Developing a child’s analytical and math skills at an early age is a very important. The best way to introduce math and problem solving skills to a young child is through presenting it to them in the form of a game.

Commonly Used Games

There are many card games today being slightly modified for teaching math to young children. All of us are familiar with the game “Uno,” perhaps even played it a few times when we were younger. That game can easily be modified to help teach children develop their multiplication skills. In the game “Uno,” you must place cards in a pile according to color or number. For example, if it is your turn and the card in play is a blue three, you must either play a blue card or a three of any color. The way to modify this game to help teach children math skills is to make them multiply the two numbers being played together before completing their turn. For example, a blue five is showing and you play a blue three, so before you complete your turn, you must multiply the two numbers and come up with fifteen.

Another card game that can be used to help with a child’s math skills is blackjack. Although this game is originally intended for gambling purposes, it can aid in the development of a child’s mental addition capabilities. This game forces you to add up your cards quickly, while using your mental addition skills only. For example, a child is dealt a seven and a six. They must immediately know that they are holding thirteen. If they take one more card and get a five they must quickly figure out that they have a total of eighteen. Knowing their card count, as well as how much more they need to reach twenty-one will help them with both their mental addition and subtraction skills.