Make 15 - Column Addition

Charles needs drill adding columns of numbers so this is a perfect game for him. Douglas, like most children, can also use practice with addition. This fun game gave us a good time together while they got some math drill.

The deck of card has been around for a long time, so I am not sure where I got it. I did cover it with clear Contact paper on the front and a patterned Contact paper on the back to make the deck pretty. The cards are numbers 0 - 10. For this game we have taken the zeros out. The deck is shuffled and five cards are dealt to each player with the remaining cards becoming the draw pile.  Four cards from the draw pile are used to begin the four playing piles in the center of play.

In turn, a player may play one card to any pile. He adds the number value of the card he is playing to the cards already in the pile. He is attempting to create a pile that equals 15 (or any other previously agreed upon number). If his number makes the pile hit exactly 15, he collects the entire pile and sets it aside as his captured cards. He then takes a card from the draw pile to begin a new playing pile. He also draws another card to add to his hand so he always has five cards. Play then passes to the next player.

A player may not place a card that would make a pile go over the goal number. If all his cards are too high he would do one of the following options. Which one should be an agreed upon rule before play starts.

 1. He may simply lose his turn.

 2. She may place 1 - 5 cards at the bottom of the draw pile and draw new cards. If one of these plays, 

     she may play it like her normal turn. If none of these plays, she loses her turn.

Captured cards may be counted when the draw pile is depleted and all players have played all cards that they are able to play. Player with the most captured cards would be the winner.

The boys simply stacked ours and were able to determine the winner. Grandma collected the most cards. Hurray for Grandma!

Read more Cards for Math 
There are more ideas for using cards to drill math.