The greatest math gift we can give our children in their formative years is the mastery of math facts.
Are your children able to add, subtract, multiply, and divide quickly and successfully?
Are your older children familiar with order of operations?
Flashcards are a great way to drill math facts and test for mastery. Facts practice tests are also wonderful.
Isn’t it great, however, when we can make math FUN for our children?
This summer we have been having a lot of fun with a new resource, Mega-Fun Card Game Math.
About Mega-Fun Card Game Math
The particular book we have is geared for grades 3-5, but my middle grades daughter has been enjoying the games, too.
There are 25 card games presented. The only supplies needed are a deck of cards. Some games in the book call for score sheets or other masters, which are included.
Each game has a very simple instruction sheet and we have found the games fun and engaging.
Skills covered include:
- Number and Operations
- Algebra
- Geometry
- Measurement
- Data Analysis and Probability
- Problem Solving
- Communication
- Connections
- Representation
(Of course, all of the games are correlated to National Math Standards, so if you pay attention to those that is great – we just play the games and make sure our facts are solid!)
The favorite game we have played so far is “Time to Multiply”. It’s so simple!
Take a deck of cards and remove all of the face cards. Aces are worth 1 and Jokers are worth 0.
Place the deck of cards face down between two players. Each player draws two cards. Player 1 says the product of their two cards. Player 2 says the product of their 2 cards. Whoever has the highest product wins that round – the winner has to subtract the other player’s product from their product to get their number of points for that round.
Example: Player 1 has a product of 49 and Player 2 has a product of 30. Player 1 receives 19 points for that round.
Put the used cards in a discard pile and continue play until the cards are gone. Add up all the scores from the rounds and you have your winner.
Be sure to use the terminology “product” and “difference” as you are playing!
How We Will Be Using This Resource in Our Homeschool
I don’t think we have enough fun with math, so in the coming school year we will begin our math time with a card game. It will be easy enough for me to locate a card game in this book to go with what the kids are studying in math.
(There is also a Mega-Fun Card Game Math for younger grades.)
For less than $10, this is a great resource that will make math more meaningful and fun.
Do you play math card games in your homeschool?
~Written by Mary, Homegrown Learners
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