Hit the Target
Math Concepts
Add / Subtract single-digit numbers
Materials
Deck of playing cards
Players
2- 4
Set up
From a deck of playing cards, remove the face cards and any numbers that are larger than what the children are comfortable with. Shuffle the cards and turn over five cards to use and a sixth card that is the target. Leave the remaining cards as a draw pile to fill in missing cards as they get removed.
Play
During a turn, if a player can use the sum or difference of two of the five cards to equal the sixth, the player gets all three cards and they are replaced from the draw pile. If the player fails, then a new sixth card is turned over and the turn moves to the next player.
Goal
The player with the most cards at the end of the game wins.
Example move
For the numbers 1, 3, 3, 5, and 8 with target 6, the player could use 3 + 3 = 6 or 1 + 5 = 6. If the target were 7 instead, the player could use 8- 1 = 7.
Variations
If a player fails to see a combination that another player sees, allow the other player to claim the cards.
Allow the use of three cards to hit the target. Allowing the use of any number of cards to reach the target will reward imaginative combinations and deeper thought.
Include multiplication and division, as well as two-digit targets, for more advanced students.