This new twist on the old classic Go Fish! helps kids to learn addition by mentally working out simple math problems. Each round played practices math facts for a specific number, making it easy to stick with one set of facts for as long as needed to solidify them in the players’ mind. All that’s needed to play this game is a standard deck of playing cards. It is best enjoyed with 2-4 players.
- Sort through the deck to remove all cards that are higher than that featured number for the math game. For example, if the goal is to learn addition facts for the number seven, the game will be played with ones (aces) through sevens.
- Deal out five cards to each player and place the remaining cards in a draw pile.
- Have each player look through his or her hand of cards to find any pairs that add up to the featured number and place them face up in their discard pile. For example, if learning addition facts for the number seven, appropriate pairs would be 6+1, 5+2 or 4+3. The 7 card would also be laid aside as a correct solution that doesn’t require a pair.
- The person to the left of the dealer may now ask any other player for a card that will help create the sum required. If the person asked has the card in his hand, he must give it up to the player that made the request. A player can keep asking for cards until no further matches are able to be made, at which point he is told to Go Fish! from the draw pile and the next player takes a turn trying to make a match.
- If a player runs out of cards he can choose five more cards from the draw pile to stay in the game.
- Continue playing until all the cards in the deck have been matched into pairs. The player with the highest number of pairs at the end of the game is the winner.
This can be adapted for subtraction, multiplication, and even fractions (using fraction cards instead of a standard deck).
from:
http://www.granby.k12.ct.us/uploaded/faculty/wyzika//Dice_and_Card_Games_to_Practice_Math_Facts.pdf