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From flashcards to trading cards to a regular set of playing cards, classroom card games are easy (and fun!) ways to get kids learning. You can review math facts, study important concepts for an upcoming test, or learn more about historical figures and events — all with a study tool that fits into students’ pockets.
Add these card games for kids of all ages to your upcoming lesson, no matter the subject. For an even easier no-prep experience, print up card game templates from high-quality resources, and enjoy the buzz of excited learning in your classroom!
Competitive Classroom Card Games
Some students learn best when the stakes are a little higher. Bring some healthy competition to your classroom card games for kids that teach important educational concepts alongside good sportsmanship.
- School Spoons: Based on the classic card game “Spoons,” this game has groups of students try to collect four of the same card, then grab a plastic spoon from the middle of the circle before they run out.
- Slap Odds: Give pairs a standard deck of cards each and have them put down one card at a time quickly, slapping when they have two odd numbers in a row and then keeping all the cards in the pile.
- President: Using a standard deck ranking system in which 3s are low and Aces are high, students try to “outrank” the last card played until they lose all their cards and become “President.”
- Baloney: Students try to bluff how many cards of each type they’re holding, and if their peers call their bluffs correctly, they have to collect all of the cards played in that round.
Review social studies concepts with competitive card games
Get out of the study guide routine and into the card game circuit! These social studies games are a perfect opportunity to use cards in class when reinforcing key facts and historical concepts.

Cardinal & Intermediate Directions game and leveled cards, Social Studies game
By Claro de Luna
Grades: 2nd-8th
Subjects: Geography, U.S. History
A versatile social studies resource encourages students to practice their cardinal and intermediate directions — all while playing card games! Thirty leveled game cards come with questions and answers for students to play, while an included video link explains exactly how this direction game should go.
Use cards to sort out ELA concepts and vocabulary
Need your students to get important ELA basics under their belts? Let students compete in sorting games that straighten out foundational knowledge and build on your ELA lessons.

Parts of Speech Sorting Card Game ELA center Nouns Adjectives Verbs Adverbs
By Chambers Creations
Grades: 3rd-6th
Subjects: ELA Test Prep, Grammar
Help elementary students get their parts of speech straight with an engaging sorting game. The resource comes with 60 sorting cards in various parts of speech categories, including nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs, along with the headings for them to put each card under.
Fantastic Flashcard Games For Students
All you need for a great flashcard game is a stack of index cards, a set of markers, and a little imagination. Have students make their own flashcards at the end of a unit (or make your own), and have them play these creative card games for teens, kindergartners, and everyone in between.
- Boom!: Make a set of flashcards with important unit concepts, including vocabulary words and notable figures, along with a few “Boom!” cards. Small groups draw a card and keep it if they can define the concept, but have to return all their cards if they draw a “Boom!” card.
- Flashcard Races: Stick a set of flashcards on the whiteboard or walls around the room with just the concept side showing. Call out the definition of one concept, then have one member of the small groups race to try and grab the correct card.
- Vocabulary Fishing: Spread out a set of flashcards that depict sight words (or higher-level words for older students) in a dry wading pool. Give students a “fishing pole” with a sticky element they can use to “fish” for a card that’s called.
- Flashcard Speed Round: Challenge pairs to get through a set of flashcards the fastest in the class (while getting the right answers for each).
Practice early elementary concepts with flashcards
Much of early elementary learning involves memorization, and flashcards are key for building those skills. Create flashcards that detail foundational math facts for students to drill alone, with each other, as homework, or with the whole class.

Printable Telling Time Flash Card Game
By Teacher Gameroom
Grades: K-2nd
Subjects: Measurement, Numbers
Get your students telling time right away with a fun clock flashcard game. They work on matching times with analog clocks in a number of settings, including math centers and pair games, with more instructions available in a tips and tricks page.
Memorable Math Card Games
Whether you’re looking for arithmetic fact cards for elementary students or math card games for middle school and high school, there are great card games to go around! Challenge students of all ages to practice math facts, operations, and procedures with a standard deck of cards.
- Biggest Number: Give small groups one deck of cards each (with face cards having a 10-point value), have them divide the deck, and see who can create the equation with the biggest number as a solution using operations they’ve learned in class.
- Problem and Solution: Distribute all 36 number cards in a standard deck throughout the class, and see which students can come together with three others to create a math equation (such as a 9 + 2 – 5 = 6).
- Fraction War: Students draw two cards to make fractions (the first card is the denominator, the second is the numerator), then see which student has the largest fraction to win each round.
- Math Hold ‘Em: Using multiple standard decks, hand out three cards to each student in the class (numbers hold their value, face cards equal 10). In “Texas Hold ‘Em” style, put down three cards in the front of the class, then two more, to see which students can create a desired math combination (such as adding up to 20 or subtracting without going into negative numbers).
Make memories with math center card games
Younger students love playing games in learning centers! Use these math card games in lessons to help students practice what they’ve learned in class and to work on cooperative skills.

1st Grade Math Centers Memory Math Games Partner Pairing Cards Math Review First
By Happy Hearts in 1st
Grades: K-2nd
Subjects: Basic Operations, Place Value
Standards: CCSS 1.MD.B.3; 1.NBT.B.2, B.2b, B.2c; 1.NBT.C.5; 1.OA.C.6
Add a math memory activity to your collection of card games for elementary students. This CCSS-aligned resource includes 12 memory match games for younger students to work on their basic math operations, each differentiated for two different skill levels.

25 Math Games Using Dice and Cards | Math Review Games | Math Practice Activity
By Cassie Dahl
Grades: 2nd-5th
Subjects: Basic Operations
Need to strengthen your students’ math skills, but tired of all the drilling worksheets? Use 25 engaging math games in centers, whole class practice, pairs, homework assignments, or more. The resource comes with game directions, printable game sheets, reusable game boards, multiplication and hundreds charts, and more.
Terrific Trading Card Games
Do your students enjoy trading cards with baseball players or adorable creatures on them? They’ll love classroom card games that encourage them to trade and collect different concepts from your lessons. Have them decorate the cards for an extra artistic step!
- Literary Collector Cards: Have students create five cards each that depict original characters or characters from books they’ve read. Tell them to list each character’s skills, then trade with their peers for a combination of characters they can use in an original story.
- Letter Cards: Create two sets of alphabet cards with one letter each, then distribute them to students and see who can trade letters to create a word, a collection of vowels, or any other combination.
- Science Trades: Design trading cards based on concepts in a science unit (such as elements on the Periodic Table, or famous inventors), with different point values on each. Who can collect them all?
- Musical Trading Cards: Teach basic music concepts with trading cards that depict notes, clefs, rests, and other symbols students may see in music, and have students trade to create a complete set.
Set science trends with topical trading cards
Get students wheeling, dealing, and learning with trading cards connected to scientific concepts and facts. They can arrange their cards in specific ways to learn different organizational methods, or they can try to collect as many as they can.

Ecosystem Food Chain Trading Cards Games & Activities (Digital and Print)
By The Off Duty Teacher
Grades: 2nd-6th
Subjects: Biology, Earth Sciences
Your ecosystem unit can be all fun and games when you add card games to a lesson plan! Elementary students trade cards with animal pictures and facts to create food chains in different ecosystems, then complete cut-and-paste worksheets based on the cards they collect.
Classic Card Games for the Classroom
If classroom card games sound like fun but you don’t have time to go through all the rules, use modified versions of games students already know. These critical thinking games are just as helpful for reinforcing educational concepts — and you may get more buy-in from the kids who love playing them in their free time.
- Classroom Poker: Create cards and combinations of a key skill you’re learning (such as math facts, vocabulary words, or characters from a story) and see if students can come up with the best “poker hand” in their group.
- Blackjack: Give young learners the chance to count to 10 with a modified Blackjack game that encourages students to take number cards without passing a total of 10.
- ABC Go Fish: Print up cards with one letter each, and have kids play “Go Fish” to create CVC or sight words on a specific list.
- School Hearts: Teach math students the point system for Hearts before breaking them into groups to try the game themselves.
Entertaining Online Card Games
Sometimes, preparing a class set of cards or getting enough standard decks for everyone isn’t a quick enough option. In those cases, find online card games for teens or kids from reputable educational companies and organizations, as well as other quick games to play in the classroom.
- PBS Kids: Find a variety of matching card games for elementary students with fun graphics and educational topics.
- Calculators.org: A list of free online card games for kids includes Uno and several types of Solitaire to help students learn chance and probability.
- Cardgames.io: Help kids learn how to play common card games online with a variety of options.
Fun is always in the cards with TPT
When you add educational card games to your curriculum, you’re upping the odds of success in the lesson. Find more printable original card games to bring to your next review session, learning center, or homework packet. Students will ask to play these games over and over again, making each lesson more fun for them — and for you!
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