• Summer time for me always brings back memories of spending time at my grandparent’s house. More specifically I remember learning to play all manner of card games with them. Nowadays it seems that the fun of playing cards has been passed over for video games, tv and iPods. I would like to suggest however, that we should bring back a good ole fashioned game of cards. If only for a family game night or two.

    Card games are great because they are fun, interactive, and educational! We all know us parents love to sneak in education every chance we get. Card games reinforce math skills. The most obvious of which is number recognition. Your kids will also begin to master simple addition, color recognition, sorting skills, matching skills, patterns, strategy, counting, and critical thinking. Pretty impressive huh? Plus, learning to shuffle the deck is pretty awesome too.
    Do a quick Internet search for detailed rules on playing each of these games if you need.

    Plus, learning to shuffle the deck is pretty awesome too.

    My family’s personal favorite, and the one I remember playing the most was Crazy Eights. It still might be my favorite card game. Basically this is Uno but using a regular deck of cards.

    My daughter is a huge fan of Old Maid. It’s a good stand by for sure.

    Of course there is the classic Go Fish, which is wonderful for the very young kids. Two to a pair or four, both are fun.

    Kings on the Corner

    BS. Okay, I realize the name of this game is not kid friendly, I have also heard of it being called Liar, Liar.

    To play Liar, Liar you deal all of the cards until there are none left. Then you play cards in numerical order (hey math skills!). The catch? The cards are played face down. You have to trust that each player is playing the cards they say they are. If the next number in play is three, and they don’t have any threes, they have to fib and put down some other cards and claim they are three. The rest of the players can then decided if they are lying or not. I must warn you, this game is super fun! But kids can get rambunctious. If someone is caught lying they have to pick up the pile of cards that have been played. The first player out of cards wins.

    So bust out your deck of cards and teach your kids a new game or two. If you’re into gambling, cookies make a great poker chip. If you don’t eat them first.