Fun Card Games for Kids
Family Fun with Card Games
I remember playing card games with my grandma when I was a kid. We had a lot of fun, playing just about every card game you could think of. Out of all of the different games, a few have remained favorite memories.
Card games are great to play as a family, but they also teach kids how to play with each other. You can teach them the concepts of following rules to play a game, but also about being good winners and gracious losers. As your kids get older, you can start introducing them to more complex games.
Concentration / Memory
You can buy a special deck of cards with fun pictures for this game, or just play with a regular deck. A neat thing about this game is that it can be played as a solitaire game or with multiple players. To play, you mix the cards up, then spread them out facedown in front of you. You flip over one card, and then try to flip over its match. If you match two cards, you get to add them to your pile. As the game goes on, you have to remember where cards are to make matches. The player with the most number of pairs in their pile at the end of the game is the winner.
Crazy Eights
Special Crazy Eights card games are available, but you can play this one with a standard 52-card deck. You will need at least two or more players. Each player is dealt eight cards, but the point is to get rid of all of your cards. The first person without any cards at the end wins.
To play, place the deck face down in the middle of the table after dealing. Turn the top card over to start the discard pile. During your turn you can discard any cards that match number or suit (if the discarded card is a four of diamonds, you can put any fours or diamonds down). Eights are crazy, so you can play them at any time. If you don’t have anything to discard, you have to draw from the deck until you can discard (some versions, particularly for younger children, allow you to only draw one card before passing on to the next player). The first one to get rid of all of their cards wins.
Old Maid
Like the other games presented here, you can play this with a regular deck. There are a lot of specialized Old Maid card decks that you can purchase as well (they are pretty fun). You need at least two players for this game. If you play with a regular deck, remove one of the Queens. Whoever ends up with a single Queen at the end of the game is the loser. The specialized decks will have a single Old Maid card.
To play, deal all of the cards to the players. Each of the players discards any pairs that they have (pairs of same numbers or matching suits). When you have your turn, you spread your cards out face down, offering them to the player on your left. That player must choose one of your cards, without seeing it first. This card now belongs to that player. If that card makes a pair, the player can discard the cards. This exchange of cards continues from player to player until everyone has discarded all of their cards—except for the one person left with the old maid card (the queen).
Uno
The best part about this game is that it is fun for both older children and adults. In fact, I still love to play it. The object of the game is to either be the first player to get rid of all of your cards or be the first player to score 500 points, depending on the version you play. I’ve found that everyone plays the game with some different twist.
The game is played with 108 cards. You should read the game instructions when you purchase it, but remember that everyone likes to make variations. Many of these variations make it easier for children to play. The fun part of the game is that you want to yell “Uno!” when you discard to the point that you only have one card in your hand. If the player doesn’t say “Uno” before another player catches them, she must draw cards as a penalty. The cards are colorful, with fun action cards like the wild cards and skip.
There are other, newer versions of the game available, some presented as board games, but the classic one is the best.
Family Game Time
You will have a great time playing these with your kids, or watching them play with friends. Your only problem might be that the games are so fun they become addictive, and your kids will want to play all the time. After you introduce your family to the basic games, experiment with new ones. Family time is special, so make the best of it.