child to continue. Start with the same number in different colours for young players, then try mixing the numbers and colours. Eg red 1, yellow 2, red 2, red 1, yellow 2, red 2, what comes next?

17

Snap

Players: 2+ players.

Ages: Younger children + Children.

Time to Play: 5 – 15 minutes.

Only use the number cards, separate these and shuffle them into a deck. Place the deck face down. Deal out the entire deck to players, so they have roughly the same number of cards. Starting left of the dealer, players place 1 card onto a discard pile one at a time. When there’s a matching pair, all players need to slap their hand onto the pile and shout SNAP! Whoever’s hand is at the bottom wins that round and takes the pile. Whoever ends up with all the cards wins the game.

18

Spoons

Players: 6 – 12 players.

Ages: Pre-teens + Teens.

Time to Play: 30 – 45 minutes.

Take all the number cards out of the card deck and get 1 less spoon than people playing. Players get 4 cards each, and players need to match 4 numbers. Once a player has 4 of a kind, they can pick up a spoon. The last player without a spoon gets given a letter that spells out SPOON. Once a player has SPOON, they are out. The last player remaining in the game wins.

19

Sorting

Players: 2+ players.

Ages: Younger children + Children.

Time to Play: 5 – 15 minutes.

Classifying and sorting is an important skill for later mathematical thinking, and it’s also a great way to work on colour and number recognition. For little ones who are just starting to learn the names of colours, turning over a card and naming the colour you see is a simple and fun beginners activity. Then you can move on to sorting the cards into piles according to colour. You can do the same with naming and sorting numbers, and then combine both attributes and have your child sort into piles of colours and numbers. eg all the red ones, all the blue fives etc.

20

Stacking Draw Cards

Players: 2+ players.

Ages: Younger children + Children.

Time to Play: 5 – 15 minutes.

Allows players to stack Draw 2 or Draw 4 cards to cause other players to draw even more cards. Three Hand Uno: Each player has three piles of cards to try to get rid of. Three Piles: Makes use of three discard piles instead of one. Time Bomb: Adds a delay to Draw 2 and Draw 4 cards.

21

7-5-3 (Shichi-Go-San)

Players: 2+ players.

Ages: Younger children + Children.

Time to Play: 5 – 15 minutes.

All cards face down arranged in circle.  Each player will take turns to pick 1 card and say, “Shichi-Go-San” as s/he put the card face up in the center of the circe.  If the card is either 7, 5, or 3, the fastest who can tap the face of the card will get the card or stacks of cards.  The game over if all the cards were put face up.  The player with the largest number of cards is the Winner.

22

Old Maid (Babanuki)

Players: 2+ players.

Ages: Younger children + Children.

Time to Play: 5 – 15 minutes.

Distribute all the cards to the players except 1 Wild card.  Each player puts down 2 match cards.  The players will decide who will pick the card.  Normally, “janken” and clockwise taking turns.  The one who got the Wild card without a match lost the game.

23

Give Me What I Want (Cards Hunt)

Players: 2+ players.

Ages: Younger children + Children.

Time to Play: 5 – 15 minutes.

Allows players to stack Draw 2 or Draw 4 cards to cause other players to draw even more cards. Three Hand Uno: Each player has three piles of cards to try to get rid of. Three Piles: Makes use of three discard piles instead of one. Time Bomb: Adds a delay to Draw 2 and Draw 4 cards.

24

Cards Shoot

Players: 2+ players.

Ages: Younger children + Children.

Time to Play: 5 – 15 minutes.

Each player can have 10 cards.  The players will take turns in shooting the cards in a basket.  The one with more shoots wins the game!

25

Fly the Cards

Players: 2+ players.

Ages: Younger children + Children.

Time to Play: 5 – 15 minutes.

Each player will have 1 card each.  The one who can throw/fly the card the farthest is the winner! The players can decide how many times they compete or how many cards they can throw and the one with the farthest card is the winner