War with Decimals and Fractions

It's over twenty-years since I first played this maths game with Primary-age children... but that doesn't stop it being an excellent way for children to develop their understanding of fractions and decimals.

You will need two copies of the cards cut from the downloadable* file. That's 48 cards in total.

The cards are shuffled and dealt face-down between the two children who are playing. The players keep their 24 cards in front of them. Together, the children turn over a card from their own pack (a little like the game of snap).

They both look at their cards and decide who turned over the fraction or decimal which indicates the larger amount. Whoever has the turned over the larger card keeps both.

If both cards show same amount (fraction or decimal) then the players declare 'War'. At this point each player places their own card face-down to one side and deals two more cards (unseen) face-down on top of the first. The next card they turn is the 'explosion card' - they turn it face up together. Whoever has the larger amount on the card here takes all of the cards in the 'war'.

Cards that are taken are always placed at the bottom of the player's pack of cards. The first player to take all of the cards is the winner.

* Login/register first to access the downloadable files. 

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