Your child might cringe at a worksheet that gave them thirteen problems that look like 5+5+5+6+4. Or maybe they realize that 6 and 4 also make 10, which further shortens the time they spend counting. Maybe they add 5 and 5 to get 10, then add a third 5 to get 15, and then start counting by ones. They're going to look for ways to make this problem easier. Do they really want to sit there and add those up by counting every pip one-by-one? No way. Imagine your first grader rolls three 5s, a 6 and a 4. Older kids get to practice addition in ways that encourage them to find shortcuts and patterns. Even a three year old can tell if they've rolled a yahtzee! Then they can match them on subsequent rolls. Young kids get a chance to practice this skill over and over with dice, counting the pips until they internalize the way that six, five, four, and so on are represented on dice. Do you have to count them one by one, or do you just know it's five? That's what it feels like to subitize. Think of the way that five dots are arranged on a die. Subitizing is the process of seeing a quantity without having to count by ones. Yahtzee is a great game because it has accessible math for young kids, older kids, and adults.įor pre-school children, the dice provide a great opportunity to work on matching, counting, and subitizing. It's fine! They learned plenty before they started throwing couch cushions at me during round seven) Where's the Math?

(By the way, I have never completed a full thirteen-round game with any of my kids. If you already scored a four-of-a-kind and roll another four-of-a-kind, you have to find a different box to fill.Īt the end of the game, players add up their points. The only complication is that once a box has been filled, you can't fill it again. She could add up all the 5s and get 20 points, or she could add up the 1 and get 1 point.Įach player has thirteen rounds, during which they are trying to fill in their thirteen boxes on the score card. Did she roll four 5s and a 1? Then she can claim a four-of-a-kind for 21 points (the sum of all five dice).

The best roll is a yahtzee, where all five dice have the same value.Īfter three total rolls, the player then determines which scores she qualifies for with her roll. Each player rolls five dice and then chooses whether to re-roll any of those dice.

Yahtzee card game rules