Playing card games at home with my kids is one of my favorite family activities. I love the benefits of it like improving focus, strengthening memory, and developing fine motor skills, so using card games in the classroom was a no-brainer.
Aside from the fact that students love playing games and the benefits I mentioned before, using a deck of cards in the classroom can help boost math skills including problem-solving and critical thinking. Students have fun and increase math comprehension. Sounds like a win-win to me!
If you feel the same, you’ll want to grab a deck of cards {I love these!} and check out these engaging math activities I’ve compiled below.
Disclosure: Affiliate links have been used in this post, but I only share items I use and enjoy!
Thanks to the numbers and shapes that appear on playing cards, they make great tools for comparing numbers. Partner games are perfect for comparing numbers as students can compete against each other to find the largest number. Here’s an interesting way to incorporate comparing numbers in your math games.
In the game, Deal It, students break off into pairs. Each pair will need a deck of cards. Each student makes a 2 or 3-digit number by drawing cards from the top of the stack. They compare their numbers and the partner with the largest number keeps all the cards.
Students can use a recording sheet to jot down their numbers and identify the winners from each round. The person with the most cards at the end of the game is the winner!
Practicing the commutative property is simplified with this card game. Not only will students master making addition equations but they’ll also gain a better understanding of how you can achieve the same sum even when addends are rearranged. They can manipulate their playing cards to visualize this idea.
In the game, Flip it! Add it! Check it!, students will find a partner and use playing cards to create either a 2 or 3-digit addition problem. With cards lying face down, students flip over some cards to create an addition problem, record that on their recording sheet, and then use the commutative property to check their work.
The partner with the greater sum gets to keep the cards. At the end of the game, the player with the most cards is the winner.
Students will round the corner on estimating solutions with this board game-esque card game. The deck of cards becomes their manipulatives as students partner up and set out on a 6-stop course for learning to round, compare, and estimate numbers.
In The Road to Rounding, students are divided into partners and each pair receives a set of cards and a response sheet. Students will document the outcomes of 6 math tasks or “pit stops” on their response sheet.
The goal is for each pair to visit each pit stop but they do not need to be visited in order. So, you could choose to have each group begin at a different stop and you may have groups rotate. At each stop, the students will use their cards to build numbers and if they complete the requested activity, they will advance to the next stop.
As they work together, students will be focused on playing fun card games with friends while you sit back witnessing them learn, problem-solve, think critically, and build bonds!
Hey, y’all! My name is Amy Lemons and I am passionate about providing students with both engaging and effective standards-based Math and ELA lessons.
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