If you’re looking for a fun way to spend time with your friends and family that doesn’t cost a penny, then you’ve come to the right place! Our free printable playing cards can be downloaded and printed instantly, ready for games nights, long journeys or to keep a solitary child busy for a few hours!
Our world is now dominated by screens and technology, but card games stand out as a more traditional form of entertainment that can bring hours of fun as well as offering many other benefits, from improved maths skills to stress relief.
Other benefits of playing cards include:
- Improved concentration and patience skills. Children learn how to take turns and think about their next move in a game.
- Playing card games is beneficial for our long-term memory skills.
- Card games are great for building relationships and helping you spending time with your friends and family. Even toddlers as young as 3 can play simple memory card games such as matching pairs of cards.
- Playing cards can help improve our well-being, and also help children believe in their own abilities giving them a feeling of empowerment.
- Card games can help teach children how to control and manage their emotions. Whether they win or lose a game, they are learning how to behave in different situations.
We’ve got four different sizes of playing cards for you to choose from, whether you prefer regular cards, cute tiny ones or super large cards!
Each card deck contains the standard 52 playing cards.
Printable Mini Deck of Cards
This printable mini deck of cards is our smallest and measures a dinky 1.5 inches by 2.3 inches. These cute cards are so tiny they’re bound to capture children’s imagination and also cause a few giggles! They’re so compact they can be carried anywhere, so they’re perfect for long journeys. These fun-sized cards are also ideal for stocking fillers and party bags, and you can print them anytime you need to if you haven’t got time to pop to the shops!
To use our printable mini deck of cards, download the PDF document to your home computer, print the cards onto plain white card then cut out carefully.
Regular Printable Play Cards
Our regular printable play cards measure 2.5 inches by 3.5 inches, and are the standard size of playing cards usually found in shops – but you can download and print our cards whenever you need to! Simply download the PDF document, print onto strong white card then cut out the playing cards.
Blackjack (also known as twenty-one) is a great card game to play with children, and can even help them practice their addition skills!
All you need to play is 2 to 10 players and our regular deck of cards. The aim of the game is to make your own hand add up to 21 without going over that total (going bust!).
How to play:
- Shuffle the cards, and deal two to each player.
- Each player looks at their own cards, hiding them from the other players. If they want another card, they say “twist”, or if they want to stay with the two cards they have already they say “stick”.
- Players can keep asking for more cards, but once the total goes over 21 they lose that hand of cards.
- Once all the players do not want to ask for any more cards, everyone shows the cards that they have.
- The winner is the player with cards that add up the closest to 21.
Printable Large Playing Cards
Our large printable play cards measure 3.5 inches by 5 inches, so they’re ideal if you want a slightly bigger playing card than usual. Click to download the PDF to your home computer then simply print the playing cards onto strong white card and cut out ready to use.
This size of playing card is ideal for a simple game of snap, or why not try teaching the kids a few simple magic tricks? Mykidstime.com has eight simple tricks that will help get them started, so they can put on their very first magic show! (www.mykidstime.com)
Printable Giant Deck of Playing Cards
Our fantastic giant deck of playing cards measures a whopping 8 inches by 10.5 inches! There are lots of fun uses for these super-sized cards, and they’re ideal for outdoor party games. To make your giant playing cards, download the PDF document then print onto plain white card and cut out. You can laminate the cards if you prefer so you can use them outdoors in all weather, or place inside clear plastic wallets.
Play giant versions of classic games like cheat, poker, and snap, or hang them as decorations from trees for an Alice in Wonderland themed party. For a fun outdoor game, spread the cards randomly around the garden, then ask the children to pile the cards into their suits as fast as they can.
Playing cards are the perfect activity for a family party, rainy days and whenever the kids are bored! They’re lots of fun for all ages, and even help improve social skills, shape-recognition, maths skills and much more whilst having some precious screen-free time.
We hope you’ve enjoyed our printable playing cards. We’re always adding lots of new content, so come back soon to check out more of our fantastic printables!