Once children have a fairly firm grip of numbers, there are many simple card games that can be played with them. Card games can be brought everywhere and require very little preparation. They are a great way to entertain any child.
You'll probably remember a few games you could spend hours playing as a child. Here are two to get started.
Three and three
2-4 players.
Shuffle one set of cards. Place three cards, face down, in front of each player and on top, three face up. Each player has three cards in their hand. The rest of the cards go on one pile in the middle, turn the first card and place face up beside the pile.
First player put a card higher than the one by the pile. If you don't have a card higher, you the whole pile facing down, and the next person plays. Two cards of the same number deletes the cards piling up, and you start from scratch. Once the facing down pile is gone, you finish the cards on your hands.
Once the cards in your hands are gone, you use the three cards facing up in front of you. Once these are gone you use the ones facing down. Every time you can't place a card higher or two of the same number, you pick up the pile. The person that finishes all his cards is the winner.
Go Fish
3-6 players
Shuffle one set of cards, and deal 5 cards to each player. Place the rest facing down in a tidy pile.
The aim is to collect the four cards of each number and once you have them you discard them.
The first player asks another for a specific card number, the other player hands over all the cards of that number. If the other player doesn't have any cards of that number he says “Go fish” and the first player takes a card from the pile. The game ends once a player has no cards in his hands, or all the cards have been gathered in sets of four. The player with most sets of four wins.
Do you have any great tips to share?