Five Card Games to Play with Kids

There's no need to bust your budget on store-bought board games. For a few bucks, you can buy a few standard decks of cards that will provide a limitless catalog of games and provide hours of fun with the entire family. From a relatively young age, your kids can learn to play simple card games that will not only teach them to take turns and learn about fair play, but will also teach them some simple math concepts.

Crazy Eights - This is a game of matching colors and/or numbers. Players have to play close attention to the cards being played in order to win. The game is played with two or more players.

After shuffling the cards, the dealer distributes seven cards to each player (five each for three or more players). The remainder of the cards are placed face down in a discard pile in the center of the table. The top card is turn face up, placed next to the pile, and is used as the first card in play. Choose who goes first, and play will continue clockwise around the table.

The first player has to match one of his or her cards with either the suit (hearts, spades, diamonds, or clubs) or the value (1-10 or king, queen, jack, or ace) of the card on the discard pile. If the player cannot play a card, then he or she must draw a card from the discard pile. If the player has an eight of any suit, it can be played at any time. This is a sort of wild card, and the player can call any suit to be played next.

The first player to discard all of his or her cards is the winner. If you want to keep score, you can track "penalty points" for cards left in the other players' hands: 50 points for an eight, 10 points for a face card (king, queen, jack,), and the other cards are worth their face value (ace is worth 1 point, two is worth 2 points, etc.).

Go Fish - This is a timeless card game that kids love that doesn't require a special card deck. It can be played with two to six players.

The dealer shuffles a standard deck of cards and deals five cards to each player (seven cards for two players). The rest of the cards go face down in a discard pile in the center of the table. After choosing who goes first, the player asks the person to his or her left for a card that matches one or more in the hand. For example, a player might ask, "Ethan, do you have any threes?"

The player must hand over all of the cards that match the request. If that results in the player owning all four cards, then he or she places them in a pile. If the player does not have any of the requested card, then he or she can say, "Go fish!" The player then must draw a card from the pile.

Play continues until one player runs out of cards or there are no cards left in the discard pile. Players then count their sets of cards. The player with the most stacks wins.

Old Maid - Old Maid is a fun game for two or more players that requires players to match pairs of numbers and face cards.

Remove one queen from a deck of cards, and deal out all of the cards to the players. Each player looks at his or her cards, and removes all pairs from the hand. After choosing who goes first, that player holds his or her remaining cards up in a fan (the numbers facing inside), and allows the player to the left to take one card from the hand. If the chosen card makes a pair, then that player puts the pair off to the side, and then takes his or her hand and offers it to the next player.

Play continues until nearly all of the cards have been taken and matched with another card. There will be one remaining card - a queen. The player left with the lone queen is not the winner.

Slapjack - This is a fast-paced game that kids usually love because they get to "slap" the cards. It can be played with two or more players.

After the dealer thoroughly shuffles a standard deck of cards, he or she deals then evenly among all of the players. Everyone holds their cards in a pile face down, not looking at them. Going clockwise, everyone lays the top card face up. Play continues until someone lays down a jack, at which point the first player to "slap" the jack wins the pile of cards. The winner places the cards face down on the bottom of his or her pile.

If someone slaps a card on the pile other than a jack, he or she gives the top card in their pile to the player who put down the jack. If a player runs out of cards, he or she can still slap the pile if a jack is played, and can rejoin the game.

The game is over when one player has all of the cards in the deck.

War - War is a classic card game that has been around for ages. The game doesn't require any strategy, so as long as they know their numbers, it is an easy game for younger ones to learn. It can be played with up to four players, and can also last for days!

Start by shuffling the deck. Then deal out the entire deck of cards evenly amongst the players (26 cards each for two players, 17 each for three players, and 13 cards each for four players). To play, each player lays the top card in his or her deck face up at the same time. Whoever has the highest card, takes all the cards on the table. The cards are placed at the bottom of the winning player's pile. If two or more players lay down a card of the same value, then war must commence!

During war, the equal cards remain on the table, and the players lay down three cards face down, followed by one face up card. The higher of the cards wins all the cards on the table. If there are any equal cards, then war continues as often as needed.

The game is over when one player has all the cards in the deck.

Playing card games with your kids is a fun, fast-paced, and inexpensive way to get some quality time together. Your kids will learn valuable lessons, and everyone will learn a little bit more about each other.