10 Card Games Kids Can Play

Card games aren’t just for adults. In fact, some children don’t mind playing card games occasionally. Though, the Daily Mail suggests that only 44% of children between ages 7 and 14 know how to play with cards. With children’s play times being dominated by technology, one wouldn’t think that they would have time to play a simple card game.

Want kids to take a break from their smartphones and tablets? Want to have family game night again? Consider playing card games with them!

Here are 10 of the best card games for kids to take part in. Check them out!

Memory

Source: Pixabay

In a game of concentration, the memory game has you lay all the cards down on the floor or table, and then see who can find the most pairs. While one player can play this, it’s much more fun when two or more people are involved!

First, shuffle the cards, and then spread them face down on a table. Whether or not you lay your cards in a certain pattern is up to you. One player flips over two cards. From there, one of two outcomes are possible:

  • The player finds two matching cards. The player gets to keep those cards. OR,
  • The player finds two cards that don’t match. The player must turn them back over, and let someone else take a turn.

Each player takes turns turning over two cards to see if they can get a matching pair. The person with the most pairs at the end wins.

Now, when playing Memory, you can either use a 52-card pack with suits or use a card pack with images in place of suits, like the ones from School Zone

War

Source: Pexels

War is another fun card game for the kids. Two to four players can play this game.

First, when the cards are dealt evenly, the players have to keep their cards face down. Next, each player flips a card from their pile and places it in the center of the table. Whoever has the highest card wins the cards shown. 

If two people have cards with the same, they “go to war” by playing new cards until someone breaks the tie. To do this, both players will need to take two new cards. Next, they put one face down on top of the card that’s already face-up in the middle of the table. Whoever puts down the highest-ranking card wins those cards.

Need additional help in playing this card game? Bicycle Cards shows you how to play! 

Go Fish

Kids also love playing “Go Fish”! For this game, two to six players can participate.

First, decide who in the group will be the dealer. For two or three players, each player gets seven cards. If there are more than three people playing this game, each player gets five cards. Any leftover cards are placed face down in a pile, or the “fishpond.”

Suppose there are 5 players in the game:

After dealing five cards to each player, one player goes first, asking the others if they had a certain card. If no one has the card you desire, they’ll say “Go Fish,” thus having you draw a card. This goes on until the draw pile is gone. 

You can play this game with either card with suits, or cards with visuals on them! For more info, you can refer to the rules posted on Bicycle Cards

Crazy 8s

Source: Walmart

Want another card game idea for the kiddos? Then check out Crazy 8s! (Don’t let the name of the game fool you!)

According to Bicycle Cards, Crazy 8s has you dealing five cards to each player. However, this all depends on how many players are playing. For example, if two people are playing, each player gets seven cards. For three or more players, they get five cards each. The leftover cards will go face-down in the “discard” pile, with the top card turned face-up beside it.

After turning over the first card in the pile, the first player puts a card that matches that first card’s suit or rank. If they don’t have a card, they draw a card from the pile. You can only draw up to three cards, and then it’s another player’s turn. 8s act as wild cards that let you change the suit.

Slapjack

Another fun card game for the kiddos, Slapjack is sillier than it sounds!

First, choose a dealer. The dealer deals the cards face down to each player. Players are not allowed to look at their cards, but instead, put them into piles. Don’t worry if one person has more cards than anyone else. 

Next, the player to the dealer’s left starts the game by turning the card on the top of their pile face-up in the center of the table. The next player follows suit until a jack is turned. When a Jack appears, whoever slaps it first wins the entire card pile. 

Afterward, the player to their left starts a new face-up pile. If someone has no more cards left, they must try one more time to stay in the game by slapping the next jack that appears. If they don’t slap the jack on time, they’re eliminated. Whoever’s the last person remaining in the game wins.

A 52-card pack would suffice for this game. Or, you can buy a card pack like School Zone’s “Farmer Jack” game, where someone has to “slap” Farmer Jack when he appears in the card pile! 

Old Maid

As explained by the Bicycle Cards website, “Old Maid” involves two to eight players. The object of the game is to not end up with the “Old Maid” at the end of the game.

First, take out the Queen of Clubs from the card pile. Next, cards are dealt evenly to all players.

Then, players sort out their pile by taking out any pairs before starting the game. Now, if any players have three matching cards, they can only put down one pair (two cards) and keep the spare card. Four matching cards are considered two pairs, to which the player can put them down. Now that all pairs are accounted for, it’s time for the game to officially start.

The first player holds their cards face-down and has the person on their left pick a card to take. The second player might pick a card that they can make into a pair, or they risk holding onto it. 

This goes on until all the cards have been paired up. However, the Old Maid remains, and cannot be paired with any other card. The person left with only the “Old Maid,” or has leftover cards, loses.

A good deck of cards to play this game on is the CartaMundi card pack, which lets you play not only “Old Maid,” but also Memory! (2 card games in one!) 

52-Card Pick Up

Source: Pexels

One of the best card games for the kids to play, 52-card pick-up is simple. No, really! It’s simpler than one might think! Here’s how to play:

Take a deck of cards, and then throw the cards onto the floor or ground. Have your kids try and pick them up. Don’t worry about who has the most cards until all the cards are accounted for. Next, have your children show you their card piles. Count the cards in each pile. Whoever has picked up the most cards wins.

So, let’s say that you have three children. When you throw the 52 cards onto the ground and have your children gather them up, you might have one child being able to collect only 18 cards, while another person has gathered 20 cards, and another 14. The child who had gathered 20 cards would be the winner in this case.

See? So simple! AND fun!

Rummy

Source: Pixabay

With two to six players, you try to get rid of your cards in “melds” – or a set of three or four of a kind in the same suit. The remaining cards serve as the “stock” pile. Without showing your cards, group matching cards together, creating a meld. Lay melds down on the table face up.

Here’s how to play:

The dealer shuffles the cards and then distributes them one at a time to each player. Keep in mind: Two players get ten cards each; three or four players get seven cards each; five or six players get 6. The rest of the cards are placed face down in the middle of the table, becoming the “stock” pile. The top stockpile card is turned face up, thus creating a “discard” pile. Each player then groups all matching cards or “melds” without showing each other.

Now, the player to the dealer’s left plays first by taking the top card from either the stock or the discard pile. A meld is laid down on the table so that all cards in the said meld are shown. That player will then discard another card from their hand by facing it up in the discard pile. 

The table goes clockwise as the game progresses. The first person to rid their cards wins the round. Try to win five rounds, and you win the game! 

Snap

Source: Pexels

Snap is a classic card game that involves two to twelve players. You can play this game with any card deck with suits.

First, deal the cards evenly to each – they can’t look at their cards.

The first player turns over the first card in their pile and places it in the middle. The next player follows suit. This goes on until a matching card appears. Whoever “snaps” the pile first, wins the pile. 

One tip from Bicycle Cards: Remember the keywords: “Snap” and “Snap Pot.” Shout “Snap” when one player sees matching cards. In the event where two people say “Snap” at the same time, then the two duel until there’s another pair of matching cards – when a matching pair is seen, someone yells “Snap Pot,” winning the whole pile.

Pig

Source: Pexels

Finally, for this game – another card game recommended by Bicycle Cards – you can play with any card deck with suits. 

Each player takes four matching cards (same number or suit) out of the deck and puts aside the remaining cards. The dealer then shuffles those cards and then deals them so that each player has four cards.

Each person picks one card to discard and pass to the person on the left. This continues until someone collects four of a kind, and that person must put their finger on their nose. If another player sees this, they must do the same. Whoever puts a finger on their nose last gets a letter in the word “PIG.” Whoever spells out the word “PIG” first loses.

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