Math Dice: Practicing Mental Math at Home

As a child, I loved math. I loved patterns and the feeling of accomplishment when I answered correctly. Now, as a mother, I want to pass on my love for math to my daughters. My daughters really believe in learning through play so in our homeschool math class I try to make learning fun. I use worksheets to reinforce lessons they’ve learned, but my girls are not fond of worksheets (just being honest) and would rather do math and all other work through discussion or by playing games. While that may work for some homeschool families, we are reviewed by our state and need to submit a portfolio of work, so I encourage them them do both: mental games and worksheets. Lately, we are enjoying learning through play with Math Dice.

MATH DICE

Math Dice is a game from Think Fun and is recommended for ages 8 and up.

How we use Math Dice

I try to start our Mondays with fun games after a weekend to get the kids excited about doing school work. Not long ago, I stumbled across the game Math Dice in Staples. Last year I remember seeing Think Fun as a vendor at the homeschool curriculum fair I visited. The brand had fun educational games and the price in Staples was unbeatable so I purchased it. Thankfully, the game has really come into handy with helping my kids practice their mental math. It is also a great way for me to connect with my girls and practice my math as well.

How do you play?

It’s simple to play, all you have to do is roll the two (white) 12-side dice and multiply the two numbers, which equals the product. The product becomes your target number. Then you roll the 3 (blue) six-sided scoring dice (at the same time) to create an equation that equals the target number. In the pictured example our target number was 36 because 9 x 4=36. Then we eventually rolled a 6, 3, and 2. 6 x 3 x 2=36. If your kids are young you can easily modify the game and add the two white dice numbers for your target number and let your child use the blue dice to create their own equation. Think Fun also sells Math Dice Jr. which is similar, it just using one white die and 5 smaller regular dice. Visit my blog (link in bio) to learn more about how we use the game in our homeschool.

Using math dice we practice:

• Addition
• Subtraction
• Exponents
• Multiplication
• Division

In Action

* Be sure to visit my blog on Wednesdays because I will be sharing other Mental Math Games we use.

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