Math Solitaire for Two

Who doesn’t love a good, old-fashioned game of solitaire – especially when you don’t have to play alone? Engage your third-grader in this version of the classic game and she will get lots of practice using mental math to solve addition and subtraction problems. An added bonus is that she will increase her speed when identifying basic math facts and her self-confidence will soar! So, put away that drill sheet of addition and subtraction facts and have a little fun playing Solitaire for Two with your third-grader. The results – and the final score – may shock you!

What You Need:

• deck of cards
• paper and pencil to keep score

What You Do:

Step 1:
Begin the game by shuffling the deck and dealing 20 cards to each player in the following manner:

• Deal 4 cards face-down to each player.  Position the cards straight across in a row.
• Deal 4 rows of 4 cards face-up to each player.  Line them up under the previous rows as you would in solitaire.
• After dealing, there should be 12 cards left in the deck.  Divide them evenly and give each player a face-down deck of 6 cards.

Step 2:
Player 1 begins with his first column (moving left to right) and mentally adds all of the face-up cards in the column.  The goal is for your total to be as close to 20 as possible.  Face cards (Ace, King, Queen, Jack) count as 10. 

Step 3:
Once the cards in the first column are added, Player 1 must choose to turn over the remaining card in the column or the first card in his deck of 6.  Once he turns over the card, he must choose whether to add or subtract the card in order to have the column total be as close to 20 as possible.