Essential classroom equipment; a set of dice, and ideally large sponge die. They’re in the store cupboard they just need digging out.

Donkey Derby

Or better known as a horse race, in my classroom it is called Derby’s Donkey Derby! Pupils bet a donkey numbered from 1-12. A donkey moves when it’s number is rolled from two dice added together. The first donkey to cross the line wins.

This horse race notebook was contributed to TES resources by Moog, it includes interactive dice.

Nasty

Simple concept of place value. Teams play against each other to get the highest number, or the highest even number etc. When the die is rolled the team decides whether to keep it or give it away. By keeping it they can place the digit into either units, tens, or hundreds unit. By giving it away to another team they decide which column the other team has to place it.

I use this Nasty template simple grid to keep track of each team.

Roll your question

A quick starter, engages pupils immediately. Display six questions on the board as pupils enter they roll the die and answer the corresponding question. Of course even better if you can have two differentiated sets of questions amber (entry) and green (more challenging).

Pupil selector

When working in groups it is important that all pupils know what they’re doing and understand the work. To keep pupils on their toes avoid the hands up situation and introduce a no hands up rule. This ensures the conversation is flowing as pupils coach each other, roll the die to select the person from each group to feedback, explain or answer a question.

Make 24

Roll the die to get 3 or 4 numbers, pupils must then use these numbers and any operations to make the number 24. If you have enough die, pupils can set their own personal challenge.

Probability Experiment

Conduct a simple experiment, roll a die and record the result in a tally chart. Spice it up by introducing a ten or 12 sided die.

Die-Multiply

A game for two players, each with a die. They roll simultaneously, the first player to call out the multiplication result of the two numbers wins. Can be powers for calculator use, or addition for low KS3 classes. Pupils keep a track by tally chart of how many games they win, the person that wins the most in a 5minute slot is deemed champion.

Add Sparkle

Add a bit of fun with these giant foam dice available from most suppliers and from Bright Ideas website.

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