Math Dice Powers Reviews

Customer Ratings:

First off, truth be told, I received this to try out from Thinkfun. If I could have paid less than ten dollars for it, I would have paid for just the same.

I am a 5th grade teacher who uses all of the Thinkfun products often in the classroom. As a matter of fact, we own about 90% of their catalogue and are extremely happy with it.

So, I am going to write this review based off of how you would use it as a teacher.

If you are a parent, and would like to help your child learn exponents, this is worth the investment. There is something about children being tactile with their numbers that can help bridge the gap between abstract numerical thought and kids "getting it".

In my 5th grade class, I have about half my kids that can use it and get it. I would level this game off at 5th grade or higher, unless you have some strong math students in 3rd or 4th grade and would like to help bolster your math program younger.

I use this game thusly: We have Math Dice tournament and play weekly. The problem is, it is only good for 18 kids and I have 23 kids! So, what I do is, I play Math Dice powers with a group of 5, while the kids run the tourney on their own. This way, I can introduce, observes, and assess their knowledge on powers, beforte moving on, and my other kids are happily occupied!

Why did I only give this 3 stars in the fun category? Well, that's from my kids, and kids can be lazy! When they get 11 to the third power, they aren't too happy! (You could allow calculators if you wish) Plus, at my 5th grade level, there was some frustration that sat in. But, this frustration probably would have been present teaching exponents in a different manner.

I also only give it four stars, which is really good and recommended by the way, because I would have liked the great minds at ThinkFun to come up with some kind of twist or addendum to this version of Math Dice, besides just changing one die to read 2 or 3. That would have made the price a bit more palpable.

Overall, recommended!

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Playing Math Dice Powers allows everyone to work on their ability to differentiate exponents from other mathematical operations. The rules call for mental math when playing, but allowing those who are math-challenged to have paper and pencil (and more than 15 seconds) will get more players to think and learn. I recommend this game for those who want something other than word games.

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My older students (7th & 8th) are enjoying learning exponents and playing with order of operations to win this game. Their biggest challenge is trying to get the "key" number.

Honest reviews on Math Dice Powers

I got a review copy from Thinkfun. Every year, teaching exponents is kind of ...um...less than scintillating. I mean, we can notice patterns, mostly with tens, and that is ok, but there's only so much you can do to jazz it up. This year we played an exponent game with dice and it was decent, but didn't require much thinking. This game is fun and requires almost limitless thinking with exponents.

You start with two color coded 12 sided dice and everyone knows you can't go wrong with dodecahedrons. One color is the base number and one is the exponent. The game we made stopped there (and only used 6 sided dice). Thinkfun added some spice by having players roll 3 6-sided dice and then using those numbers in any math sentence to get close to the result of the dodecahedron roll. That might seem easy, but here's where things get really "dicey" (sorry!). You can use parentheses AND exponents in your equation. That's right. Now...you might know exponents enough to handle the very first dodecahedron roll and computation, but do you know exponents well enough to manipulate them in various ways testing out results to come close to a target number? The game is kind of naturally differentiating in that some kids will struggle to come up with one solution while others will be working on coming up with many solutions to find the best one.

The game also works with order of operations, and that's handy, too. Better teach that before you start to play.

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I received this game from Thinkfun to review. I have been a teacher for 18 years. I have always incorporated "brain games" in my classroom. I think it is very important for children to learn "how to think", not just "what to think". Thinkfun games have always been a big part of my classroom.

Math Dice Powers~ I am glad they came out with an exponent edition.

All children love tactile educational item. Above all, I think all children like to roll dice!

Basic idea behind Math Dice Powers is that you have a base number die and exponent die. You roll the pair and do the math in your mind (or on paper). This answer is your target number. Then you roll the three additional dice. You have to manipulate the three numbers into some math equation that will get as close as you can to the target number. I love the fact that the students have to figure out which way to manipulate the other three numbers to get to the target number. They can add, subtract, multiply, divide, and even use one die as an exponent to reach the target. You can see the wheels turning.

We own all 3 sets of Math Dice. I enjoyed Math Dice Jr because of the large and colorful size of the dice. We have used Math Dice Jr with our children to teach everything from counting to subtraction. Then, we advanced to Math Dice. There multiplication and division come into play.

As we add Math Dice Powers, we advance into exponents.

Each set has it's own special place. They are all fun to play with. I find Math Dice Powers to be challenging on a new level. You can do all of the math with just paper and pencil. However, when you make math a game...suddenly, you find the children learning and (best of all) applying what they learned without any complaints. Make it a game, and you make it fun!