Math Solitaire
Math Solitaire is a fairly simple solitary card game that my 11-year-old son invented one day when he was looking for something new to do. While his version features only matching and addition, you can easily adapt this game to several varieties of math principles.
To begin, simply take a standard deck of cards and remove not only the jokers but all the face cards as well. Then, lay out a 12-card "deck" in front of yourself; 4 columns of 3 cards each. Set the rest of the deck to the side as a draw pile.
To play, take the top card from the draw pile. Your goal is to pull as many cards from the deck that will match or add up to the number in your hand. If you draw a 4, you may pull all the 4's, 2+2, 1+1+2, 3+1, etc. Once you have pulled out all possible combinations that match your drawn card, set them aside.
Draw again from the draw pile and repeat the process. The object of the game is to clear the deck, and to clear it with as few draws as possible. There are two ways to lose — either by failing to clear the deck before drawing all the cards, or by managing to place all four cards of a single suit in the deck. (Shuffle well and you shouldn't have this problem.)
For variety, or for better practice of different math skills, you can always change up what the math rules are. It could be multiplication only, or division only. You could declare that any and all math operations are usable, as long as you can show that the cards you used can still come out to whatever card is in your hand. (For example, 2x5+6-12 would still equal the above-mentioned 4.) The "house rules" you can come up with this game are only limited by your child's current math abilities.
I want to thank my son for coming up with this game, and for his willingness to share it with everyone. Good job, Kiddo!
