Preschool Dice Game: Building Towers

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When you can play a game to teach a concept, you will always come out way ahead of traditional learning methods. Especially if that game involves movement. Your child will practice counting, number identification in sets, and gross motor skills while playing this preschool dice game we call Dice Towers.

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Why This Works

As your children play and experiment with dice they learn to recognize that numbers, (the words and symbols we call numbers), represent physical objects like dots on the dice or cups in the stack. The dice and the cups are math manipulatives that provide concrete, hands-on experience to demonstrate the meaning of the abstract symbols. Math manipulatives help all kinds of students but are absolutely essential for kinesthetic learners who learn best through touch. Lego bricks are great math manipulatives too.

Counting, Number Words, and Set Recognition

Playing with dice also helps your child get used to recognizing a set in one glance. With a quick glance at the die, they will see that it has six dots or four dots or whatever the case may be because they are learning to recognize sets. For the basic integers 0-9, the ability to quickly recognize sets of each number is an important math skill. This skill will start with counting and develop over time the more you play with dice.

As you finish rolling the die, have your child count the dots on the die, naming each number as you count. (1-2-3 . . .). This reminds your child which number word (one, two, three) goes with each set.

Gross Motor Skills

Any time you can turn a physical activity into a mathematical learning activity you are connecting the right brain to the left brain and developing stronger neural pathways for future learning. Gross motor skills and large muscle movement are actually essential to brain development.

Children need to achieve a certain level of mastery with gross motor skills before they will really be ready to start tackling fine motor skills. So, stacking the cups is not a waste of time, it’s an important developmental challenge perfect for your preschool child.

Variations on the Preschool Dice Game

First, you can vary the materials based on what you have at home. If you have piles of blocks or Duplo but you don’t have paper cups, don’t stress. Use whatever you have to play this game.

Second, you can vary the game play. lf your child struggles with counting or doesn’t easily recognize sets of one to six, play with one die. If your child is ready for larger sets or very basic addition, use two dice.

Third, you can add flashcards. If you have a set of number/word flashcards for zero to six (or zero to twelve for two dice), you can have your child show you which card represents the set of dots rolled. This reinforces the number word, the number symbol, and the set concept in a visual way. If you don’t have flashcards, it will take you two minutes to make a set using index cards. Write the number and the number word for each number 0–12 on a separate card.

How the Preschool Dice Game Works

Each time your child rolls the die, he or she will need to figure out how many. How many dots are showing on the dice? Whether he or she needs to count the dots or is able to recognize the set, the answer is the same. Once your child knows the number rolled, you’ve determined how many cups need to be added to the Dice Tower. Keep rolling and building until you run out of cups or the tower falls. If you have younger siblings in the house that will happen sooner rather than later because knocking over towers is a favorite game!

Materials for the Preschool Dice Game

To play the game, you will need dice, paper or plastic cups, and open floor space or table to build on. It’s that easy. I really love the big dice like the ones shown in our picture because they are easy for preschool children to throw, easy to read, and easy to find when they roll under furniture! However, any dice you have on hand from other games will work.

• dice
• plastic or paper cups
• a hard surface
• Variations: blocks or Duplo

Instructions for the Preschool Dice Game

1. Place the plastic/paper cups in a pile in front of your learner and show them how to build a tower by balancing the cups on top of each other.
2. Put the cups back into a pile.
3. Have your learner roll the die.
4. Ask your learner to identify the number they have rolled and then use that many cups to start their tower.
5. Have your learner roll the die again.
6. Ask your learner to identify the number they have rolled and add that many cups to their tower.
7. Repeat steps 5-7 until the tower falls down or you run out of cups!