How to play Fruit Punch for math fluency + processing speed

We love a good, silly game that can get the kids giggling while also having some sort of redemptive educational value and the Fruit Punch card game from Amigo Games fits the bill.

What we love about this game is that at once children have basic number sense, they can join in and play. The rules can also be adapted for older learners (addressed below as a house variation of the game). While younger kids may not win, they get a taste of basic numbers and math while having fun in the process.

Fruit Punch for early math practice and adding or subtracting multiple single digit numbers

SWBAT (Students will be able to demonstrate the) learning objectives for playing the Fruit Punch or Bop the Banana Card game:

Apply knowledge of basic addition to get to the sum of 5

The very core of the game is simply adding cards together to get to the number 5. This can be done with simply two players. But then as you add players it adds the challenge of adding 3 or more numbers together.

Break down the number 5 into two to five different addends

This is great practice for children to understand how to add three or more numbers together. They can practice say 3+1+1=5 or in a 5-6 player game something like 1+1+1+1+1=5. This is slightly more advanced math than simply adding two numbers together.

Demonstrate basic mental math.

Combining the two previous learning objectives, students will be able to demonstrate the ability to do simple and basic mental math, keeping track of cards to add together, subtract, or both.

Practice improving math fluency and processing speed

We have found that even for adults, this game requires a certain level of mental processing. This is a great low or no-consequence way to improve the processing speed in math for students that struggle with using their fingers to count. Because it’s only to the number 5, it has a lot of repetition which helps with improving processing speed. And because playing with 3 or more players means having larger numbers, it’s also working on 1-10 which is the basic building block for all math.

Anticipate the subtraction of a number greater than five to have a difference of exactly 5

One of the best ways this game teaches mathematical strategy is when there are at least 3 people playing and there are MORE than 5 of the same fruit shown. This allows students to learn to anticipate the sum of 5 remaining cards after a certain card gets subtracted. (For instance in a three player game there might be 3 cards on top that are all strawberries. One card might be 3, one might be 3, and a third might be 2. Once the next player in the clockwise game turns a new card that is likely a totally different fruit and covers their 3 strawberries, then the addition problem of 3+3+2=8 becomes (3+3+2)-3=5 if you want to help older learned with order of operations. Or it simply means 8-3=5 for a younger learner.

How to Play Fruit Punch : Elementary Math Game Review

The game is very simple. It takes the deck of 56 cards and a plastic squeaky banana.

Cards are split into equal piles between all players (between 2 and 6 total people playing).

The oldest player flips their card face out. On it will be a fruit and it will show anywhere between 1 and 5 of that fruit. Players take turns flipping their top card over. Players race to bop the banana first when 5 total of the same fruit are shown around the playing area whether on 1 or more cards.

The total fruit has to be 5, no more or less. If the player is correct and the first one to the banana, they take all of the cards on the table that are face up.

If someone hits the banana and the total isn’t 5, they pass out one card to each player in the game.

A player that has turned up all of their cards is still in the game to hit the banana and is only not involved in the game once they have no more cards.

The player that gets all of their cards wins.

Our House Rules variation to practice basic Multiplication and introduce “Order of Operations”

For older children, you can do a variation of rules and make the game a multiplication game for those children ready to do some basic multiplication. This also help introduce PEMDAS and order of operations.

How to play:

This is a minimum of a 3 player game.

All the same rules apply as above, however, you will also be multiplying. In a three player game, if 5 is shown either on one card or adds to five on two cards, then players will bop the banana and shout the correct multiple of 5 multiplication problem.

For instance, 3 strawberries plus 2 strawberries is 5 and the remaining card shows 3 limes, then to win the cards, the winner will hit the squeaky toy and shout “15”. This is because (2+3)3=15.

Likewise, if someone turns over a card with 5 limes and the remaining cards in play (regardless of fruit) add to 4, then someone would shout “20” and bop the banana.

This link is from my friend Bethany who has some other intro to Order of Operations games.

Don’t forget to grab your copy of the Fruit Punch Card Game

Grab this game using our link!

Fruit Punch Game on Amazon

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