All Activities U Memory: Ten Apart
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Memory: Ten Apart

Add or subtract 10 to find a matching pair. Whoever finds the most pairs wins.

Ages: 5-10
Players: 1+
Time: 10-20 Minutes
Type: number games
Location: tabletop
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Ages: 5-10
Players: 1+
Time: 10-20 Minutes
Type: number games
Location: tabletop

Instructions

This game uses one suit of your 0-20 Deck from the Number Deck activity. (Or see Variations below.) Take out the 0, using only the numbers 1-20.

One suit of the 0 through 20 deck laid out

Shuffle and lay all 20 cards face down.

20 cards face down

Take turns. On your turn, flip over any two cards. If the cards are 10 apart from each other, keep them and go again. Otherwise, turn the cards face down. Your turn is over. For example, if you flip over 4 and 14, keep them, since 14 - 4 = 10.

8 and 18 flipped over
8 and 18 are 10 apart because 18 - 8 = 10.

As more cards get collected, it becomes easier to remember where the others are.

Only a few cards left

Play until all the matches have been found. Whoever has the most pairs wins!

Practice skip-counting by 2 as you count each pair at the end of the game. (Skip-counting is counting by 2's or 3's or some other number. So, skip-counting by 2's means counting 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, etc.)

Don't forget: it's Beast Academy Playground, not Beast Academy Study Hall. Change the rules, be silly, make mistakes, and try again. The Variations and Learning Notes are here for you if you want to dive deeper, but not all of them apply to learners of every age. The most important thing is to have fun.

Variations d

More Players:

The more, the merrier.

A Little Crazy:

Lay the cards out in a random pattern rather than in rows.

A Little Lazy:

For a bit of an easier game, use only cards 1-5 and 11-15.

Solitaire:

How quickly can your child find all the pairs on their own?

Deck Alternatives:

Instead of making a 0-20 Deck, you can print one (in color or in black and white), or you can buy this one we found. It's for classroom use, so it comes with 6 full decks of cards. Any one suit from a single deck would work for our games. The downside is it won't be your own one-of-a-kind creation. The upside is it'll be easier to shuffle.

Classroom Tips d

Play this memory variation in groups to practice addition/subtraction and place value. Optionally, ask groups or individual students to keep track of how many turns it takes them to find all the pairs.

Discussion Questions

  • What do you notice about numbers that have a difference of 10?
  • What strategies do you use to remember where cards are located?
  • What is the best card to flip over first on your turn? What about second?
  • When the game is over, can you count skip count by 2's to see how many cards you collected?

Alignment with Beast Academy Curriculum

  • Level 2, Chapter 1: Place Value

See Variations and Learning Notes for more ideas on how to adapt this activity and incorporate it into your classroom.

Learning Notes d

Place Value:

This game helps young players practice adding and subtracting 10. This is a great opportunity to talk about place value (without necessarily using that term). Consider "17," for example. The "1" means "1 ten" and the "7" means "7 ones." So when helping a child think through 17 - 10, say something like: "Hmmm, 17 means 1 ten and 7 ones. So if we take away 1 ten from that, we'll have no tens and 7 ones. What would that leave us?" Similarly, a single-digit number like "4" means "no tens, and 4 ones." If we add 10, we have "1 ten and 4 ones," which we write as "14." The important thing isn't to be technical, but to emphasize groups of tens and ones.

Spatial Awareness:

Talk out loud about how you remember where a card is: "Hmmm, I remember that the 2 was in the top row somewhere." Encourage your child to do the same. Use words like "row" and "column," as well as "top," "bottom," "left," "right," and "middle." (Remember, columns go up and down, like columns in a building, and rows go left and right.)

Strategy:

Which card should you flip over on your turn? If you don't already know where a pair is, it's best to flip over an unknown card first. Maybe it will be the missing partner of a card whose location you already know.

Comparison:

Can your child find a way to see who has more cards at the end without counting? This can be done using a matching strategy. Line up all of one player's cards, then line up all of the other player's cards next to them, so each of one player's cards is paired with one of the other player's cards. If every card has a match, then both players have the same number. If one player has some cards that can't be paired, they must have more cards.

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Materials
Learning Goals
  • addition
  • subtraction
  • place value
  • spatial reasoning
  • skip-counting
Common Core Standards
  • MP8
  • K.NBT.A.1
  • 1.OA.C.6
  • 1.NBT.B.2.b
  • 1.NBT.C.5
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Image of Ms. Q

Ready to level up?

Keep problem solving with Beast Academy’s full math curriculum for students ages 6–13. Check out our captivating comic book series and immersive online platform.

LEARN MORE

Bring problem-solving to your classroom

Keep your entire class engaged with a full book and online math curriculum, for students ages 6–13. 98% of teachers say they’re satisfied with Beast Academy.

LEARN MORE
Image of a BA book