Making Ten Games and Activities

Making ten is a key building block that helps students mentally add bigger numbers as they get older. So how can we make sure kids know all of their tens partners or ways to make 10? We practice! Here are some of my favorite games and activities for making ten.

MAKING TEN GAMES AND ACTIVITIES

Here are a handful of games and activities you can use with students while practicing making ten. Most of these require a deck of cards to play, but you might have some ten frames and red and yellow counters on hand, as well.

TENS PARTNERS PYRAMID

Materials Needed: Deck of cards with the 10s and face cards removed.
# of Players: 1
Directions: Shuffle the cards and build a pyramid of cards, as shown. Place the remaining cards face down in a pile.

The player will look for tens partners and remove them from the pyramid. If no tens partners can be found, the player draws one card from the deck. When a face down card is uncovered in the pyramid, the player turns it over so the number shows. The player continues until the pyramid has been completely removed.

To make the game more challenging, the player can start with one additional level in the pyramid.

TAKE TEN SHOWDOWN

Materials Needed: Deck of cards with the face cards removed.
# of Players: 2
Directions: Shuffle the cards and place ten cards face up, as shown. Place the remaining cards face down in a pile.

Player 1 collects all tens partners (10s can be collected as a single card) and places them in his pile. When his turn is over, he fills the open spots from the pile and lets Player 2 take a turn. The game ends when a player cannot remove any tens partners or when there are no more cards left in the pile. The player with the most cards collected at the end of the game wins.

MAKING TEN MEMORY

Materials Needed: four 5s, and two 1s, 2s, 3s, 4s, 6s, 7s, 8s, 9s (20 cards in all)
# of Players: 1 or 2
Directions: Play this game like Memory or Concentration. Shuffle and place the cards face down in a 4×5 array, as shown.

On a player’s turn, he will flip two cards face up. If they are tens partners, he puts them in his own pile and takes another turn. If they are not tens partners, he flips them back over and the next player takes a turn. The game ends when all matches have been found. The player with the most matches wins.

SLAP TEN

Materials Needed: Deck of cards with the 10s and face cards removed
# of Players: 2
Directions: Play this game like Slap Jack. Shuffle the cards and deal them into two equal piles with the cards face down. Both players will flip the top card over at the same time. If the cards do not make ten, both players will flip the next card over at the same time.

When the two cards make 10, both players will race to place their hand on the pile first. The player who slaps the cards first collects all the cards from both piles. Play continues. The game ends when one player has collected all the cards.

TAKE TEN

Materials Needed: Deck of cards with the 10s and face cards removed
# of Players: 2
Directions: Play this game like Go Fish. Shuffle the cards and deal five to each player. Each player will lay down any tens partners in their hand. On a player’s turn, he will ask for the number needed to make ten using one of the cards in his hand. For example, if a player has an 8, he would ask for a 2. If the player makes a match, he takes another turn. If he doesn’t make a match, he draws from the deck. The game continues until all cards are played. The player with the most matches at the end of the game wins.

Note: You can find this game in my Math Games and Centers pack.

SPILL AND REFILL

Materials Needed: ten frame container, 10 red and yellow counters, paper and pencil (optional)
# of Players: 1
Directions: The player will fill the ten frame using counters. He will say or record the way to make ten (ex. 5 + 5 = 10). Then he will gently lift and spill the counters before refilling the frame and repeating the process.

Note: I found these ice cube trays with ten slots at Home Goods. If you do not have a ten frame container, have students put the counters in a small cup before spilling and refilling a paper ten frame. You can also use an egg carton and trim off the ends to make a ten frame container.

FILL THE FRAME

Materials Needed: Fill the Frame Game Board (printable or digital)
# of Players: 1
Directions: The player will roll the die and fill the ten frame with that number of counters. Next, the player determines how many more he needs to fill the frame. Then, he will record a number sentence and repeat until all of the frames are complete.

Here’s a short video of this game being played in Google Slides: