Thursday, August 21, 2014

War Arithmetic

Lots of kids enjoy the simple card game of War. Happily, it doesn't take much to turn it into a good arithmetic game that can be adapted as kids learn more.

For beginners, remove all the face cards.

The first lesson is simply comparing values, as in the basic game. Use the symbols >, =, and <.

9 > 5
Students can count the pips on the cards to see which number is larger: there are more clubs on the 9 of clubs than there are diamonds on the 5 of diamonds.

6 < 10

10 = 10