Teach At Home Thursday: Math Cards

With a lot of children’s summers starting, I wanted to not necessarily forget about Teaching at Home Thursdays but wanted to focus on things that you could do that might not feel like schoolwork so much and that are simple and can be used through out the entire year.

One of Peanut’s favorite activities is math cards, using a plain deck of cards, we practice math facts, addition, subtraction, bigger than, less than, even fractions. The best part is that it is all you need is a deck of cards.

First start with laying them all out in a pile (similar to how you would for go fish)

Draw two cards and lay them out. I usually have Peanut draw six or eight and then we proceed with the addition/subtraction facts. 

Peanut likes to write his math problems out and then solve them. He is a very visual child and this helps him to see what he is solving.

The best part of this activity is that all you have to do is shuffle and you have an entire new set of problems.

When it comes to an Ace card, we made the rule that he can choose (like in most card games) whether the card is worth 11 or 1. It is also a guideline that he has to use an ace at least once each way.

I love this activity because I can easier work with him when we are on road trips, or hanging out etc.

When using this activity for subtraction, it is the same concept, just make sure that the “bigger number” is first, this turns into a lesson in itself, can you solve this math problem?

When doing it for less than, more than, bigger than, smaller than, I draw one card, Peanut draws another and we say whose is bigger, whose is smaller.

Now, for kiddos that are not at the level to solve problems, using the cards, have them choose a number (take out the face cards) and state what the number is…

Say they choose a 4, then after they say this is a four, have them find four objects in the room that are the same, or the same color etc.

I love the simplicity of this activity and the many possibilities that is offers.