Pay the Difference

Number or players: two

Pay the Difference: Play this game many times. It gives students practice with a valuable math concept. What's the difference between 8 and 13? What is 13 - 8? How much greater is 13 than 8? If it is 4:30 p.m. now, how many hours will pass before it is 10:30 p.m.?

Materials: Deck of cards (jokers removed), chips, pennies, tokens or small squares of paper cut up. The Ace equals 1, the King equals 13, the Queen equals 12 and the Jack equals 11.

Directions: Each player begins the game with 30 or more chips, pennies or other types of markers. The deck of cards is placed between the players. Each turns over a card from the top of the deck. The one with the low number must "pay" the difference between his/her number and the opponent's number.

Winning: The round is over when one player wins all of the other player's tokens. Play several rounds. You should establish the winner before you start the game. For example; the first person to win five rounds, or the person who wins the most rounds out of six. It would depend on the amount of time you have to play.

Note: If your child is having difficulty, he/she may use a number line (1 2 3 4 5 etc.), a 12 inch ruler, or similar device. In order to establish how many numbers in between, your child would mark the lower number with a finger and count up to the higher number.

**Since the playing deck would be limited to 13, you could make up your own number cards using index cards. On the index cards, include numbers up to 18 so your child can practice subtraction facts through 18. For example, the difference between 15 and 9, 17 and 8, 16 and 7. The rest of the game would be played the same, except each player may need to start the game with more than 30 chips or tokens.

Be creative and add variables to the game to make it more interesting after you have played the original game several times.