The other day at the thrift store, my kids spotted a Spidey Friends Memory game for 99 cents. It was just a box of cards with no instructions—but my five-year-old is obsessed with memory games, so it came home with us.
As soon as we walked in the door, both my five- and eight-year-old were ready to play.
Step One: Count the Cards
The instructions weren’t included, but we knew a memory game usually comes with an even number of cards. So we counted. Supposed to be 72… oh no. Only 71.
That led to our first math conversation:
- If there’s an odd number, not every card can have a pair.
- My eight-year-old thought this was hilarious. “It ends with a 1, so it can’t be even!”
Step Two: Match It Up
We spread the cards out and started matching. Some cards looked really similar, so this turned into a great activity for my five-year-old, who had to slow down and notice small differences.
Once we finished, we counted. Thirty-five matches. That’s 70 cards. Which meant, of course, one left over.
I thought out loud: “So 35 matches, and 35 times 2 is 70, plus one more card makes 71.”
Without skipping a beat, my eight-year-old chimed in: “Oh, so 70 divided by 2 is 35!”
I kept my cool (get too excited and they’ll realize they did math!) and just said, “Yep.” (Meanwhile, my brain was cheering.)
Step Three: The Space Problem
Next we discovered a new problem. Too many cards for the little lap desk we play on in my bed. Small house problems.
My eight-year-old started laying out cards: five across, six down. “How many is that?” they asked.
We counted by fives, with the five-year-old helping: five, ten, fifteen, twenty, twenty-five, thirty.
Out loud I said: “So five times six is 30.”
Then I asked: “How many matches can we use if we only play with 30 cards?”
We broke it down together. “We need to split 30 into two groups… ohhh, so 15 matches!”
Step Four: Sorting and Categorizing
Now came the big question: which 15 pairs?
We talked about different ways we could sort the cards (by characters, villains vs. heroes, colors). We ended up deciding to seperate out the symbols (insert fun discussion on what is a symbol with my five year old) and then letting the kids take turns picking until we have 15 pairs. They were both delighted to pick their favorite pairs while the rest went into an “extra” pile.
Step Five: Playing (and More Math)
Finally, we played a normal game of memory. Memory games are fantastic for practicing working memory, a skill that kids with ADHD (like mine!) especially benefit from strengthening.
When it came time to count who won, my five-year-old lined up her matches in rows of five. Easy to count!
My eight-year-old glanced at her sister’s pile and declared: “You have 10 cards, so that’s 5 matches!” I nodded, “Exactly—10 divided by 2 is 5.”
We counted my cards the same way and ended up talking about how multiplication and division are connected. We even arranged the cards into different groups to prove it.
The Big Picture
All of that math came out of a simple, 99-cent thrift store game.
- Odds and evens
- Multiplication and division
- Grouping and categorizing
- Spatial reasoning
- Visual discrimination
- Problem-solving with limited space
My Brain is a Liar, Gameschooling is Valid
Later that day, I caught myself beating up on myself because we “didn’t do math” that day—we just spent too much time playing a game. But then I stopped and listed all the skills we had covered in that simple game of memory. Not once did anyone complain or get frustrated. We were just doing something ordinary and fun… and at the same time, we did a whole lot of math.
So does this mean we should scrap math curriculum altogether and just play games? Nope. The curriculum has its place. But it does mean I need to be kinder to myself and recognize the value in these everyday moments.
Rabbit Hole Learning 
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