For this game, you need only one deck of cards.  It is a game for only two players.  First, shuffle the cards and deal out ten cards into one pile, face down.  This is the point card pile.  This pile is not used during the actual game play.  The the rest of the cards are placed face down in the middle of the table.  Let each player draw a card from the top of the pile.  The card with the highest number value is the first to play.  Bury these two cards in the pile, and then proceed.

Player number one takes a card from the top of the pile, and places it in front of him.  Player number two does the same.  Then player number one takes another card from the pile, laying it on top of the first card he chose, but slightly lowered so the value of both cards can be seen.  Then player number two also takes another card and lays it on top of the first card he chose.  Back and forth this continues so that each player is building a column of cards with the number value of each showing.

As soon as a player places a card on the bottom of his column and notices that this card and the one before it add up to the number ten, that player wins the right to take a point card from the top of the point card pile.  The number value of the card is now how many points that player has.  The player then takes the two cards that added up to ten and places them face down in a discard pile which will later be re-shuffled and used again.  This kind of play continues until all the point cards have been won.  Players then add up how many points they have, and the one with the highest number of points is the winner.

When adding up the cards to ten, a face card counts as ten by itself.  It does not need another card with it to add up to ten, nor does the number ten card.  In all other cases, two cards are required.

This is just a simple little game that can teach kids which combinations of numbers add up to the number ten, a basic math skill that is valuable in later math study.  They will also have to add up all the numbers on their point cards, which also helps with addition.

To see a list of other games, see  Homemade Games for Kids .
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