Adding and Subtracting Games

A great way to help your child to practice adding is to take the Aces (1), 2s, 3s, 4s, and 5s out of a deck of cards. (Two decks might work better since there will not be a lot of cards with one deck.) The first player draws two cards and adds them together. The other player draws two cards and adds them together. The person with the highest sum gets all four cards. If there is a tie then both players keep his/her own cards. Keep playing. The person who either gets all the cards or gets the most cards wins.

This game could also be played with subtraction by taking the Aces, 2s, 3s, 4s, and 5s and putting them in one stack and the 6s, 7s, 8s, 9s, and 10s in another stack. The player would take a card from the higher numbered cards and one from the lower numbered cards. The player would then subtract the lower number from the higher number. The person with the LOWEST number wins the cards in this game.

At this point your child may need to count the shapes on the cards or use fingers or counters (like beans or blocks) to figure out the addition problems. For subtraction they may need to use their fingers or counters to figure out the problems.