Mr. R.’s World of Math

Making Tens Card Game

Lesson: Making Tens Solitaire Card Game
Level: k-2
Materials: deck of cards without picture cards (one deck for each player)
Skills: ways to make ten (number sense)

How to play:
1. Distribute a deck of card to each student. Begin by having players put two cards from the top of their deck face up on the table in front of them. If either player’s cards add up to ten (for instance a 2 and an 8) they pick-up the cards and put them in their ten’s pile (each player has their own tens pile). Then replace the 2 cards with two new ones.

2. After all matches of ten are made from first round, each player begins to deal out cards one at a time (simultaneously) trying to make more tens.
Cards are laid out horizontally as in solitaire.
If the student deals out a card with the number ten on it, they may put it directly into the tens pile.
When all matches are made, players end up with no cards remaining (if card decks are complete).

Example:

tens solitiare game

3. When a player is done matching all their cards, they check their work by going through their “tens pile” two cards at a time while saying the addends out loud.
For instance, if the first card in their tens pile is a 6, they should deduce that the next card will be a 4, etc. (students love to make this prediction as it is like a magic trick)

Competitive version:
Have two players race against each other for time.

Extensions:
Players can use two or more cards to make sums of ten
For example, the 5 + 3 + 2
Play for different sums

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