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Purpose:

  • To reinforce the quick recall of basic facts: addition and multiplication.

You need:

  • Pack of cards with the picture cards removed. (The aces act as 1.)
  • Three players

How to play:

  • Place the cards in a pile, face down.
  • Two players pick up a card.
  • Players do not look at their card but hold the card, facing out, on their foreheads in a “salute.”
  • Player three adds the numbers on the two cards they can see and calls the answer.
  • Player one and player two have to work out from the answer the value of the card on their forehead.
  • The game is repeated with the players swapping their roles.

Variations:

  • To begin the game you could select cards from 1- 5 to form the pack face down on the table. As children become familiar with the game you can add the higher numbers.
  • You could extend this by multiplying the two numbers together instead of adding them and play in the same way.
  • You could extend the game with four players, three with a card on their forehead and one adding or multiplying the numbers together.

Download a file of this activity:

PDF (8KB) or Word (27KB)