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Deal Me In . . .

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I decided a long time ago that you’re either born with the card-playing gene or you are not.  While my family played boardgames, we weren’t much on playing with a deck of cards.  So when I married into my husband’s card-playing family, I quickly was schooled in the finer strategies and rules of their favorite games. 
 
Fast forward ahead three little boys later, and I soon discover that not just one, but all three of them have inherited their fathers card gene. 

Yep!  They’re all a bunch of little card sharks.  They show no mercy, and we have quickly learned that when it comes to card games, they get no unfair advantages just because they’re ‘little and cute.’  I knew I was in trouble when MaGill was playing Garbage at 3 years old and handed me the card  he was about to discard and said “here mom, you’re going to need this.”  

 



So, of course, as family started arriving for the holidays, out came the cards.  I know you’re thinking, “oh that’s nice, everyone was playing WAR or Crazy 8s or something simple like that, right?” 



While those are great card games, . . . no.  Believe it or not, there are some really awesome card games out there that even your kinders can play to help with number sense, sequencing and value, along with addition, subtraction and just game strategy.  And the best part . . . they are fun, cheap and, if they can be played at home, they can certainly be played at school.

Our family’s favorites are  GARBAGE . . . great for sequencing/ number order.  It’s fast paced and one of the first games my own boys learned and one that I use in my classroom as well.  


They are also fans of Kings Corners.


Love your neighbor . . . (I looked for the ‘official rules for this one online but I couldn’t find it anywhere. Perhaps it’s one of those handed down from generation to generation things or called something different than what we call it. It’s basically a pass your cards to get the lowest possible card type of strategy game.)


and so many others such as baseball and golf.



If you interested in other card games for your classroom or your family, here’s are a couple of great sites that you can reference:

From About.com: Card Games for Kids
From Grandparents.com:  The rules to all your favorite card games.  
Or there are a couple of books that you can check out as well:


I think next year, my entire class is going to get a deck cards for Christmas instead of playdoh and a cookie cutters.  Should I deal you in?

I’d love to hear what your favorite family or classroom card game is.

 

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Marsha Moffit McGuire

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