Card Games for Families With Deck of Cards

This list of classic card games for the whole family to enjoy is a great way to get back to basics and avoid another evening sat in front of the telly. Kids and grown-ups alike will love putting their competitive hats on and learning these classic games of card fun.

Our cupboards are stacked high with tons of wacky board games and novelty card games, which means the classic deck of cards often ends up being overlooked in favour of something with a little more pizzazz. It's time to get back to basics, dust off the classic pack, and find a new family obsession. We've put together a list of our tried and tested favourite card games for kids of all ages. As well as being a great way to pass a rainy afternoon, you'll find that card games are full of hidden learning opportunities, from familiarising your kids with maths, practising adding to improving their memory skills over time.

For more family fun, why not try reciting some poems or some crafts with old magazines?

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Go Fish

This great fun cards game is a great fun starter game to teach younger kids about number patterns.

How to Play:

To start the game, deal five cards to each player.

The rest of the cards go in a pile in the middle of the table, which is called the 'pond.'

With the youngest player going first, each player must ask someone for a card with the same number they already have one of. For example, if you have a number 8 card, you'd ask, "Mum, please can I have your eights," and mum would have to hand over any 8 cards she had.

If the person you ask has more than one of the same number, they take another go, and ask someone else.

If the person you ask has no cards in the number you need, they reply "Go Fish!"

When this happens in the game, you take the first card from the 'pond.' If it's the number you asked for, show it to the rest of the players, and add it to your cards, and take another turn. Otherwise, it's the next person's go.

The next player is the person who said 'Go Fish!'

Once you collect four of the same number, you need to immediately show them to everyone, and put them down in a pile in front of you.

The game keeps going until someone runs out of cards or the pile in the middle runs out, and the winner is the person who has the most sets of four.

For younger children, you can play with matches of two cards instead of four to make a match more often.

21

This quick family card game is perfect for when you don't have much time to spare. It's great for over 5's, as it involves a little bit of adding that younger kids might struggle with. Kidadlr Charlotte says "We play 21 and make bets with sweets at the end of a certain time limit we can eat the sweets we have all won."

How to Play:

Choose one person to be the dealer for the first round. For the next round, the dealer will be the person sitting to the left of the first dealer, and it'll continue round like this.

The aim of the game is for your cards to add up to as close to 21 as possible.

Each card is worth the number on the card, and a face card is worth 10 points. The Ace is worth either 11 or 1 point, which the player holding the card can choose depending on what they need.

The dealer hands each player 2 cards, and keeps two. Everyone else places their cards face up. The dealer keeps one card face up, and one face down.

The dealer asks each player if they want to stick with the cards they have or twist (take another card). You're allowed as many cards as you like, as long as the numbers don't add up to more than 21.

After every player has chosen, the dealer turns over their remaining card, and decides to 'stick' or 'twist.' If they have less than 16, they need to 'twist.'

If the dealer's cards add up to 21, then the dealer wins but if the dealer's cards add up to more than 21, everyone who's cards are less than 21 wins.

Snip, Snap, Snorem!

This energetic family favourite is great fun for children of all ages and abilities, and kids will love shouting when they find a matching number. With lots of wins during the game, competitive little ones will jump at the chance to play it over and over again.

How to Play:

Deal the card deck completely, and let each player sort their card hand by rank (from two to Ace). The object of the card game is to get rid of all of your hand entirely.

The first player places any card down on the table. The next player checks to see if they have a card of the same number, and if they do they place it on top of the card in the middle and shout, 'Snip!' If they have another card the same, they can put it down afterwards, and shout 'Snap!' If they don't have a card the same, the go passes to the next player. When someone places the final card down, they shout, 'Snorem!' and win the right to start the next round by choosing the next card number to play.

Slap Jack

This energy-boosting family game for 2 - 6 players relies on super fast reflexes. The aim of this classic game is to win cards by being the quickest person to slap the stack in the middle.

How to Play:

To start, deal the deck face down until all the players has an equal stack of playing cards. The first player turns their top card and puts it face-up in the middle. Going in a clockwise direction, each player does the same. When a Jack card is played, players must race to be the first person to slap the pile. Whoever is first wins the potto add to their cards.

When someone runs out of cards, they have one chance to be the first to slap the Jack and stay in the game. If they aren't quickest they are out, and the game continues until one person has all the cards.

If you're loving playing cards, why not try some of these other fun family card games?

Spoons

This fast-paced fun card game is great for kids over 4, which mixes cards with musical chairs in a great fun fashion that'll be sure to get you all diving over the table to grab the spoons!

How to Play:

Crazy Eights

Crazy eights is a good fun family game that kids will love to play with just one deck of cards!

Find out how to play here.

Pig

This hilarious speedy family game that's perfect for playing with kids aged 5 and over will be guaranteed to have you in stitches.

How to play:

Gin Rummy

Great for the whole family, this classic game is a good way to improve your kids' concentration skills.

Find out how to play here.

Beggar Your Neighbour

The aim of this luck-based game is to collect as many cards from your neighbours as possible. The whole family will love the suspense of the draw!

How to Play:

Card Games for Families With Deck of Cards

Source: https://kidadl.com/articles/family-card-games-one-pack

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