Cover It

3.5 based on 30 ratings
Updated on Aug 30, 2013

Drilling your child on addition facts gets old fast. Spice things up with a competitive math game. It only takes a few minutes to make your own game board and the goal is to find the most sums first. There's plenty of repetition, but because there's dice and a game board, this game is much more fun than flashcards.

What You Need:

  • Paper
  • Pen or fine-tip marker
  • 3 dice
  • 26 markers – you need thirteen for each player.  Use small blocks, coins, or beans.

What You Do:

  1. Use the paper and pen to make your own game board. Draw a row of 13 boxes (see photo). Number these boxes 1 through 13.
  2. Repeat step 1, drawing a second row of 13 boxes parallel to the first. Number these boxes 1 to 13.  Each player will need a row of 13 game spaces to cover.
  3. Decide which player goes first.
  4. The first player should now decide how many dice to roll. Because he will add up the total on the dice, it's important for him to understand that he can only roll a 1 by using 1 die. Players will also need all three dice to roll a thirteen.
  5. The first player should decide whether he wants to roll 1, 2 or 3 dice, and then the numbers and cover the corresponding space on the game board. He continues to take turns until the total is a space that is already covered, the total is more than 13, or he makes a mistake. He can admit that he made a mistake, or one of the other players can call him on it.
  6. After the first player's turn is over, the second player should decide if he wants to roll either one, two, or three dice and play proceeds as it did with the first player.
  7. The two players take turns until one of them covers all 13 spaces.