Games and Graphs

I know I've said before that playing games is a terrific way to build education into your child's day. We play lots of silly games with dice, including "Roll Two, Add and Compare," "Order the Dice," and today's game, "Graphing Dice." In "Roll Two," each player simply rolls two dice, each adds their dice, and the winner is the one with the highest number. Obviously, you could adapt this in many ways, including playing a cooperative version where each player rolls two dice, adds them, and then all players add the dice together for a grand total. All players win when the grand total is higher than the target you set.

"Graphing Dice" starts with a handful of dice. The child throws the dice, with help as needed. The more dice, the more fun! We only used regular (1-6) dice today; I have dice with up to 20 sides, which would increase the challenge of the activity.

The child then orders the dice (which is basically the game of "Order the Dice"), as shown on left. We are working on ordering the dice from least to greatest, but it would also work greatest to least. Once the ordering is done, it's time to make the graph!

Because this is Joy's first experience with formal graphing (Besides Sid the Science Kid), I drew the x-axis and y-axis and labeled the graph. As an introduction, though, I used the correct terminology as I created the graph: "Joy, I'm drawing the x-axis for our graph. That's the side-to-side line! The up-and-down one is called the y-axis. I made a title for our graph; it's called 'Dice Throw.' And I'm labeling the x-axis with the numbers on the dice." Enabling your child(ren) to understand the academic vocabulary is very important! Use those words you know; your kids will learn them, and they'll learn when they need to ask for an explanation.

Joy watched me count and fill in the bars for the first two numbers. Then she counted and filled in the others. Note that I put the pips in the same shape as on a die as a clue for Joy! I want kids' experiences to be successful! I would've filled in more bars if needed; it's all guided by what the child needs.

We actually played this twice because Joy was so interested in it. This was during our sit-down school time. I drew the second graph, but she ordered, counted, and graphed the dice. I used more vocabulary the second time, mentioning that the mode was three since she had the most threes. I also identified the maximum (6) and the minimum (1). Later, Joy will tell her dad about the activity, and I'll encourage her to use the words, if possible. If she can't, I will! More exposures = More understanding!

The other extension I did today since Joy was so positive about this activity was comparing the two graphs. This is a pretty advanced skill, but Joy did a great job! She noticed that the number of 5s stayed the same, and that the mode was 2 in the first throw and 3 in the second throw. And yes, she used the word mode! It was a lot of fun, and so easy to set up and do. Get those dice out... and THROW!!!