This is a fun way to practice basic addition facts. My students love playing the game and it is much easier for them to figure out what two numbers they could add together to make a 10 than it is for them to complete a worksheet covering the same concept. Learning is an action verb. My students especially learn better by doing, and the game is a pretty simple one called Go for 10.
The game is played in pairs with a deck of cards that have the face cards (kings, queens, jacks, and jokers) removed.
1. One player is assigned to be player 1. The other is assigned to be player 2.
2. Each player is dealt 10 cards to begin with.
3. Players go through their hand and match up numbers to make as many tens as possible using two cards (example: a 4 of hearts and a 6 of clubs equal 10). They lay out their tens in front of them.
4. When both players have made all the tens they can with the cards in their hand, they take turns drawing a card from the pile of cards that weren't initially dealt out. If a player can make a ten with the new card, he or she sets this new ten in front of them with the others. If they can't, their partner gets a chance to draw a card and see if he or she can make a ten.
5. The game continues until all the remaining cards in the pile have been drawn. The winner is the player who has the most correct number of tens.
This would be a fun game for parents to play at home with their children. This video shows how the game is played. It uses a different set of cards that you can download and print out from a link provided instead of using face cards if you would like.
Video: Fun Math Games Go For 10
