Activity
Guess My Card
Challenge your child to create and solve math riddles! Draw from a deck of playing cards to find your numbers. Then, take turns inventing clues that will help others figure out what cards you have. Use addition, subtraction, multiplication, or division. By articulating math problems and using backwards thinking, your child will improve his critical thinking and math reasoning skills.
What You Need:
- Two decks of playing cards (with the face cards removed)
- Minimum of two players
What You Do:
- Explain to the players that they will alternate between being a clue-giver and a guesser.
- One player should deal 6 cards to each player and place the remaining cards in between the players.
- After examining the cards, the player who's up first must decide which cards he wants to involve in his clue. Then, he must present the riddle to help the guesser figure out what cards the player has in his hand (e.g. the product of two of my cards is 70). If you're playing with more than two people, have the rotation of clue givers and guessers go around in a circle of play.
- Next, the guesser has about 5 seconds to guess the value of the cards.
- If he guesses correctly, the clue-giver should give her cards to the guesser. Players should start a "win pile" of the cards they've won.
- If he doesn't guess correctly after five seconds, the clue-giver should give another clue involving different cards.
- If you're playing with more than two players, after the second clue has been given, any of the other players are allowed to chime in and guess the value of the clue cards.
- The clue-giver should then draw how ever many replacement cards she needs, plus an additional card which she should add to her win pile as a reward for giving a good clue.
- Keep playing until the two decks have been depleted.
- Have the players count the cards in their win piles. The player who's collected the most cards by the end of the game, wins!
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See this activity in a set:
Mirthful Mathematics: 10 Math Card Games