Addition Facts 1-10 “War” Card Games & Printables

Learning Addition Up to 10 in Preschool and Kindergarten

ADDITION MATH FACTS

ADDITION TO 10 GAMES ARE NECESSARY FOR KIDS TO BUILD FACT FLUENCY. WITHOUT FLUENCY, MATH WILL BE A STRUGGLE.

Single digit addition worksheets might do the trick to assess your students. However, getting them to learn their facts requires hands-on, interactive fun addition flash card games and activities.

This set of printable playing cards can be used a variety of ways!

The “War” game includes 12 sets of cards including all addition facts from 1-10, plus a set of doubles only cards and a set of mixed facts.

Also included are two sets of worksheets covering addition facts from 0-10 using number lines and bar graphing.

Games are a great opportunity to learn and use vocabulary related to addition, subtraction, or whatever skill you’re working on. Before/during/after the game, students can answer and pose questions like:

• What is a strategy to quickly find the correct answer?
• What numbers are easy to add/hard?
• How can I used doubles to find the sum?

What Can Children Learn Playing Math Card Games?

ENGAGING MATH GAMES TO PRACTICE FACTS

LEARNING BASIC MATH FACTS SHOULD BE FUN, NOT TEDIOUS. MATCHING GAMES ARE ENGAGING FOR KIDS AND THE FALL THEME IS THE ICING ON THE CAKE.

Simple addition games and activities help kids practice math skills and use important vocabulary associated with addition:

• Sum
• Addends
• Commutative property
• Total

Why Is It Important For Kids To Play Addition Games?

Children learn best when engaged with creative family fun, like card games! Playing math games encourages practice with a ton of important skills while cleverly disguised as a fun game!

Number Sense: Playing math games improves numbers sense which is the ability to understand, compare/contrast, and relate numbers to each other.

Automaticity: When children effortlessly (automatically) know basic math facts, it makes more complex computations easier.

Vocabulary: Encouraging kids to use math vocabulary while playing games (sum/difference/total/greater than/less than)is a meaningful way to practice.

Cooperative Learning: Simple games with partners or small groups give kids a lot of practice with social skills, like taking turns, following rules, and winning/losing.

How to Make the Addition “War” Card Game

To Prep:

Print 2-3 copies of each addition card game to vary the length and difficulty of the game. I recommend printing three copies of Set 1 because it is a smaller deck. For Sets 2-12, two copies should be sufficient.

For use in a center, print the student direction page.

To Play:

The game is played as a traditional game of “War”: 

• Divide cards evenly among two players.
• Place cards from the deck face down in a stack.
• Players flip one card at the same time.
• Player with the card with the highest sum takes both cards and adds them to the bottom of their pile. In case of a tie, each player draws three cards from their pile and places them face down and then turns the third card face up.
• Highest value wins all the cards.
• Play continues as time allows or one player runs out of cards. Great partner center!

Extend the Activity

Word Problems

Tell silly word problems about farm life. “There were 4 pigs in the mud and 2 farmers jumped in. How many things are in the mud now?”

Counting Practice

If you child isn’t ready for addition fact fluency, use the fact cards to build addition facts with manipulatives and find the sum. This will build automaticity over time.

Relate to Subtraction

Use the addition fact cards to learn subtraction facts. Show kids how to take an addition equation (3+4=7) and reverse it into a subtraction fact.