A Quick Trick to Teaching Concepts With Index Card Games

Hello dear reader!

I am here today to showcase a way for you to introduce more PLAY into your interactions with your child to practice academic concepts together in a fun, engaging way. This sweet trick entails minimal cost & prep while maximizing good times ahead. Here’s a few card games, and we’re not talking your hearts/spades/clubs/diamonds cards, but Index Cards! Ready? Let’s go!

First: Whatever subject/skill your child is learning, put it on a card! Here are some ideas for topics you can practice:  

• Matching Capital/Lower case letters

• Numbers & a set of objects matching each number 

• Number recognition

• Math facts- addition, subtraction, fractions, multiplication, division

• Animals 

• Shapes & their names or features

• Sight words

• Words to practice for a story

• Word families (ie words ending in -at or -in or -ish, etc)

Note: I typically set these games up for 2 players. If you want to include others, you will need to make plenty of cards for all to participate. 

Several standard games can be implemented using index cards. 

All you’ll need to do is write whatever you’re practicing on 1 or 2 cards,depending on the game. That’s the entirety of the prep! Then, it’s GAME ON!

Go Fish! Make 2 sets of cards, with appx 20-30 cards total. Deal 5 cards to each player & place the remaining cards in a stack, face down, for a “Go Fish” pile. Players may look at their 5 cards. Players alternate asking another player if they have a match for one of the cards in their hand. If yes, the card is given to the player requesting it, and the matched pair is placed face up in front of the player who got a match. If the player does not have it, the player will “GO FISH”, taking one card from the face-down stack. If that card matches with a card in their hand, they may place it face-up in front of them. Game continues until all cards are in play. The player with the most pairs wins. 

Memory/Concentration:  Make 2 sets of cards, appx 20-30 cards total. Shuffle game cards and place cards upside down in equal rows. Players take turns turning over 2 cards (I like to emphasize turning it over in its spot for all to see, so we can remember where it’s located.). Read each card. If it’s a match, the player keeps the pair. If not, the cards are turned back upside down. The next player turns over two cards. Players keep their matching pairs, with the player having the most pairs as the winner after all cards are matched.. 

Treasure Hunt: This game only requires one set of cards, appx 12-20 cards. Place the cards on the ground, indoors or outdoors, leading to a treasure at the end. I often play with rewards along the way, too. For example, for every card read/solved correctly, the child will get an M&M or a jelly bean. Or for every 3 cards read/solved correctly, the child earns a Pokemon card or a pencil or a fancy eraser. The prize is up to you. I have one student who gets entirely imaginative on our scavenger hunts, pretending he’s Zac Power and watching out for booby traps, quicksand, lasers, poisonous plants, and trap doors! Have fun with this one! Be a pirate out for treasures, a spy, a prince finding a princess, an anteater looking for grub! 

ZONK! My mom taught me this one. It is SO versatile and kids LOVE it! 

• Set up: Write your topic words/equations/numbers on index cards and fold in half. (I often cut index cards in half to expand my supply.) On the outside of each card, assign it a point value. (Randomly or choose higher points for more challenging tasks.) I typically choose three values 1, 2, 3 or 2, 3, 5, but you can do anything. Next, write ZONK! on 3-5 cards (in fun lettering! With lightening bolts!) and fold, just like the other cards. Place all cards in a bowl/grab bag/basket of some sort. 

• Play: Players play on teams (so, if there’s 2 of you, you’re each your own team.). For a team’s turn, they may read AS MANY cards as they’d like. Draw cards 1 at a time & read/solve. If done correctly, the team gets the assigned points on the card. If incorrect, play turns over to the other team & points from that round are banked. Upon correctly reading/solving a card, the team can decide to go on-—hoping for more points—-or stop their turn and bank their points. Why bank? Well, if the team were to go on and draw a ZONK! Card, they forfeit their turn AND lose all the points from that round (only - not formerly banked points). Continue play until all cards have been read/solved. The team with the most points at the end wins. 

Index cards! Cheap & easy! Do you have other ways to play with them? I’m always growing my list of games and I’d love to hear more ideas.

If you play some of these, please do drop me a line and let me know how it went and/or send pictures of your family engaging joyfully in play today! 

With Joy,
Amy