Addition

Strategy
Battle Game
By Rachel Tidd
About the Author Contents

R
achel Tidd is a leading proponent
of integrating the outdoors and 3 Introduction
natural materials in education.
4 Combination of 10
She became interested in teaching and
learning outdoors after watching her 6 Doubles
two children thrive in a forest preschool.
9 Doubles plus 1
Prior to founding Wild Learning, Rachel
gained extensive teaching experience in 11 Doubles plus 2
elementary education, special education,
13 Plus 9
and as a homeschool parent. She earned
a Master’s degree in Elementary and 15 Make a ten
Special Education at Bank Street College
17 Plus 10
of Education and a B.S. in Environmental
Science from the SUNY College of 20 Final fact
Environmental Science and Forestry. Her
book Wild Learning: Practical Ideas for
Bringing Teaching Outside will be available
in April 2023 from Wiley/Jossey-Bass. It

is available for preorder at Amazon and
Barnes & Noble.

Wild Learning T M // Addition Strategy Battle Game © Rachel Tidd // 2022

This resource is intended for personal, home, and individual classroom teacher use only. Copies cannot be made and
distributed. Print copies for personal, home, and individual classroom teacher use are permitted. Resale of this curriculum
is not permitted. Contact support@discoverwildlearning.com if you are interested in purchasing multiple copies for your
school or organization.

Photographs: Rachel Tidd; Graphic Design: Julie Manners and Rachel Tidd
a Introduction
Learning addition facts does not have to mean
boring worksheets! By utilizing games children
will typically practice many more problems than
if they had done a worksheet!
Wild Math First grade uses lots of hands on
activities using natural materials outdoors to
practice addition facts. Games are also encour-
aged in every Wild Math unit and a list of table
top games in included.
One of the best games for addition fact practice
is addition battle. While this game can be played
with a regular deck of cards, the cards in this
set allow you to target each addition strategy.
You can mix cards from different strategies to-
gether for targeted review!
I have also included a list of other games and
activities that you can play with these cards!
These strategies are targeted in Wild Math First
grade. If your child learns these strategies along
with +0, +1, and +2 facts (six out of the ten +2
facts have already been covered by other strat-
egies!) they will only need to learn 3+6!
I suggest printing the cards on cardstock. If you
want to use them outdoors or want them to be
extra durable you can laminate them!
a Materials
 Cardstock
 Printed cards on cardstock
 Scissors
 Laminator if desired
a How to play addition battle
Addition battle (also called war) is typically a 2
player game. After cutting out the desired set(s)
of cards. Shuffle them well. Deal each player half
the cards. Players each place their cards out at
the same time and say the answer to the fact on
their cards. The highest sum wins both cards.
If players have the same sum, then they go to
battle! Each player places two cards face down
under the original card and a final card face up.
The players say the sum on the new cards. The
highest sum wins ALL of the cards.
Winning can happen by either- winning all the
cards, or having the most cards after a set
amount of time.
a Other ways to use these cards
 Hide the cards inside or out for a scavenger
hunt
 Print two sets of a strategy and play go fish
 Select a card and have children use natural or
household materials to make a model of the
problem
 Draw a number line outdoors with chalk,
have the child illustrate how to solve the
problem using the number line
 Use the cards to play race to 100 on a paper
or giant cloth hundred chart! Place cards face
down in a draw pile. Use different natural
objects as place markers. Players draw a
card, and then move their marker on the
board equal to the sum of the card. The first
one to 100 wins.
 Mix the cards from several strategies that
they have learned. Have them sort facts into
piles based on the strategy they would use
to solve them.
 Combination of ten facts

1+9 9+1 1+9 9+1

2+8 8+2 2+8 8+2

3+7 7+3 3+7 7+3

4+6 6+4 4+6 6+4

4 W ild LearningT M // Addition Strateg y B at tle Gam e ©  Ra ch el T idd

 Combinations of ten facts

5+5 5+5 5+5 5+5

5 W ild LearningT M // Addition Strateg y B at tle Gam e ©  Ra ch el T idd

 Doubles facts

1+1 1+1 1+1 1+1

2+2 2+2 2+2 2+2

3+3 3+3 3+3 3+3

4+4 4+4 4+4 4+4

6 W ild LearningT M // Addition Strateg y B at tle Gam e ©  Ra ch el T idd

 Doubles facts

5+5 5+5 5+5 5+5

6+6 6+6 6+6 6+6

7+7 7+7 7+7 7+7

8+8 8+8 8+8 8+8

7 W ild LearningT M // Addition Strateg y B at tle Gam e ©  Ra ch el T idd

 Doubles facts

9+9 9+9 9+9 9+9

10+10 10+10 10+10 10+10

8 W ild LearningT M // Addition Strateg y B at tle Gam e ©  Ra ch el T idd

 Doubles plus 1 facts

1+2 2+1 1+2 2+1

2+3 3+2 2+3 3+2

4+3 3+4 4+3 3+4

5+4 4+5 5+4 4+5

9 W ild LearningT M // Addition Strateg y B at tle Gam e ©  Ra ch el T idd

 Doubles plus 1 facts

6+5 5+6 6+5 5+6

7+6 6+7 7+6 6+7

8+7 7+8 8+7 7+8

9+8 8+9 9+8 8+9

10 W ild LearningT M // Addition Strateg y B at tle Gam e ©  Ra ch el T idd

 Doubles plus 2 facts

1+3 3+1 1+3 3+1

2+4 4+2 2+4 4+2

5+3 3+5 5+3 3+5

7+5 5+7 7+5 5+7

11 W ild LearningT M // Addition Strateg y B at tle Gam e ©  Ra ch el T idd

 Doubles plus 2 facts

6+8 8+6 6+8 8+6

7+9 9+7 7+9 9+7

*8+10 is technically a doubles plus 2 fact but a better strategy is to add the 10. 4+6 is also a
doubles plus 2 fact but it is learned first as a combination of 10 fact.

12 W ild LearningT M // Addition Strateg y B at tle Gam e ©  Ra ch el T idd

 P l u s 9 (m a k e a t e n )

9+2 2+9 9+2 2+9

9+3 3+9 9+3 3+9

9+4 4+9 9+4 4+9

9+5 5+9 9+5 5+9

13 W ild LearningT M // Addition Strateg y B at tle Gam e ©  Ra ch el T idd

 P l u s 9 (m a k e a t e n )

9+6 6+9 9+6 6+9

9+7 7+9 9+7 7+9

9+8 8+9 9+8 8+9

14 W ild LearningT M // Addition Strateg y B at tle Gam e ©  Ra ch el T idd

 Make a ten

3+8 8+3 3+8 8+3

4+8 8+4 4+8 8+4

5+8 8+5 5+8 8+5

6+8 8+6 6+8 8+6

15 W ild LearningT M // Addition Strateg y B at tle Gam e ©  Ra ch el T idd

 Make a ten

4+7 7+4 4+7 7+4

5+7 7+5 5+7 7+5

16 W ild LearningT M // Addition Strateg y B at tle Gam e ©  Ra ch el T idd

 Plus 10

10+1 1+10 10+1 1+10

10+2 2+10 10+2 2+10

10+3 3+10 10+3 3+10

10+4 4+10 10+4 4+10

17 W ild LearningT M // Addition Strateg y B at tle Gam e ©  Ra ch el T idd

 Plus 10

10+5 5+10 10+5 5+10

10+6 6+10 10+6 6+10

10+7 7+10 10+7 7+10

10+8 8+10 10+8 8+10

18 W ild LearningT M // Addition Strateg y B at tle Gam e ©  Ra ch el T idd

 Plus 10 facts

10+9 9+10 10+9 9+10

If your child learns these strategies along with +0, +1, and +2 facts (six out of the ten +2 facts
have already been covered by other strategies!) they will only need to learn 3+6!

19 W ild LearningT M // Addition Strateg y B at tle Gam e ©  Ra ch el T idd

 Final fact

6+3 3+6 6+3 3+6

Strategies for the last fact:

6+3- plus 3 (count on)

20 W ild LearningT M // Addition Strateg y B at tle Gam e ©  Ra ch el T idd

21 W ild LearningT M // Addition Strateg y B at tle Gam e ©  Ra ch el T idd
22 W ild LearningT M // Addition Strateg y B at tle Gam e ©  Ra ch el T idd