The Secret to Dice


The Secret to Dice

November 19, 2018

Dice are a fun toy we can use in a lot of different games. That’s because when you throw dice, you don’t know what will happen. A die is just a cube, a shape that has 6 flat square sides, or “faces.” Each face has some number of dots on it: one side has 1 dot, another has 2 dots, and so on up to 6 dots. The die can land with any of those faces pointing up. That tells you how many spaces to move in a board game, or whether you rolled a bigger number than your friend. And here’s a cool fact: on most dice, the two sides opposite each other always add up to 7. Find a die or two and check it out!

Wee ones: Find a box in your room that has 6 faces (flat sides). See if you can count them all.

Little kids: One side of a die has 2 rows of 3 dots in each. They’re sometimes called “railroad tracks.” How many dots are there in total?  Bonus: Opposite sides on a die add up to 7. If you’re looking at the side with 5 dots on it, how many dots are on the opposite side?

Big kids: If you roll 4 dice, what’s the biggest number of dots you can roll in total?  Bonus: If you roll a 3, 4, 5 and 6, which die would have to change to a 2 for your total to be 14?












Wee ones: Count the 6 faces…remember to count the back side and the bottom!

Little kids: 6 dots.  Bonus: 2 dots.

Big kids: 24.  Bonus: You rolled 18, so to get 14 you need to lower the total by 4. So you change the 6 to a 2.

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Laura Overdeck

Laura Overdeck


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