Travel Dice Games for Kids
Dice is great for camping and other types of travel, because they're tiny, heavy, and washable. They don't take up very much room in your luggage and can often be stored in an altoid tin. Most dice have some weight to them, so you don't have to worry about them blowing away if you're playing outside. Lastly, plastic dice are washable, in case they end up in the mud or get grimy from being played by lots of people. As we approach primary travel season, I've rounded up some awesome dice games from around the web.
Dice is good for math practice, too. As a homeschool family, we're always looking for ways to add fun into our school time. Many of the games in this post promote number recognition, addition, probability, multiplication, and other math concepts. I've also simplified many of the games to make them easier for kids to understand and win.
Pig or Jeopardy or Greed
GOAL- Be the First to 100
DICE- 1 total or 1 per person
ADDITIONAL- 100 chart for each player
RULES- What We Do All Day
The game is played with each person taking turns. The goal is to get as high a score as possible on each round without rolling a one. If/when you roll a one, you lose your entire amount for that round. You can quit whenever you want after the first roll, adding the total to your game score. First to 100 wins!
Although this game can be worked with simple pencil and paper addition, I've also included some 100 box score sheets that are small enough to fit in the Altoid tin. Print off as many as you want and laminate them to use over and over. Be sure to pack some white board markers, too.
> > > Click Here to Download the Scoreboards < ,< <
Going to Town
GOAL- To have the Highest Score
DICE- 3 total
RULES- Grandparents Plus
This game is a very sneaky way to practice adding 3 numbers. Each player takes turns rolling the dice three times. On the first roll, the player rolls all three dice. The highest number from that set gets put aside and the other two dice get rolled again. The highest of those two numbers gets put with the first dice, then the last dice is rolled one last time. The player then adds the three dice number together. The game can either be played one round at a time, where the winner is the player with the highest score or it can be played to a certain number like 50 or 100.
Number Dash
GOAL- Fill up your Board First
DICE- 1 per person
ADDITIONAL- printable board from the blog and counters
RULES- Glue Sticks Blog
Print off the game boards from the Glue Sticks blog, one for each player. Everyone rolls their dice at the same time and tries to fill up their board with the counters (rocks, snacks, mini erasers, etc). The winner is the one who covers their entire board first.
Dice Wars
GOAL- To have the Biggest Number or Sum or Product
DICE- 1-3 total
ADDITIONAL- counters (rocks, candy, mini erasers)
RULES- The Many Little Joys
Decide ahead of time if you'll be playing for number recognition, addition practice, or multiplication drills. If you're doing number recognition, use one dice for the game. For addition and multiplication, use two or three dice. This game works best with two players, who each have a pile of 5-10 counters in front of them.
Each player takes turns rolling the dice, and either records their one dice number, their addition quantity, or their multiplication product. The winner of the round is the person with the highest number, sum, or product. The loser must give one counter to the other player. When one person has all the counters, they are the winner.
Pirates
GOAL- To roll a 6 (ship), 5 (captain), and crew (4)
DICE- 5 total
ADDITIONAL- nothing
RULES- Eighty Games
The rules on the Eighty Games blog are much more complicated than the ones I'm going to state now. Each player will take turns rolling the five dice three times each round. The goal is to roll a six (ship), a five (captain), and a 4 (crew). If you fail to roll all three of those on your turn, you take a zero for the round. If you do get the ship, captain, and crew, then the last two dice values are your pirate booty. Your total for the round is your amount of booty. Play each round as it's own game or work toward a certain total.
Roll A Picture
GOAL- To Draw a Picture
DICE- 1 total
ADDITIONAL- paper for drawing
RULES- various blogs online
Decide what you want to draw and what side of the dice each part will be. For example, if you were going to build a face, then you might say that the 6 is the lips, the 5 is ears, the 4 is eyes, the 3 is nose, the 2 is hair, and the 1 is an accessory. Each player rolls the dice one time per round and draws what they roll. If you roll a number that you've already done, then you pass your turn. The winner is the first person with a complete drawing. Make it seasonal with a holiday theme or relate it to your vacation destination.
I like to cover the inside of my Altoid tin with peel and stick felt, which gives it a professional look and helps muffle the dice sound. Unfortunately, the tin isn't deep enough to be a dice cup, so a different tin might be a better option depending on your needs.
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Update- June 13, 2019
My family has been enjoying playing the dice games from this blog post. We've even added Left, Right, Center to our stash. Dice games travel so well that it's easy to bring any of them with us on our summer adventures. I went looking for more dice games and found SO many more! Here are a few options- click the colored text to see the product page.
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Thank you! I really needed some math games to spice up homeschool and this is just great. And, now I have terrific, easy games to play with the kids on trips.
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