Do you doubt that your three-year-old can play card games? Don’t doubt it. Just because they might have trouble holding the cards doesn’t mean that they have to miss out on the fun.
Here are some fun games that you have probably played as a child and should play with your kiddies:
- Go Fish-the matching way (Big G prefers to play it the “make 10” way)
- War (Your kiddies will probably play this in school as “Compare” or “Top It”)
- “Up”
We play with cards that go with the TERC Investigations math curriculum. I purchased our set of Primary Number Cards on Amazon. Sometimes we play with 10-frame cards that I have created (just print them out on cardstock and cut ’em out!) or dot cards. I actually have a set of cards with me at all times in my purse-you never know when you’ll find yourself stuck somewhere…
These three games can teach a ton.
Here’s the math…
Go Fish is about numeral recognition and making pairs. Not too sophisticated if you are using the Number Cards. Just imagine how the game would become much more challenging with the Ten Frame Cards. There are different arrangements of the same quantity! You could find a match by using 1:1 Correspondence or by counting and comparing sets (there is a lot that goes into quantifying a set-a future post is coming up about that one!). There is the beginning of some game playing logic and strategy that can develop here too.
- Keeping Track Can you keep track of the questions asked? If you are asked someone else for a 5 then you must have a 5. If I have a 5 too, I can ask you for it!
- Eye on the End Game If I save my Wild Card, I can win if I have only one other card!
War is about magnitude. Which set is larger or smaller? Again, if you change the cards, the game becomes more complex. This is a complete game of chance, so the use of strategy is pretty much out here. Sometimes we call it, “Who has more?” and then when we have a tie we yell, “Who has more WAR!”. Big G wants to add up her cards for a war, but little g and I just compare the third card we put down. Winner takes all.
“Up” is about the sequential order of number. Big G and I play “I Doubt It” (ummm, you might know it as B*llsh$t), and when we do, little g likes to be on my team. To make a version she can play, we just deal out the cards and try to go up in order. We place them face UP, in a line as we play. By the time we are done, we have a looooooong line of 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 0, 1, 2, 3…until we have all four sets. Sometimes we even try to put the families together and learn about the sets that complete the deck. If it’s your turn and you don’t have the next card, you can use a wild card to “pretend” it’s the card you need. That way, little g learns about what a wild card can do too.
What card games do you play with your child? Are any of them old favorites?
When she started way back when, we were building really small quantities out of even smaller units, counting or subitizing amounts of objects. A lot has changed since then. As your child plays, you might feel like many games seem the same. What happens is that they are actually changed ever so slightly which is SO important for the gradual release of a scaffold (helper). There are some great free resources on the teacher page! Try ’em out! 
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