How to Teach Arithmetic and Negative Numbers with a Card Game

Children love card games, but why just play games of chance? You can make playing cards part of their education. This enjoyable activity can help you teach negative numbers as well as the basics of arithmetic. As soon as a child can count to ten easily, they are ready for number games. Show them the negative numbers on a thermometer and they can understand their use in the game.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• standard card deck

1. Start with just the black cards, Ace through 10. Shuffle, deal out two cards to each player, and they must add them together. Each correct answer is a point. If an opponent disagrees, he/she may challenge the answer. If the challenger is correct, then the challenger gets the point. The game is over when the cards are used up, and highest score wins.

2. 
    
   Red and Black Cards

   For the next level of play add the red cards, Ace through 10. Remind the players how the thermometer has numbers below zero. Just as we refer to being in the red or the black in financial talk, we can use the cards the same way: black is positive, and red is negative. Start by playing only addition problems. Each player gets 2 cards and adds them together. Two black cards equal a positive answer. A negative red card will lower the answer when it is added. Whether the answer is positive or negative depends upon whether your answer is above or below zero. Adding two red cards always results in a negative answer. As before, a point is earned for each correct answer or challenge, and the game is over when the cards are gone.

3. 
    
   Mark Each Joker + or -

   Now introduce subtraction with negative numbers by including the Jokers. Put a + on one Joker and a - on the other. For each turn in the game one player hides the Jokers behind his/her back, and the opponent picks one number card, a Joker to determine if the problem is addition or subtraction, and then the second number card. The second number must be correctly added or subtracted from the first number. Points and challenges are as before. At this level the children should learn that subtracting a negative number results in the same answer as adding a positive number.

4. 
    
   Use Face Cards Separately

   Bring on multiplication! Retire the Jokers and shuffle the Jacks, Queens, and Kings separately. Now a face card is drawn first: Jack = Addition, Queen = Subtraction, and the King = Multiplication. Then the 2 number cards are drawn and the resulting problem answered. Points and challenges allow every player to be involved in every problem of the game. Players should learn that multiplying a positive and a negative number results in a negative answer. Two negative numbers as well as two positive numbers result in a positive answer.

Tips & Warnings

• Make a paper thermometer with numbers to positive 20 and negative 20 to help beginners check their answers. Also include a chart of the multiplication tables.