Posted on October 27, 2011 by admin | in Nanny
Card games are great for kids of all ages. From preschoolers to teenagers you can find card games that will appeal to your child. The great thing about card games is that they are very portable so you can play them at the hotel, at grandma’s house or anywhere you happen to have some down time. Check out 10 card games for kids.
- Crazy 8’s: Crazy 8 is a game that has been around for a very long time. You can play this game with a standard deck of 52 cards or you can buy the “Crazy 8” game. Either one will work. The object of this game is to get rid of all of your cards. You will play in suit until you can’t any longer and then you can use an 8 to change the suit.
- Old Maid: Again this game can be played with a standard deck of 52 cards. When playing with a standard deck you will need to remove one queen from the deck so you will play with only 51 cards. The more common way to play is with an Old Maid card game deck. Deal out all of the cards to the players. The object of this game is to avoid ended up with the odd Queen. You play this game by creating as many pairs as you can and then randomly drawing a card from the previous player in order to make more pairs. The game is over when all cards are paired up and someone has ended up with the “Old Maid”.
- Uno: This is a commercial card game that I believe is very similar to Crazy 8’s, but with a few twists. This game is a great game for younger children because they only really need to know their colors to play. You can help them with everything else. The object of the game is to be the first player to play all of your cards. To play this game you play the color of the card that is turned up until someone changes it with a Wild card or another card of the same number. Uno has added a Draw 2 card, Reverse card and a Wild Draw 4 card. These cards add twists to the game making it even more fun. The game is called Uno because when you get down to one card you must say “Uno!” or draw 2 cards if someone catches you not saying it.
- Go Fish: A tried and true game that is a lot of fun for kids of all ages. The object of the game is to get the most “books” of 4 of a kind and to go out. You will take turns asked a player for a specific card that you have in your hand. “Do you have any 4’s?” If they do you get to go again until some responds, “No, Go Fish!” Then you draw from the pond of card spread in a pile on the table. When you have collected 4 of a kind then you lay them down on the table. Play continues until someone is out of cards and then each player counts their books of 4 and whoever has the most wins.
- War!: This is a very simple game, but it does take an understanding of the values in a standard deck of 52 cards. The object of the game is to win all of the cards. Plays starts by dealing out all of the cards between two players. Players go head to head playing their cards in the order in which they were dealt in a face down pile. Whoever has the highest card wins the “battle”. You keep going through your pile of cards until one player wins all of the cards.
- Slap Jack: This is a great beginner card game for young children. The cards are turned over one at a time by the dealer and when a Jack comes up the first person to slap it gets all of the cards under it in the pile. The player with the most cards at the end is the winner. There is a usually a lot of giggling a long with this game as everyone is slapping at the same time.
- Memory game: There are many variations of this game. This game in particular is a great learning game and while it’s played mostly by younger children can be a great way to keep adult minds sharp. This game can be played with a standard deck of 52 cards or with a purchased set of cards. If you purchase a set you can usually find them in any theme that would appeal to your child from Dora to Sponge Bob. If playing with a standard deck explain to the players that they need to match up the red 3 with the other red 3. The players don’t need to know hearts and diamonds in order to play this game. The object of the game is to make the most matches. To play you lay all of the cards face down in a grid. Then each player gets to turn over two cards. If they match then they get to keep going. If they do not match they have to try to remember where those cards are so that when they do turn over the other match they can remember where the other cards are.
- Skip Bo: This is a great game that appeals to all ages, but is geared for ages 7 and up. The object of the game is to be the first player to use up all of their cards in their stock pile. Cards are dealt out for the stock pile and for a hand for each player to play from. The remaining cards are put into a draw pile and up to four building piles. Each player turns up the top card on their stock pile. On your turn you build on the building piles starting with 1 and going up. Each player tried to get rid of the cards on their stock pile. There are up to four discard piles in front of each player that are next to the stock pile. Cards may be played from these discard piles if needed.
- Phase 10: A different game from the others in this list, Phase 10 has a list of “phases” that must be completed to win the game. The first person to complete all phases wins. Ten cards are dealt to each player and then there is a draw pile and a discard pile. Sets and runs in various combinations are the phases and are on cards around the table for people to refer to. Once you get that phase down you may “hit” on another players cards. If player 1 has a set of 3’s down you may add to that set. Once a player plays their last card in that hand that round is over. If you did not get that phase down in the hand then you have to work on that phase again during the next round while others can continue to the next phase. Game continues until someone completes are 10 phases.
- Scrabble SLAM!: Another educational and very exciting game. To play this game your child has to be old enough to be spelling. It is however probably a good way to practice spelling with your second grader and above probably. The object of the game is to be the first player to play all of your cards. All players agree on a four-letter word to start the game. Those letters are picked out of the deck and placed on the center of the table where everyone can easily reach. Then cards are dealt out to all players. Players will then change the four-letter word as fast as they can to use all of the cards. Say the starting word is G-A-M-E. Someone plays a T and makes it T-A-M-E and the next player plays a K over the M and makes it T-A-K-E. Play continues until someone runs out of cards or until no other words can be made.
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