Dice Roll Match-Up (Division and Letters)

Two sheets of sticker paper and one bag of 3/4-inch wood blocks for $3.99: That's all this little game requires. Sometimes the simplest and cheapest games are the most fun.

I made two versions for my boys with nine dice each - to practice division with my 3rd grader and letter recognition with my preschool-aged son.

Division Dice Roll Match-Up

Once the PDF was printed, squares cut, sticker paper tediously peeled and stuck to the die, we were ready to play. On the nine dice are the numbers 1 through 10. The remaining sides of the die have division equations. Two additional symbols - a star and smile - are also represented.

My son rolled all the dice. Then he looked first for the numerals (the answers). Did he have any equations with the numerals rolled as answers (e.g. if he rolled a 3, he'd studied the division problems looking for any, such as 12 divided by 4). The number of problems he could solve with the numerals he rolled was his score.

If he also rolled a star, he got an extra point.

If he rolled a smile, he could double his score (so if he'd made two equations, his score was four).

We took turns rolling and solving problems. If either of us missed an equation that had an answer rolled, we got a point during our opponent's turn.

We played for 10 minutes. Because a big part of winning is luck, even parents and older siblings will enjoy playing along!

Letter Dice Roll Match-Up

For my four year old, the game was about matching upper and lower case letters. This is still a struggle for my little guy, so I let him play his way - finding the letters he remembered and turning the dice to look for their upper or lower case counterpart.

I can't wait to keep playing with him as his familiarity grows and letter recognition improves. We'll eventually be able to keep score too, which will only improve his counting!

Download a free two-page PDF with the labels I used (page 1 = letters; page 2 = division) here.

Toss these die in a snack-sized ziploc and throw it in your purse. This little game would be great to play while waiting for your order next time you're out to eat!