Dice Games
All you need to play these games are dice, counters or buttons and some paper and a pencil to keep score.
If you haven’t got a dice at home then you could make one from a piece of modelling clay, pressing the point of a pencil in to make the spots.
You can use dice from board games you may already have in the house. Don’t forget to put them back when you have finished!
Most games can also be played with numbered cards as well.
If you haven’t got a dice at home then you could make one from a piece of modelling clay, pressing the point of a pencil in to make the spots.
|
Remember that the opposite sides on a dice always add up to seven: 6 opposite 1 3 opposite 4 5 opposite 2.
|
A Tower
Use Lego or any other building kits you have. Each player has 2 dice. They roll the 2 dice and add the spots together. If the addition is correct, the player takes that number of building bricks and starts building a tower. The winner is the person with the highest (or most creative) tower.
Make 10
Players 2
Materials: 1 dice, scrap paper
One dice is rolled. Players try to find what number needs to be added to make ten. The number needed to make ten becomes the player’s score for that round. If 3 is rolled, then a player would say 7 to make a 10 and their score is 7.
Make a 2 digit number
Throw 2 dice (or 1 dice twice) e.g. 2 and 4
What 2 numbers can you make? 24 and 42. Write them down.
Repeat this 5 times and make 10 numbers.
Put your numbers in order from smallest to largest.
Make a 3 digit number
Throw 3 dice (or 1 dice 3 times). E.g. 4,6 and 1.
What numbers can you make? E.g. 461, 641, 146, 164, 416, 614.
Put them in order.
Throw the dice and repeat.
Make a number sentence
Throw 3 dice (or 1 dice 3 times). E.g. 1,4,6
What number sentences can you make with the numbers?
e.g. 1 +4 + 6 = 10; 6 – 4 + 1 = 3
Lucky Numbers.
A one, two, three or four dice game.
The more dice you use the more
difficult it is!
Choose a lucky number:
6 or under for one dice
12 or under for two dice
18 or under for three dice
24 or under for four dice.
The aim of the game is to see who can throw their lucky number most in ten or twenty throws.
Take turns!
The faster you play, the quicker you will have to be at adding up!
Knockout
A two dice game.
Choose either 6,7 or 8 as your knockout number and then throw both dice.
See how many times you can throw them before you score the number which knocks you out.
Remember that the totals can be made in several ways: 6 could be 5 and 1, 4 and 2 or 3 and 3!
Beetle
For 2 or more players
The object: Be the first to complete your beetle!
Materials: Pencil, paper, 1 x standard dice
How to Play: Beetle is a childhood classic. Each player rolls a die and draws a body part of a bug, depending on the die roll. Certain parts must be drawn before others. You always need a roll of a 6 to draw the body before you can attach anything else! The first to complete their bug wins.
You can only draw 1 of each body part for each roll of the dice.
Dotty Six
You need a partner, a 1-6 dice and a grid like this;
Take turns to throw the dice and draw that number of dots in one of the boxes on the grid.
Put all of your dots in one of the boxes. You can't split them up and you can't have more than six dots in a box.
When a box is full, you could put a tick in the corner like this:
Keep going until there are three ticks in a row or column or diagonal. The winner is the person who puts the last tick.
Now, can you change the game to make your own version?
21 or bust.
A one or two dice game.
The idea is to score a total of 21, or as near to 21, as you can.
Take turns to throw the dice and write down your score each time. If your total goes over 21, then you are ‘bust’ and stop playing that round.
Once your score reaches 16, you can decide to ‘stick’ and you stop playing whilst everyone else carries on. If you stick at 18, for example, then the next player has to get 19 or more to win. Of course, they may go ‘bust’! The player who scores 21, or the nearest number to 21, in each round is the winner.
Maths Bump
Materials: 1 dice; paper
Make a board by drawing 12 circles and writing the numbers 2,4,6,8,10,12 twice in a circle,
Make 12 counters each—use a different colour for each player. You could use raisins, lego, sweets or cut them out of paper. Each person needs something different.
Take turns to throw the dice. Double the number and then put your coloured counter on a circle with the same number as the double of the number you have thrown.
If there isn’t a circle with that number left you have to wait until your next turn. The game ends when all the circles have been filled.
Add up the score for each of the circles that you have caught to find out your total number of points.
The player with the most points is the winner.
Variations
Battle Dice
Based on a similar card game by the same name, this is a fun and easy dice game that can be modified to teach addition, subtraction and multiplication skills.
Skills Learned: Less than and greater than; Addition; Subtraction; Multiplication; Place value
Materials Required: 2 dice; Counters (beads, sticks, rocks, pennies, etc.) and/or paper and pen for scoring
How to Play Battle Dice
Have each player roll one die. The player with the highest number goes first.
Each player rolls their two dice. The numbers on both dice are added together to come up with an individual player’s score. The player with the highest scoring combination wins the round. Winning rounds can be noted on a pad of paper with a tally mark under the winning player’s name, or with counters such as beads, rocks, or pennies.
Play a number of rounds and have players add up their counter or tally marks at the end to come up with a game champion.
Variations of the Game Battle Dice
Play with one dice for younger children to practice basic less than/greater than sequencing. Learn subtraction skills by having players subtract the lower die from the higher die to come up with a number for each round.
Increase the number of dice in the game to 3+ to teach more complicated addition skills. Practice place value skills by having players create a double-digit number from the rolled dice. For example, rolling a two and a five becomes either 25 or 52.
Learn multiplication skills by multiplying the numbers on the two dice to determine the winning score.
Going to Boston
Skills Learned: Less than and greater than; Addition; Multiplication
Materials Needed: 3 dice; Paper and pen for scoring
How to Play Going to Boston
Each player rolls a dice. The player with the highest number goes first.
Each player in turn rolls all three of the dice. After the first throw, remove the dice with the highest number and put it aside. Roll the two remaining dice and again put the highest number aside. Roll the last die and add up the numbers on all three dice to get the player’s score for that round. Record the score on a pad of paper.
Continue taking turns moving clockwise around the table until all players have had a turn. The highest score for the round wins.
Play a number of rounds and either add up a combined score at the end or tally winning rounds to come up with a game champion.
Variations of Going to Boston
Play with two dice for younger children to learn addition skills.
Keep the lowest numbered die rather than highest for a slightly easier game that teaches addition skills.
Increase the number of dice in the game to 4+ to learn more complicated addition skills. Learn multiplication by taking the sum of the first two dice and multiplying it by the third