Family Fun – Numeracy & Maths

At Cambusbarron Primary, we’re on a mission to grow curious, creative, and confident mathematicians.

We believe that family games are a seriously underrated way to build brilliant maths brains! Whether it’s board games, card games, or word games, play offers rich opportunities for children to develop important thinking skills, boost their resilience, and build a positive attitude towards problem solving — all while having fun together.

CARD GAMES

Make 10

  1. Setup:
     Use a standard deck of cards and remove all face cards (Jacks, Queens, Kings). Aces count as 1. You will be left with number cards 1–10 in four suits. Shuffle the cards and lay them face up in a grid (e.g., 4×10 or whatever fits your space).
  2. Dealing:
     No traditional dealing is needed. The entire deck (minus face cards) is placed face up in a visible grid on the table.
    Playing:
     Players take turns finding and removing pairs of cards that add up to exactly 10 (e.g., 6 + 4, 7 + 3, 1 + 9). Each player removes one valid pair per turn. Some versions allow more than two cards to be combined if they total 10.
  3. Winning:
     The player who collects the most valid pairs (or total cards) by the end of the game wins.
  4. Tiebreaker:
     If two players have the same number of cards, play a sudden-death round with a smaller set of cards. The first player to find a correct pair wins.
  5. Game End: The game ends when no more valid pairs that make 10 can be found in the grid. At this point, players count their collected cards or pairs.

Multiplication War

variations: addition war – switch out multiplcation for addition. 
Setup:
Remove face cards (Jacks, Queens, Kings) from a standard deck of cards. Alternatively, you can use a set of number cards 1-12. Aces can be either 1 or 11, decide beforehand.
Dealing:
Distribute the cards evenly between players, creating two piles.
Playing:
Each player simultaneously flips two cards face up and multiplies the numbers on the flipped cards.
Winning:
The player with the larger product (the answer to the multiplication problem) collects all four flipped cards.
Tiebreaker:
If players have the same product, set the cards aside and play another round. The winner of the tiebreaker round collects all the cards from both rounds.
Game End:
The game continues until one player has all the cards or a predetermined number of rounds have been played. The player with the most cards at the end wins. 

 

Go Fish!

Setup:
 Use a standard 52-card deck. Remove Jokers. The goal is to collect sets of four cards of the same rank (e.g. four 7s). Ideal for 2–6 players.

Dealing:
 Shuffle the deck and deal:

  • 7 cards each if 2–3 players
  • 5 cards each if 4+ players
     Place the remaining cards face down in a draw pile in the center.

Playing:
 Players take turns in clockwise order. On your turn:

  • Ask another player for a specific rank (e.g., “Do you have any 6s?”). You must already have at least one card of that rank.
  • If the player has any cards of that rank, they must give all of them to you. You get another turn.
  • If they do not have any, they say “Go fish,” and you draw a card from the pile.
    • If you draw the rank you asked for, show it and take another turn.
    • If not, your turn ends.
       When you collect four of a kind, place the set face-up in front of you.Winning:
       The player with the most sets of four at the end of the game wins.

Tiebreaker:
 If two players have the same number of sets at the end, they share the win or play a quick “sudden death” round using a small pile to break the tie.

Game End:
 The game ends when all 13 sets of four have been collected, or when no cards remain and no one can make further moves.

Shut the Box

  1. Setup:
     Use number cards 1–9 (you can remove other cards from a standard deck or create your own). Lay the cards face up in a row in numerical order in front of each player. You’ll also need two dice.
  2. Dealing:
     There’s no traditional dealing. Each player starts with their own full set of cards numbered 1 to 9 laid face up.
  3. Playing:
     On your turn, roll two dice and calculate the total. (if you don’t have a dice, just label pieces of paper and pop them in a bowl)
     You must then “shut” (turn face down or remove) one or more cards that add up exactly to the total rolled.
     For example, if you roll a 9, you could shut just the 9, or 4 + 5, or 2 + 3 + 4.
     Continue rolling and shutting cards as long as you can make valid combinations.
     If you cannot match the roll with the remaining cards, your turn ends.
  4. Winning:
     If you manage to shut all the cards (1–9), you’ve “shut the box” — a perfect round!
     In a multi-player game, the winner is the player with the lowest total of remaining face-up cards after each has had a turn.
  5. Tiebreaker:
     If players are tied with the same total, they each take one more turn. The player who shuts the most cards in the tiebreaker wins.

Game End:
 Play can be a single round, or multiple rounds with scores tracked over time. The player with the lowest overall score after the agreed number of rounds is the winner.

WORD GAMES

Number Tennis

Serve a ‘number’ under 100. Your partner must return the serve by responding with the number that would make your total 100, within a strict 5 second time limit. e.g. 1) serve “45” 2) responds “55”. Variations: 5, 10, 20, 1000, 1 (0.3 served / 0.7 responded)

 

Gimme 5 

Give your partner a start number and ask them to count backwards or forwards. They must say the next 5 numbers in the sequence. If the manage it they get a ‘high 5’. You can make it more challenging by varying the jumps .e.g. count backwards from 55 in 6s.

 

Yes/No Game

Think of a number and keep it to yourself. Your partner will then ask questions to work out what it is. e.g. “Is it an even number?”, “is it smaller than 20?”,, “Is it a multiple of 5?”

 

Rock, Paper… Add!

Like ‘Rock, Paper, Scissors’ you hide your hand behind your back, call together ‘1,2,3 – show’ but the difference is you reveal both your hands holding 0-10 fingers.

Multiply the number of fingers on each hand and call the answer. The player to call the correct answer first wins the point.

Variation – each finger to represent another value. E.g 1 finger = 10 instead of 1.

Unlucky 13

Count to 13 without landing on 13! You can say a maximum of 3 numbers in a row in each go. If you have to say 13 a point goes to the other players. This game is more about strategy and mathematical thinking than counting.

Variations – count backwards to 0, count up to a higher number, use a different number sequence (e.g. Fibonacci, primer number, multiples of 5, etc).

E.g.

Person A: 1, 2

Person B: 3, 4, 5

A: 6

B: 7, 8, 9

A: 10. 11, 12

B: 13!

 

I have a secret rule

Think of a rule such as ‘odd numbers over 20’.

Your partner list suggestions to see if they can figure out your rule.

E.g.

A: I have a rule.

B: does 50 meet you rule?

A: no

B:13

A: yes

Etc.

Variations – use 2D or 3D shape names. E.g. rule is the shape has more than 3 corners.

 

Maths Bot

Choose a rule such as ‘double and add one’.

Your partner gives you a number e.g. 3 and you respond (in your best robot voice) with their number after it’s been through the Maths Bot –  7.

Keep going until they guess your rule.

 

20 Questions

Choose a number 1-100.

Your partner asks a maximum of questions to discover the number.

  • A: is your number even
  • B: yes
  • A: is it in the 4 times-table?
  • B: no

Etc.

Variation: agree to use decimal numbers to 2 decimal places or use prime numbers.

 

Number of the Day

Choose today’s number (whole number or decimal).

Make up 5 challenges for your partner.

E.g. double today’s number / add your age to today’s number / subtract your age from today’s number / multiply it by yesterday’s number / multiply today’s number by 10/ etc.

Click here for a list of ideas!

 

Bake or cook

With adult supervision/help do some baking or cooking. You will need to measure and weigh out ingredients carefully to use your maths skills. Keep an eye on the time to make sure it doesn’t burn!

 

Build a den

Set den challenges for each other with a maths twist.

E.g. build a den with a perimeter bigger than a sofa cushion, use a triangle in your den structure, the door must be larger than 6 handspans.

 

Plan a party

You have a budget of £200 to plan a party (birthday, Christmas, paddling pool party’.

Think about: food, drinks, entertainment, party bag, activities, decorations, how many people you’re inviting.

 

How much is your name?

A=1, B=2 … Y=25, Z=26

How much is your first name? Last name? Full name? Who has the highest scoring name in your family? What’s the highest scoring 3 letter name you can find? What’s the lowest scoring name you can find?

Variations – use animals, food, cars, football club names, etc.

 

I-spy

I-spy with a maths twist.

E.g.  I spy with my little eye something bigger than 2 meters/ I spy something cylinder shaped / I spy something that’s heavier than me.

 

Place your bets (but don’t actually bet anything!)

With a partner, estimate different challenges and then see who’s right.

  • A: I think it will be 50 steps from the living room to the bathroom
  • B: I think it’s on 39 steps.
  • Then do the steps together to see who’s closest.

E.g. I think it will take  20 mugs of water to fill the sink basin / I think it will take 20 seconds to do 25 star jumps

 

Crazy Problems

Ask a partner a crazy maths question and solve the problem together (possibly with a calculator- thinking and talking that helps your brain in this one).

E.g how old am I in months? Weeks? days?! hours?!! What’s my height in sheets of paper? How old am I in dog years? How many hours do I sleep per week?

 

Would You Rather?

Ask maths themed questions such as…

  • Would you rather have a pound for each year you’ve been alive or a penny for each day you’ve been alive?
  • You may want to use a calculator – it’s the thinking and talking about it that’s important.

There’s lots of ideas on: http://www.wouldyourathermath.com/

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