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For younger learners

  • Early Years Foundation Stage

Flip Flop - Matching Cards

Age 5 to 11
Challenge Level Yellow starYellow star
  • Problem
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The aim of this game is to match pairs of cards. 

Click on a card in the interactivity below to turn it over. Then click on another one. If the two cards match, they will stay face-up. If the two cards do not match, they will return to being face-down. 

The game ends when all the cards have been matched in pairs. 

How do you know when a card matches another card?
Can you remember where particular cards are to help you match the pairs?

We would love to hear about the strategies you use as you play the game.

You may like to explore these alternative versions of the interactivity:

  • Play with a scoring system - you start with 100 points, lose 10 points whenever you turn over cards that don't match, and add 50 points whenever they do match.
  • Play against the clock - can you beat your personal best?
  • Play with face-up cards - the cards are all face-up at the start so you can focus on the maths rather than the memory aspect of the game.

Here is a PDF version of the game, which you can print off to play away from the computer if you wish. If you print double-sided, the cards will each have an NRICH logo on the back. If you would prefer them to be blank on the back, please just print the first page. 

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The NRICH Project aims to enrich the mathematical experiences of all learners. To support this aim, members of the NRICH team work in a wide range of capacities, including providing professional development for teachers wishing to embed rich mathematical tasks into everyday classroom practice.

NRICH is part of the family of activities in the Millennium Mathematics Project.

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