Card Games For The Very Young

You might wonder if your preschool child is too young to start playing card games, but you might be surprised. 

You may wonder what the benefits of introducing card games to the very young are. Obviously, your child will learn some good social skills – and that’s something that we consider very important as part of Montessori education.

Card games are good icebreakers and knowing a few of the most popular and easy ones.

Card games also introduce some good mathematical and scientific skills.

The same applies to identifying court cards.  You’ve also got maths skills – recognising numbers, as well as ranking and ordering.

Classification – identifying whether a card is a heart, diamond, spade or club – is a basic scientific skill and is one of the things that we do in a Montessori classroom.

When you begin playing card games with your preschool child, remember to insist on proper card-playing etiquette right from the start.

Holding a hand of cards in a traditional fan is very difficult for small hands. It’s best to let him or her lay the cards in the hand down face up behind a screen such as a large book at first.

What card games can preschool children play?

• Snap. The most basic card game of them all. The very simplest version involves calling “snap” on matching suits; the more “advanced” version requires matching numbers.

• Fish. Another simple matching game, where you collect sets of four (e.g. four jacks, four queens, four aces, etc.).

This can be played when your child is able to recognise numbers (and the letters J, Q, K and A) and knows that a full set of four has a heart, a diamond, a spade and a club.

Spoons. A more lively game where the aim is to collect a set of four.  Here, the parent takes out enough cards so that there is one set of four per person (this one is best played with more than two players).

Donkey. Again, this requires children to be able to recognise letters and numbers. 

Beggar My Neighbour. This one also goes by the rather naughty name of Strip Jack Naked.  It’s a two-player game so divide the pack in half.

• I Declare War. Like Beggar My Neighbour, the aim is to win all the cards. Any number of players, and divide the pack evenly among them. 

Later on, encourage the use of the fan, starting with a small number of cards.

There are many other card games that are good for young children to play, but these should be good to get you started.

For more interesting games about children learning check outwww.fridayschildmontessori.com