Maths Games: Ten

Ten is a fun maths card game that involves matching pairs of cards that add up to 10. It can help learn the pairs-that-add-to-10 number facts needed for lots of other things. Download all you need to make your own Ten pack at the end.

Rules for Two PlayersShark-Fish-Ten-Cards

You need:

  • one triple pack of 36 ‘Ten’ cards (ie three sets of 12 cards) see below
  • You can also play a version with the 1 to 10 and Queen cards of a normal pack of playing cards, with Ace 1 and Queen 0 (though that may be less fun without the pictures!)

End of the Game

The first player to run out of cards loses.

To play (For 2 players)

Deal out all the cards equally between the players. Youngest player goes first. Each player places one card on to the table, face up to create two discard piles.

Players take it in turns to place their top card, face up, on to one or other of the two piles covering the one below. They say the number of the card as they place it. If the pair of cards that are now visible on top of the two piles add up to ten, then the person placing the card names the two cards and says that they make ten (eg “4 plus 6 make 10”). They then take all the cards from the two piles and place them at the bottom of their pack.

That player then starts a new pile with their top card, and the next player plays their top card to make a second pile. Play then continues as above. 

Predator-Prey Ten

In ‘Predator-Prey Ten’ all the pairs that add up to 10 have a predator-prey relationship (like cats and mice). When predator and prey come together the prey get gobbled! We have chosen T-rex to be 10 as it pairs with 0 and no-one eats T-Rex!

Number bonds

The matching pairs that make 10 are

0 + 10 = 10

1 + 9 = 10

2 + 8 = 10

3 + 7 = 10

4 + 6 = 10

5 + 5 = 10

These are called number bonds. They are important addition facts that make other maths problems easier. Ten is one fun way to learn these number bonds.

All you need

Other maths games to try

Maths Games: Happy Times – a multiplication / times-table game