Math can be a very frustrating and exhausting subject for both the student and the teacher. So, let’s take a break from boring old textbooks and workbooks and have a bit of fun. Instead of abstract numbers in a book, let’s give them life and dimension by using manipulatives. Manipulatives come in many forms: counting bears, dice, dominoes, beans, legos, measuring cups, or whatever you use daily. A favorite manipulative and the focus of this article is dice.
First, gather a variety of dice for your student to roll. Here are a few ways to incorporate dice based on age:
Preschoolers:
*Roll a simple six sided die and say the number aloud.
*Roll a six sided die, and then use counting bears to count out the number.
*Roll a die and have your child take that many number steps or some other physical activity.
*Roll a die and have your child obtain that number of stuffed animals, blocks, crayons, etc.
Elementary students:
*Roll two dice and add them, multiply, them, divide them or subtract them.
*Roll three dice and practice multiplication, addition or subtraction.
*Use a die with math operations to roll in the mix for a variety of equations.
*Use different colored dice and have each color represent a place value. Roll all the dice, and then have your child determine which number is in the ones, tens, hundreds, and then write it out properly.
*Use one die as the numerator and one as the denominator and roll to get your fraction. Then you can add, reduce, subtract, etc. all from that point.
Whatever task requires numbers, you can throw a die to get the number you need. I have had my children roll two dice and add that number, then roll two more dice and add that number then multiply the two numbers they came up with. Have fun with it!
Strange Animal or Monster Math on a Roll
Here’s a cute way to reinforce math and have fun drawing at the same time. Get out paper and crayons, markers, or colored pencils. Then roll a die and tell your child that is how many eyes your creature has or how many ears or mouths and so on until their strange creature is complete.
Preschooler Art and Math Mix Up
Have your preschooler roll a die and then draw that many flowers, happy faces, stars, etc. For more of a challenge, have her roll the die and draw the number in happy faces then roll again and “add” that many happy faces to her previous set. Then, ask how many happy faces are all together. You can also have her cross out that number of happy faces for subtraction, but be aware you may find yourself in negative numbers if she rolls twice. Roll once and then you tell her the number to cross out and ask how many are left.
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