Pyramid Solitaire
The setup
Remove cards above a target number, say 10. Make a 21-card pyramid with 6 rows. Place the cards in the pyramid face up, with each lower row half-overlapping the row above it. The remaining cards form a draw pile.
How to play
Collect, and move aside, uncovered groups of cards that sum to the target. This group can include the top card of the draw pile or the discard pile. If there are no matches, move the top draw pile card to the discard pile.
The challenge
Empty the pyramid of all its cards. The game is over when the draw pile is empty.
Variations
Lower targets: If you use a target less than 10, reduce the pyramid size by a row or two so that you have a big enough draw pile. For example, for a goal of 8 use 15 cards in 5 rows.
Use subtraction: Instead of using addition, use subtraction. If you use the cards up to ten, a good target number is 5 – remove pairs of cards whose difference is 5. When you have a ‘5,’ you can either remove it or pair it with a 10.
Helping your child
Puzzles are meant to be challenging and to take time, so please don’t ruin the fun by telling your child how to do them. These puzzles are chosen so that you can create them easily and then have fun solving them together.
If your child gets stuck on a puzzle, you have several options. You can, of course, give very small hints, if you can think of things that won’t give away the puzzle. You can suggest looking at smaller or simpler versions of the puzzle. Encourage your child to be bold in their ideas, even if sometimes they lead to dead ends. We all learn a lot from our mistakes and dead ends! Let your child know that it is perfectly okay not to solve a puzzle on the first (or second or third) try, and that useful ideas may occur to them if they leave the puzzle alone for a day or two.
These puzzles are meant to be fun and to teach problem solving. One of the greatest mathematical pleasures is that AHA moment, after many false starts and much wrestling with a problem, when the answer is finally discovered – be sure to let your child experience that feeling of discovery as many times as you can!