Factors: A Math Card Game

Factors can be a tricky concept to master, but they are essential to understanding division. Help your child gain confidence with factors while playing this fun card game. By articulating why certain numbers are and are not factors in order to win cards, your child will develop a much better grasp on their math facts. Soon he’ll be ready to work with larger numbers and fractions!

Term to Know:

Factor: a number that divides evenly into another number

What You Need:

• Deck of playing cards

What You Do:

1. Review the term factor. Brainstorm all of the factors of 24 (1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 12, 24).
2. Remove the tens and face cards from the deck. Shuffle the remaining cards.
3. Distribute three cards to every player.
4. Player 1 draws a card and adds it to their hand. Then they decide which card from their hand they would like to discard. When they put the selected card face up in the discard pile, they need to say one of two things. They can say either, “_____ is not a factor of 24,” or “______ is a factor of 24 because…” (For example, “ 7  is not a factor of 24,” or “ 3  is a factor of 24 because 3 x 8 = 24.”)
5. If their card is not a factor of 24, play passes to the next player. If it is a factor of 24, they may take all of the cards in the discard pile and add them to their hand. If they make a mistake and say their card is a factor when it isn’t, they need to discard an additional card from their hand.
6. Play until one player has all of the cards, the pack is depleted, or time runs out.
7. The winner of the game is the player with the most cards.

Variation:

• Change the multiple from 24 to another number, such as 20.