Educational Card Games for Kids

Card games can be used to teach children different skills because children as young as two can play certain games. Repetition and engaging activities help kids remember educational concepts. Card games can teach math skills, reasoning skills, improve memory skills, and teach children how to follow rules and take turns. By choosing appropriate card games, teachers and parents can help children practice basic skills through a fun, engaging activity.

Spit

Spit is a two player game in which the players must be fast and alert to their opponent’s moves. Each player receives 26 cards and makes a row of five cards. The first row has one card, the second row two cards, the third row three cards, the fourth row four cards, and the fifth row five cards. Each top card on the pile should be turned face up. The remaining eleven cards should stay in the players’ hands and they must not look at the cards.

The leftover cards are the spit cards. When both players are ready, they shout “spit” and begin discarding cards from the stock piles as quickly as possible. Cards must follow the numerical sequence in order to be played; the color and suit is not important. Once neither player can put down any more cards, they shout “spit” and play the next spit card. The first player to get rid of their stock cards is the winner.

This game is ideal for older children who understand the concept of moving quickly and paying attention to the opponent’s cards. Middle and high school kids are a great age group for Spit. Speed is obviously one skill kids learn when playing spit. Analytical thinking is another skill kids pick up when playing Spit. Kids will learn how to analyze what card to play based on what cards are on the opponent’s stock piles.

War

War is typically a two player card game, but there are variations that allow for a third player. In a teaching situation, utilizing the two player card game works best and allows for easy facilitation of the skills being taught. The dealer deals a full deck of cards equally among the two players. Players then flip over their top cards at the same time. The person with the highest card wins. If both cards are the same, war is declared and three cards are laid face down and a fourth is laid face up with the highest card winning all the cards. The first person to win all the cards is the winner.

Preschool children who have a firm grasp of numerical order can practice math skills using the game of War. The main skill taught with war is higher than, less than, and equal to computations. With young children, an adult may need to assist the child in figuring out which number is higher and who wins the hand. Elementary aged children should be able to play this game independently with a friend.

Another exercise kids can do when playing war is to determine who has the better hand during a war match. After determining the winner of a war match, the kids can flip over the other three cards. By looking at the value of each card, the kids can determine who had the overall better war hand.

Concentration/Memory

Memory is a game that toddlers can play because the rules are simple.This game can be played independently or with two to four players. In Memory, kids lay out rows of cards face down. The first player flips over a card and tries to find the match. If a match is found, the player collects the cards and goes again. If the player does not make a match, he or she flips the cards back over and the next person goes. The person with the most matches wins.

Depending on the deck of cards used, Memory can teach a variety of skills. For younger kids Memory decks can be color cards, alphabet cards, number cards, or animal cards. The kids practice not only their thinking and memory skills, but it reinforces basic reading and math skills. More challenging decks, such as complex pictures that seem similar but have a few differences are great for older kids. Teachers can use Memory to teach a foreign language by creating cards with pictures and words on them. Any skill or theme can be made into a Memory game for all age groups.

Old Maid

Old Maid is a game for up to eight players and is suitable for elementary aged children, specifically those in the lower grades. Specialty decks made for the playing of Old Maid may be easier for kids than using a standard 52-card deck. All of the cards are dealt to the players. Players pull out their matching pairs. Working clockwise, players hold out their hand to the player next to them and let that player pick a card. The player who picks a card pulls out any matches. If there are no matches, that player lets the next player pick a card from them. The person left with the Old Maid, or the card with no match, loses.

This game strengthens a child’s matching and memory skills. Since this is a very active game it also helps improve social skills among kids. For older kids who have moved beyond the basic skills of matching and socializing, learning how to bluff in a card game by using critical thinking can help them in other games.

Go Fish

Go Fish is a game for two to four players. Kids between the ages of five and twelve benefit from this game. Using a standard card deck, players get seven cards. The remaining cards are placed face down in a stack on the table. Players remove any matches and then, working clockwise, players ask if the other player has the cards they need. Some rules recommend pulling out pairs, while other rules suggest holding the cards until a player has all four of the same card. The person with the most matches at the end of the game wins.

Go Fish helps kids with their matching, memory, and social skills. It also helps younger children with number recognition and learning how to play cooperatively with other people. Specialty Go Fish decks can cover other themes such as foreign language, animals, weather, holidays, or letters.

Slapjack

Children of all ages love Slapjack because it involves a lot of social interaction and slapping the table. Since a player only needs to recognize the jack cards, very young children can enjoy playing Slapjack. This game can have up to eight players, but is typically played with three or four. The cards are dealt evenly and each player lays their top card into the center of the table. If a jack is laid down, players try to be the first person to slap the pile. The person whose hand is on the bottom wins the pile of cards. The winner is the person who wins all the cards at the end of the game.

Slapjack is one of the greatest card games for teaching cooperation and social skills. Because of the speed necessary to win a hand, children can get into disagreements over whose hand actually touched the jack first. This provides a great opportunity to teach children how to handle disagreements in games fairly. This game also works to improve attention skills in kids who struggle to pay attention for long.

Educational publishers understand how valuable card games are in a child’s learning, and this is why there is a variety of card games available that help improve and practice educational concepts. All that is really needed for a classic game of Memory or Go Fish is a standard 52-card deck and a group of kids ready to learn while having fun!