Download Near Doubles

Near Doubles
Why: to use “doubles”—addition facts such as “5 + 5” or “7 + 7”—to quickly figure
out “near doubles”—facts such as “5 + 6” or “7 + 8”
Parent Note: Encourage your child to talk about HOW to figure out the fact if s/he
does not instantly recognize the sum. Example: “I know that 7 plus 7 is 14, so 7
plus 8 is one more, 15.”
Players: 2
Materials Needed: playing cards: four each of ace (for 1) through 9
How To Play: Mix the cards and place them face down on the playing surface.
• Player #1 turns a card face up.
• Player #2 turns a card face up. If the cards face up are a near double (1 +2,
2 + 3, 3 + 4, 4 + 5, 5 + 6, 6 + 7, 7 + 8, 8 + 9), then the player tells the sum
and keeps the cards. If the cards are not the numbers of a near double,
then play continues.
• Play continues with the players taking turns to turn over a card.
• Players claim pairs of cards that are near doubles.
• Turn taking continues until no cards remain that are a near double
combination.
• The winner is the player with the most cards.
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Target Number
Why: to practice two or more number combinations for a given sum
Players: 2
Materials needed: playing cards: four each of ace (for 1) through 10
How to play:
• The players choose a “target number” between 8 and 18. This is the total
that a player must have to take cards during each round of play. The
target number stays the same throughout the game.
• Player #1 turns a card face up.
• Player #2 turns a card face up. If the cards face up total the target
number, then the player takes the cards.
• On a player’s turn, if the player can take two or more cards that total the
target number, then the player does so.
• For example, if the target number is 12, and a “3” card and a “5” card are
face up when a player turns over a “4,” then the player may take all three
cards saying, “3 plus 5 is 8, plus 4 more is 12.”
• Turn taking continues.
• The winner is the player with the most cards when all the cards have
been turned face up and no more cards add up to total the target number.
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Peace—A Friendly Game
Why: To practice subtracting single digit numbers
Players: 2
Materials Needed: playing cards: four each of ace (for 1) through 10
How To Play: Share the cards so that the players have equal stacks of
cards.
• Play begins with both players turning over the top two cards from
his/her stack. Each player subtracts the smaller number from the
larger number of his two cards and names the difference. The player
with the greater difference takes all four cards played.
Parent note: To help reinforce mathematical language, each player should
describe the difference. For example: “When I subtract nine from seven,
the difference is two.”
• Play continues in this way until all of the cards have been used.
• The player with the greatest number of cards, when all of the cards
have been played, is the winner.
A Variation: Each player takes three cards and decides which two cards
will make a two-digit number from which to subtract the number of the third
card. For example: If a player has 3, 7, and 4, s/he may say, “74 subtract 3
is 71.”
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Doubles
Why: to recognize and recall “doubles”—addition facts in which a number is
added to itself--such as “5 + 5” or “7 + 7”
Players: 2
Materials Needed: playing cards: four each of ace (for 1) through 9
How To Play: Mix the cards and place them face down on the playing surface.
• Player #1 turns a card face up.
• Player #2 turns a card face up. If the cards face up are a double (1 +1, 2 +
2, 3 + 3, 4 + 4, 5 + 5, 6 + 6, 7 + 7, 8 + 8, 9 + 9), then the player tells the sum
and keeps the cards. If the cards are not the numbers of a double, then play
continues.
• Players claim only pairs of cards that are doubles.
• Turn taking continues until no cards remain that are a double combination.
• The winner is the player with the most cards.
3 plus 3 equals 6…It’s a double!
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