Creating Addition Sentences Using Dice

We offered the children blank paper, dice, and pencils today and were interested to see what would happen when they visited this centre.

The children naturally began to toss the dice and write addition sentences!  We offered a large hundreds chart so they could refer to a model of a larger number that they were unfamiliar with writing.

Many children eagerly wrote their addition sentences, recognizing the number represented on the face of the die without counting (this is called subitizing)!

Some children even challenged themselves to add three and four digits by throwing three and four dice at a time! Wow!

It was so exciting and rewarding for us to observe that the children were able to add the numerals in their heads without counting the dice. Some children throwing four dice were able to add two and two together in order to represent four dice with a two digit equation. Amazing!