15 Interesting Math Dice Games For Your Kid [Updated 2021]

Are you looking for enjoyable ways to motivate your child to love math? Do you want to help your kids learn math in a hands-on way? Are you looking for budget-friendly math games you can play with your child? Math Dice Games may be just the thing you are looking for.

An underrated way to teach math is through math games. Math games can be a wonderful tool to not only help kids learn math skills but also have fun. Playing games is an amazing way to reinforce math facts and practice hands-on math. Dice-based games have been in existence for a long time and many versions of these games are played by almost every culture. However, dice can be a wonderful tool to make math fun and impart important numerical and arithmetic skills to your kids. It is versatile and can be used to cover a variety of math topics for different levels. Dice games have gained popularity in the classrooms as well as kids learn best when they are actively learning.

Math games using dice can be used to improve a variety of math skills and can be easily modified to match the student’s skill level or focus on their area of weakness. It can also be used to develop mental math abilities and improve speed and fluency in math facts and concepts. It also provides a wonderful break from mundane textbooks and traditional ways of learning math. Moreover, it is readily available and won’t cost you any money.

We have compiled 9 of the best math dice games for kids. We have also included modifications to make the game more challenging for older children. With these fun and interesting dice maths games, your child will be learning math in no time.

1. Race to 100

This is a fun game to improve counting and number sense in young children.

How to play:

To play this dice activity for math, you will create a large hundred chart with numbers from 1 to 100. You can also use readymade ones available on the market. You will hand over different color objects or blocks to each student that will represent them. Each student will get a chance to roll a dice. The game will be played turn wise. The students will move their piece across the number chart the number of times as shown in the dice face. For example: If a student gets 5, they will move their piece to 5. If they get 3 in the next round, they will move 3 places ahead of 5 which is in 8. The student who reaches 100 first wins the game.

If the student has his piece in one number and the next student reaches the same place, they will overtake the previous student’s place who will have to begin again.

If the student is close to 100 and they do not get the desired number, they will have to keep on trying till they get the number. For example: If the student’s piece is in 99, he will have to get exactly 1 to reach 100, but if he rolls any other number, his turn will be skipped and he stays where he is until he gets 1 in his turn.

2. Number Sequencing

This is a fun math game with dice for young kids to improve their number sense.

How to play:

To play this game, you will provide a sheet and pencil to each student. Each student will roll a pair of dice turn wise. They will note the numbers on the dice face in their sheets, the highest number will be the first digit and the lower number will be the second digit. There will be 10 rounds of the game and each student will get ten turns each. After each student gets their turn and has the ten numbers jotted down, you will say “START”.

The goal of the game is to arrange the numbers in ascending or descending order as quickly as possible. The student who completes the task first correctly wins the game.

Modification:

You can also use three, four and even five dice to denote 3, 4, or 5-digit numbers. You can even have the students find the sum of the numbers on dice rolled and the students must arrange the totals in ascending or descending order.

To make this dice math game more challenging, you can consider the numbers rolled to be negative numbers, decimals (by adding point between the rolled numbers) or fractions (one number becomes numerator and the other is the denominator).

Read about how do young children approach math.

3. Dice Bingo

This is a great game to improve number identification skills.

How to play:

To play this game, you will print out bingo sheets or make your own and distribute one to each student. The bingo sheets should have 2 digit numbers arranged in a random way. Make sure not to include numbers with zero like 10, 20, 30 etc. as there is no zero on the dice face. You will shuffle and distribute the bingo sheets and pencil to each student.

Now, each student will have turns rolling a pair of dice. They can use the number of faces of the dice in any way. For example: If they get 2 and 1, they can use this to denote number 21 or number 12 but they can only choose one number. If they have this number in their bingo sheet, they will cross off the number and the game passes on to the next player. The student who crosses off all the numbers first in the bingo sheet and yells “Bingo” wins the game.

Modification:

To make the game harder, you can increase the number of dice and use it to denote a 3 or 4-digit number. You can also increase the size of the bingo sheet.

4. Number puzzle search

This is another fun math game to improve number identification in children and boost brain activity.

How to play:

For this game, you can print our number puzzle worksheets from the internet and hand it out to the students. You will then roll a pair of dice and announce the numbers. The students will then search for these numbers in the puzzle and outline them. Keep an allotted time for students to search the number before moving on to the next one.

You can play this game for 10-15 rounds. The student who gets the maximum numbers circled in the puzzle wins the game.

5. Going to Boston

This game has existed for a long time and is a great way to practice addition arithmetic skills for young kids.

How to play:

To play this dice math game, you will need three dice. Each student will roll the dice turn wise. The students will roll three dice at once. They will then set the highest dice aside. After this step, they will roll the remaining two dice and again set the highest one aside. They will then roll the last dice and then add all the three numbers together. After the 1 round, the students will compare the sum. The student will the highest sum wins the game. You can also play the game for a number of rounds and set a target number such as100, 200, etc. and the student whose sum reaches the target number first wins the game.

Modification:

To make the game harder, you can increase the number of dice pieces.

Read about how to teach math effectively to kids.

6. Multiplication Arrays

This math dice game is a great way to help students learn multiplication and show their math visually.

How to play:

To play this game, you will ask the students to roll a pair of dice turn wise. The students will have to find the product of these two numbers on the dice face by drawing arrays. For example: If a student rolls 6 and 2, they will draw a rectangle of 6 columns and 2 rows to find the answer. You can also provide graph paper to the students to plot the arrays. After each student gets their turn and finishes the array, they will compare the results. The student who gets the highest product wins the game.

Modification:

For older students, you can increase the number of dice to be rolled in this dice activity for math and instead of arrays, you can ask the student to use other methods like Area Model and Lines and Intersections, etc. to find the product.

7. Place Values and Rounding

This math games with dice is a great way to improve knowledge about place values.

How to play:

For this game, you will provide each student with a sheet of paper and a pencil. You can vary the number of dice according to place values you wish to work with. For example: For tens, you will use 2 dice and for hundreds, you will use 3 dice, and so on. Each player will roll the dice turn wise and arrange the numbers they get on the face value to form the largest possible number. The students will then round this number to the nearest 100’s or 1000’s. For example, 865 becomes 900, and 843 becomes 800. The student with the highest correctly rounded number wins the game.

Modification:

You can vary the number of dice to be rolled make this dice math game harder. You can also change the number of dice every round to make the game more challenging.

For older kids, you can also use the numbers to practice decimal places like tenths, hundredths, and so on.

You can also make use of coin flip to determine the number to be a positive or negative number.

Read about cool math tricks for kids.

8. Cross off the Numbers

This dice math game is a great way to increase fluency in math facts and understand how to break down larger numbers into smaller components.

How to play:

In this game, you will provide a sheet of paper with numbers from 1-9 and a pencil to each student. Each student will roll a pair of dice and add the sum. For example. If a student gets a sum of 14, they need to think of various combinations they can break this number in a way that the components add up to the total 14. They will then cross off those numbers in the sheet. For example, it could be (1, 2, 5, 6) or (3, 4, 7) or (2, 3, 4, 5), etc. as each of these combinations give 14. The component numbers that the students choose, they will cross off on their paper. If there are no numbers that can be added to the dice total, the next student gets their turn. The game continues till one of the students crosses all the numbers in their sheet and is declared the winner.

Modification:

To make this math dice games for kids more challenging, you can use 3 or more dice and change the numbers to cross off in the sheet to 1-20 or 30.

9. Add to target

This dice math game is perfect to practice addition skills for younger children.

How to play:

For this game, you need a pair of dice and a sheet of paper & pencil for each student. You will ask the students to roll a pair of dice turn wise. The children will then have to add the numbers on the face value of dice and write the answer. The game will pass on to the next student. When the student’s turn comes again, they will do the same and then this sum to the previous sum. The students will take turns rolling the dice and adding the numbers until a student get the sum of 100 or above. The student who reaches 100 and above first will win the game. Each student must show the calculations of the paper.

Modification:

To make this dice activity for math harder, you can use 3 or 4 dice and change the goal to 200 or 400, etc.

To spice things up, you can add fun components like if a student gets two 6’s, they will get a second turn. And, if they get three 6’s in a row, they will start from zero. If the student gets the same numbers on both the dice, they will get double like if the student rolls 2 and 2, they instead of 4, the students will get 8, etc.

10. Dice Arithmetic

This is a wonderful math dice games to increase the speed and fluency of arithmetic and improve problem-solving skills in kids.

How to play:

For this game, you need a pair of dice, a sheet of paper & pencil or whiteboard & chalk. You will then ask the students to roll the pair of dice. They will need to add, subtract, multiply, or divide two numbers they get on the face value depending on the skill you are focusing on. The student who gets the highest sum or product OR the lowest difference and quotient wins. You can also ask the students to perform calculations mentally.

Modification:

For older students, you can modify this dice math game. A pair of dice could signify a two digit number. You can also make use of 3 or 4 dice to denote 3 or 4 digit numbers and make the student practice math using BODMAS rule. You can give the kids a set of blank equations like [(_ + _) × _ = _] on the paper. The students will then roll the dice and fill the equation with numbers they get on the face value and calculate the answer.

11. Fraction War

This is a great game to learn about the value of fractions.

How to play:

In this fraction dice game, you will ask the students to roll a pair of dice. They will then use the two numbers on face value to make up a fraction, the smaller number being the numerator and the larger number being the denominator. They will compare whose fraction is higher. The kid who can determine the highest fraction first correctly wins the round. If a student rolls double, they automatically win the game. This is a great way to learn fractions with some friendly competition.

Modification:

To make this fraction game harder, you can use ask the kids to roll the pair of dice two times and form two fractions. The kids will need to perform arithmetic operations like add, subtract, multiply, or divide the fractions. You can also ask the students to convert fractions into decimals.

12. Simplify the fraction

This game is a great way to practice the simplification of fractions and improve logical thinking.

How to play:

To play this fraction based dice game, you will need three dice. The students will take turns rolling the dice. They will take the numbers on the face value as the numerator and two other numbers as the denominator. They can choose to use the face numbers in any order however each number can be used only once such that from the three numbers on the face of the value of dice, one is the numerator and the other two are denominator. The order can be decided by the student based on how well the fraction can be simplified.

The student will compare their fractions and the student with the largest fraction wins the game. If the student rolls the dice that cannot be simplified, they lose the round.

For example: If a student rolls 1, 2, and 7, they will arrange the numbers as 7 for the numerator and 21 for the denominator as this gives the chance of best simplification. So, the fraction 7/21 can be simplified to 1/3.

Learn about productive struggle in math.

13. Dice-o-metry

Math dice games can also be a valuable tool to practice geometry skills. You can focus on a particular section of geometry and play many versions of the game. You can easily adjust the difficulty level of the geometry games.

How to play:

You need to provide the students with a sheet of paper and pencil for drawing geometric figures and calculations. This game can be played individually with your child or in groups. You can have a winner in each round where the student with the highest area or perimeter wins the game. Some versions of the geometry math games using dice could be:

Square or Rectangle: For this math games using dice, you will need a pair of dice. Each student will take turns rolling the dice. They will consider the numbers on the face value of the dice as length (larger value) and width (smaller value). You can ask the student to find the area or perimeter of the square or rectangular figure. The student will also have to draw the figure on the paper and determine if it is a square or a rectangle.

Circle: For this dice math game, you can use a single dice or a pair of dice. The student will roll the dice and the number on its face will be considered as the radius. You can then ask the child to calculate the circumference, area, or diameter of the circle or the semi-circle.

Triangle: For this math game using dice, you will need 3 dice. In this game, each child will roll 3 dice which will be the length of 3 sides of the triangle. The child must also determine what type of triangle it is and draw the figure on the paper. You can also ask to calculate the area, height, or perimeter of the triangle.

14. Plotting graphs

This is a fun way to help the children learn charts and graphs.

How to play:

For this dice game math, you can ask the students to roll a dice turn wise. Each student will note the numbers on the dice face and this will be the values the students need to plot in their graphs. Make sure that there are at least 6 values to plot. You can provide a sheet of paper or a graph paper to the students and ask them to use these to draw different types of graphs like line graphs, bar graphs or pie charts. The one who completes the graph first correctly wins the game.

Modification:

To increase the difficulty of this dice math game, you can use 2 dice or 3 dice instead of one, and use it to denote two or three digit numbers. You can also vary the number of dice for each turn to create variation and challenge. You can also ask the students to calculate the mean value.

15. Number Sense Pop Quiz

This game mixes a variety of math skills. It is great to improve mental math abilities and enhance memory recall.

How to play:

You can play this game with a group of 4 to 6 students. Use a larger size dice for this game. You will roll a pair of dice and ask a variety of questions to the students using the two numbers of the dice’s face. The student who answers first wins the round. You can provide each student with a squeaky toy as a buzzer to avoid confusion. If the student answers incorrectly, he gets a negative point.

You will keep a scoreboard and play for a certain number of rounds. The student with the highest points at the end wins the game.

Here are some sample questions you can ask the students after each roll. You can vary the questions based on the student’s level of math skills.

Find the sum of the numbers?
Find the product of the numbers?
Subtract the numbers such that the answer is a negative number?
Make the smallest fraction out of the two numbers?
What’s is 20 more thanthe sum of the two numbers?
Divide by 2 the product of the 2 numbers?

Conclusion:

Many children struggle with math and suffer from math anxiety. When this happens, it becomes difficult to teach math just using textbooks as students start getting bored, irritable, frustrated or tend to avoid math. So how do you help your child with math? Not to worry, children always respond well to games and fun, and this is how you will teach math through math games.

Games have been proven to be a highly efficient mode of teaching and many schools have started involving games in their curriculum. Using these entertaining methods will not only help your child learn math quicker but will also make it a hands-on learning experience. It also boosts your child’s brain activity and keeps them more focused and engaged. It is also a great way to practice math skills repeatedly without it being boring and tedious and thus helps reinforce math facts and concepts. Children also retain lessons learned this way for a longer time and begin to see the relevance of math in day to day activities.

We hope that these interesting math dice games for kids will help your kids be better at math while providing them a delightful break from math textbook problems. Apart from these math games using dice, you can also play traditional board games like Ludo, Snakes & Ladders, and Checkers that incorporate dice and also teach math to some extent.

Try these dice games today to boost your child’s math skills. Have fun with math!

There are many other fun ways to make to help your child understand math . We have compiled some of the best ways to teach math to your kids. Read more about these enjoyable methods of teaching math by clicking on the links below.