Little Builders:

For the very youngest children, play collaboratively. Arrange all the numeral cards (you can include 0 here) in order from least to greatest. Then draw cards one at a time. Identify the number with your child, then add it to the matching tower.

More Players:

Got a whole construction crew ready to get to work? As long as you can split up the numeral cards evenly, this game works for more players. For 3 players, take out the 0 and 10 from the numerals. You can leave these in the middle and still build towers on them, if you like. (It'll save you the time finding and removing all the 0 and 10 cards throughout the whole deck.)

Even and Odd Numbers:

Use Towers to practice recognizing even and odd numbers. Let one player have all the even numerals, and the other player have all the odd numerals. (Don't miss the chance to say, "Hmmm, all of your towers sure are odd!") What makes a number even? All its dots can be paired up. Notice this with your child when looking at cards from the Dots suit. Odd numbers always have a leftover dot when the other dots are paired up.

Number Deck Alternatives:

Our Number Deck activity shows how to make, print out, or purchase a deck like the one used for this game. But, you could also use four suits of standard playing cards (remove the Aces and face cards), UNO cards, or other game cards. Your child will still get a chance to recognize and match numerals.

Recognizing Numbers:

At first, children may need to count to recognize the number of the Dots, Tally Marks, and Ten Frames. That's fine. Count along with them if they need help. In time, they will be able to look at a card and recognize the number of dots instantly. The Dots suit has specific patterns to recognize. The Tally Marks and Ten Frames organize numbers into two groups of 5. This helps kids notice that 5, for example, is one filled-out row on a Ten Frame, and 10 is two filled-out rows. 4 is one less than a whole row whereas 6 is one more than a whole row. When a child is able to recognize a number very quickly, ask, "How did you know that so quickly? You didn't even have time to count!" and let them explain.