Math Games with Playing Cards

During my student teaching months, I had the opportunity to work alongside a wonderful math teacher who made learning fun. She taught her students games with a deck of cards to help them work with simple math operations, factors, and prime numbers.

In this article, I will share a few of those games she used and more. Discover the fun in math while helping your children strengthen their math skills.

For all these games you will need two people and one or two decks of cards, face cards removed. No calculators are allowed as the object of these games is to have the children develop math proficiency.

Addition Game

Mix the cards and distribute the same amount of cards to each player.

Without looking at the cards, the players will each uncover one card at a time and add the two numbers showing. The player, who first correctly adds the two cards, wins those cards.

If answered incorrectly, the turn passes to the other child. If he gives the right answer, he gets to take the cards. However, should his answer be also incorrect, the cards will stay on the table and the next pair of cards is played.

The game continues until all the cards are played and the winner of the round is the one with the most cards.

Subtraction Game

Instead of adding the two cards, this time the children will need to subtract them.

Each child will turn over one card and the first one who can correctly subtract wins the hand.

If the children have already learned about negative integers, they can then start over again by subtracting the higher of the two cards from the lower.

The game continues until one child is left without cards and the winner is the one with the whole deck.

Multiplication Game

The multiplication game is played the same way as the addition. Of course, the two values will be multiplied instead of added.

If your children are just now learning the time tables, you may want to give them some thinking time before they have to answer or let them use a time table sheet. Once they are familiar with them, they can go back to answering as quickly as they can.

As with the previous two games, the child with the most cards is the winner.

Factoring Game

This one can be played two different ways. As for the other games, mix the cards and divide equally between the children. Once the cards have been distributed, choose one of the two versions of the game.

One adaptation is for each child to take turns uncovering one card and name the factors. After the first child is finished, the other one uncovers his card and names the factors.

If the children list the correct factors, they get to keep their card. If they answer incorrectly, the opponent will have the chance to list those factors and win the card from the opponent.

The second version calls for each child to uncover a card at the same time. The first one who can give the product will then list the factors. If he answers incorrectly, the game passes on to the other child.

In both versions, the number of cards won determines the winner.

Prime Numbers Game

This game requires good knowledge of prime numbers.

One at a time, the children will uncover a card. They will keep uncovering the cards until one that is a prime number is found. At that point, the first child to recognize the prime number will grab the pile of cards on the table; however, if the guess is incorrect, the cards will go to the other child.

The winner is the one with the highest number of cards.

Whatever game you and your children choose, remember to have fun!