Make a Hundred: A Fun Card Game that Practices Math

Get ready for a fast, lively game that uses elementary math facts! In this card game, you use your addition and multiplication facts to add numbers to try to reach one hundred. Don’t be fooled by how simple the game appears. In fact, it requires a good deal of strategy to progressively add and multiply numbers so that you get to hundred without going over 100.

The activity instructions give you the rules for getting started on the basic game. Once you have played Make a Hundred for a while, you might want to make up your own variation. This is the kind of game that can grow more interesting as your kids develop stronger math skills.

Getting Ready
Explain to your child that this game involves adding and multiplying numbers. Make sure she knows the multiplication tables up to 9.

From a deck of 52 cards, take out all the jokers and face cards (jack, queen and king) and put them aside. You will not need them for this game.

Activity: Make A Hundred

1. Shuffle the cards and deal seven to your child and seven to yourself. Tell her to look at her cards and place one on the table face up so that you can see it. Now you choose a card from your hand and play it face up next to the first card.
   
   
   
   

   Form either the sum or product of your card and your child’s card (ace has a value of 1). You have the choice of either adding or multiplying the two numbers, but keep in mind that the object of the game is to get to 100 without going over it.
   
   

   Write down the result on paper. This value is the start of the running total that together you will keep to play the game.

2. Now it’s your child’s turn. Tell her to play a card from her hand and form either the sum or product of the values of her card and the card you just played. Add this number to the running total and record the result.




3. You probably get the idea now. Continue taking turns playing a card and forming the sum or product of the values of the current player’s card and the previous card. The winner of the hand is the first player who makes the running total closest to 100 without going over it. The first player who wins three hands is the winner of the game.

For more ways to practice math for kids, check out the Fraction Jack card game or register for a free trial of Kaplan’s fun online math program for kids.

Activity from Kaplan’s Making the Grade: Grades 3-4, Creating a Successful Learning Environment at Home.