Place value

Materials:

Deck of playing cards (with tens and face cards removed)

Paper

Pencil

Proceedings:

Lay out ten cards for each player, face down, in the shape of a triangle. Make sure there are four rows (see picture).

If you want, you can set a time limit on the game.

Before you start to play, talk about ones, tens, hundreds, and thousands and how having a given number in each of these positions will impact the game

Players begin by turning over the top card. The player with the highest card gets point. If there is a tie, each player should receive a point.

Then, have players turn over the second row, which should consist of two cards. These cards represent two-digit numbers. Now have the players switch the cards so that the card that was previously in the ones column is now in the tens column and vice versa. One point should be awarded to the player with the highest two-digit number before the switch, and one point should be awarded to the player with the highest score after the switch.

Turn over the third row of cards. The player with the highest three-digit number wins a point. Allow the players two rounds of switches for this row and award one point per highest number as the result of a switch.

Turn over the last row of cards. The player with the highest four-digit number wins a point. Allow the players three rounds of switches for this row and award one point per highest number as the result of a switch.

Shuffle the cards and play another round.

When time is up, whoever has the most points wins. If you prefer to go by points, the first player to reach 50 points wins the game.