Card Games for Kids: 22 Easy Games by Age, 4 to 10+

The whole deck is dealt face down, 26 cards each, and nobody looks at theirs. At the same time, each player turns over the top card of their pile. Whoever shows the higher card (ace is highest, two is lowest; suits do not count) takes both cards and puts them at the bottom of their pile.

If the two cards are equal, it is war: each player puts one card face down and another face up on top, and the higher of the new cards takes everything on the table. If they tie again, repeat. Whoever ends up with the whole deck wins.

A full game can go on for a long time. With young children it works better to set a limit: play until one player gets through their pile for the first time, and whoever has more cards at that point wins. A common variant puts three cards face down in each war instead of one, which makes wars more exciting.

The cards are spread out face down, separated and not touching, usually in rows. On their turn, each player turns over two cards and leaves them where everyone can see. If they have the same number (two sevens, two queens), the player keeps them and goes again. If not, they turn them back face down in the same place and the turn passes. Whoever collects the most pairs wins.

With the youngest children there is no need to use the whole deck: with 16 or 20 cards (eight or ten pairs) the game is short and the whole layout is easy to take in. To make it harder, you can require pairs to be the same colour too (the two red sevens, for example). It can also be played alone, trying to clear the table in as few turns as possible.

One of the four queens is removed and the remaining 51 cards are dealt, even if some players get one more than others. Each player discards face down any pairs they hold (two cards of the same number; with three of a kind, only two are discarded).

Then, in turn, each player fans their hand, without showing it, to the player on their left, who draws a card. If it makes a pair, they discard it. Anyone who runs out of cards is out of the game. In the end only the unpaired queen remains: whoever holds it loses.

It is the first game in which a child has to keep a straight face: if they look alarmed when someone is about to take the queen, the others notice. In Spain it is called la mona or la solterona («the spinster»). There are illustrated decks made specially for this game, but a regular deck works just as well.

Each player is dealt seven cards if there are two or three of you, and five if there are more (some rules only deal seven when two are playing). The rest go face down in the middle: this is the pond.

On their turn, a player asks another for a rank of which they already hold at least one card: «Lucy, have you got any fives?». If Lucy has, she must hand over all her fives and the player asks again. If not, she says «go fish!» and the player who asked draws a card from the pond. If they draw exactly the rank they asked for, they show it and carry on; if not, the turn passes to the next player.

When someone collects all four cards of a rank (a book), they lay them on the table. The game ends when all thirteen books have been made, and whoever has the most wins. The interesting part comes when the child starts remembering what the others have asked for: if their sister asked for kings two turns ago, they know whom to ask.

Slapjack. The whole deck is dealt face down, unseen. In turn, each player flips their top card and places it in the middle. When a jack appears, everyone tries to slap it: the first hand on it takes the whole pile and puts it under their own. Anyone who slaps a card that is not a jack pays a card to the player who played it. Whoever ends up with all the cards wins.

Snap. Each player builds their own face-up pile. When the top cards of two piles match in rank, the first to shout «snap!» takes both piles. With young children it is usually played with a single shared pile, shouting when two matching cards come up in a row.

They are noisy and very short games. Agree beforehand what happens if two hands land at once (the pile goes to the hand underneath, that is, the one that touched the card first).

All 52 cards are dealt face down into 13 piles of four: twelve in a circle, like the hours on a clock, and one in the centre. Each hour corresponds to a value: the ace is one o'clock, two to ten are their own hour, the jack is eleven and the queen twelve. Kings go in the centre.

Turn over the top card of the centre pile and place it face up under the pile for its hour. Then take the top card of that pile and move it to its hour, and so on. Each king that turns up goes to the centre. You win if every hour is completed before the fourth king appears; if the fourth king comes out first, you lose.

Because everything depends on the shuffle, it comes out roughly once in every thirteen games. Children do not mind: the fun is in watching the hours fill up, and along the way they link each number with its position on the clock.

Each player is dealt five cards (seven if two are playing). The rest are left face down as the stock and the top card is turned over to start the discard pile.

In turn, each player plays a card that matches the top of the discard pile in suit or number: on a six of hearts, any heart or any six will do. Eights can be played at any time, and whoever plays one names the suit to follow. If you cannot play, you draw from the stock until you can. The first player to run out of cards wins the hand.

To play for points, the winner scores what the others have left: 50 for each eight, 10 for each court card or ten, 1 for each ace and face value for the rest. Many families add special cards, as in Uno (a two that makes the next player draw two, a card that skips a turn), and it is a good way for children to invent and agree on rules.

The whole deck is dealt. Whoever holds the five of coins starts by placing it in the centre. From then on, on their turn each player can lay a five of another suit (starting a new row) or a card that continues a row already open: the four or six of the same suit, then the three or the seven, and so on until the suit is complete in both directions. If you cannot play, you pass. The first player to run out of cards wins.

Although it looks like pure luck, there are decisions to make: if you hold the four and six of cups, you can keep one back to block someone who needs to continue that row. With a standard deck the same game is called Sevens or Fan Tan in English and Domino in France: the rows start from the seven and run up to the king on one side and down to the ace on the other.

Each player is dealt four cards and four go face up in the centre. On their turn, each player plays a card. If it matches the number of a card on the table (suits do not matter), they take both and put them face up on their pile. If it matches the top card of an opponent's pile, they take the whole pile. If it matches nothing, the card stays on the table.

When everyone runs out of cards, four more are dealt, until the deck is used up. Any cards left on the table at the end go to the last player who captured. Whoever has the tallest pile wins. It is the same game that Italians call rubamazzo, that is known in Portugal and Brazil as rouba-monte and in Argentina as casita robada, and it is excellent preparation for escoba.

Cards count their number from 1 to 7, the jack (sota) 8, the knight (caballo) 9 and the king 10. Each player is dealt three cards and four go face up on the table. On their turn, each player plays a card: if with it and one or more table cards they make fifteen, they take them. If they cannot, the card stays on the table. When everyone has played their three cards, three more are dealt.

When the deck runs out, points are counted: one for each sweep, one for most cards, one for most coins, one for the seven of coins and one for most sevens. The game is played to 21. With seven or eight year olds it is enough to count sweeps and cards, and add the other points later. You will find the full explanation, with strategy, in our escoba rules.

If you only have a standard deck at home, remove the eights, nines and tens to leave 40 cards: the jack counts 8, the queen 9 and the king 10, and diamonds stand in for coins. This is also how Italian scopa is played with a French-suited deck.

The whole deck is dealt. In turn, each player puts one to four cards face down in the middle and announces that they are of the rank due next, following the order: aces, twos, threes and so on up to kings, then back to the start. If you do not have that rank, you have to lie.

Anyone can challenge. The cards are turned over: if they were what was claimed, the challenger takes the whole pile in the middle; if there was a lie, the liar takes it. The first to run out of cards without being caught on their last play wins.

Bicycle recommends it from age 13, because of the bluffing. In families it works earlier, as long as the child understands that lying in the game is part of the rules and does not count away from the table. In Britain it is usually called cheat; in the US, BS or I doubt it. More details and tips for spotting bluffs in our cheat rules.

Cards 1 to 7 count their number and the jack, knight and king count half a point. One player is the banker: they deal one card face down to each player and, in turn, each player asks for more cards or stands. Anyone who goes over seven and a half loses. At the end the banker plays their hand and beats anyone with less; ties go to the banker.

With children it works very well played for dried beans, counters or sweets instead of money. It requires adding halves in your head and, above all, deciding when to stop: on six points, do you ask for another card or not? It is a first feel for probability. Full rules, with the banker and its variants, in our guide to siete y media.

With a standard deck it is played the same way after removing the eights, nines and tens.

28 cards are dealt into seven columns, from one to seven cards, with only the last card of each column face up. The rest forms the stock. On the columns, cards are placed in descending order and alternating colours (a black nine on a red ten). Aces go up to the top and each suit is built on them up to the king. You win by getting all 52 cards onto those four piles.

Unlike clock solitaire, here there are real decisions: which card to move, which column to uncover first. Many children know it from the computer and enjoy discovering that it is played with a real deck. We explain it step by step in our solitaire rules.

Requiring pairs to be the same colour (two red sevens or two black sevens) adds a small step of attention that old maid does not have. The player with the fewest cards after the first discard starts drawing. There is a children's version, mistigri, with illustrated decks in which the losing card is a cat.

Each player is dealt eight cards and, as in Uno, you must warn the others when you have only one card left («carte!») or draw two as a penalty. You also cannot finish the hand with an eight. Rules vary a great deal from family to family, and in France there are variants with names of their own. It is often said to have reached France with American soldiers in 1944, but there is no documentation to confirm it.

Each player is dealt three cards and four go to the table, and play runs anticlockwise. There is a variant in which the ace lets you take all the cards on the table or the next player's pile.

Three cards per player and four on the table. With a king (worth 10) you can take a six and a four, for example. The ace does not capture a one on the table, but every card there. Unlike escoba, you do not need to reach fifteen: matching the value of the card played is enough, so the sums are shorter. It is played to 11, 16 or 21 points.

The whole deck is dealt into face-down piles. In turn, each player plays the top card of their pile to the centre. If an ace comes up, the next player must play one card; for a two, two; for a three, three. If another ace, two or three appears while paying, the debt passes to the next player. If they finish paying without turning one up, whoever played the last penalty card takes the pile.

It is the Italian version of a very old British game, Beggar-my-neighbour, played with a 52-card deck, in which the cards that force payment are the ace and the court cards, with a bigger debt the higher the card. It appears in Dickens's Great Expectations as the only game the hero knows as a boy.

Each player starts with an agreed number of lives, three for example. One card is dealt face down to each player and, in turn, each decides whether to keep it or swap it with their neighbour's, who cannot refuse unless they hold a king: then they show it and the swap does not happen. The last to play, the dealer, can exchange theirs for the top card of the deck. All cards are turned up and the lowest (the ace is lowest) loses a life. The last player with lives left wins.

It belongs to a very old family of swapping games known in Britain as Cuckoo or Chase the Ace. In Italy there are special cucù decks, but a regular deck works just as well. It is ideal for teaching how to decide with little information: with a five, do I swap or take my chances?

In Germany it is mostly sold as illustrated children's decks of 31 to 37 cards, with a black cat or a chimney sweep as the losing card. The traditional custom was to blacken the loser's face with a burnt cork; today a dot of washable marker on the nose does the job. For two players there is a version in which each has six cards and they draw in turn from a pile.

Each player is dealt five or six cards. If you forget to say «Mau» and someone notices before your next turn, you draw one or two penalty cards. If a seven is played on you and you have another, you can stack it and the next player draws four. The special cards vary a lot by region. In Switzerland it is called Tschau Sepp. Uno and other commercial card games developed from this same family.

Each player is dealt four cards and the rest forms a pile. The first player leads any card and the others must play the same suit. The highest card of that suit wins the trick, which is set aside, and the winner leads the next one. If you have no cards of the suit, you draw from the pile until you get one; if the pile runs out, you pass. Players who run out of cards are safe, and the last player holding cards loses.

It is also played in Spain and Latin America. It is a very gentle way to learn the rule of following suit, the basis of games such as sueca and tute. Watch out for the name: in Spain «burro» is used for several different games, so it is worth explaining the rules before you start.