The Tiny Polka Dot card game is made by Math For Love. This is the same company that made my absolute favorite board game Prime Climb. Tiny Polka Dots was created for younger children, and is my top recommended “must buy” for preschool- 2nd grade. However, there are many ways older kids can use these cards as well. In fact, I know of teachers who have used them all the way through pre algebra.
It is actually not just one game, but a set of cards that can be used for 16 different games included in the instructions (or many other games you could come up with.) Each number from 0-10 is represented in 6 different ways as shown in the picture above. As Math for Love says, “there are ‘war’ type games, ‘concentration’ type matching games, and others.” Some are variations on classics you might play with standard card decks (go fish, 21), and others are less well-known.” A free download at the Tiny Polka Dot website gives teachers additional information for using the cards in the classroom. There is also a separate guide for parents playing with their children.
Depending on the game you choose students can use these cards with the instructions provided to build counting, number identification and one to one correspondence skills, subitizing skills, or addition and subtraction up to 20. Here is a great description and video of a parent playing one of the addition games with their child. You can also use the cards for puzzles as demonstrated in this video used for 7th and 8th grade students!
