Dice Shaking in the Cup

Children become dice inside a giant shaker cup: they shake, roll across the floor and stop showing a number with their fingers. The whole body warms up and the board-game theme begins.

How to play

1. In a circle, the teacher shows how dice shake in a cup: shake hands, shoulders, belly and legs, slow at first and then fast (1 min).
2. Everyone steps into the pretend cup (the middle of the circle) and shakes standing up without touching anyone while the teacher says “shake, shake, shake” (1 min).
3. When the teacher calls “Roll!”, children roll or crawl out to an open spot and freeze like dice that just landed (1 min).
4. The teacher calls a number from 1 to 3 and each die shows it with fingers and jumps that many times (1 min).
5. Repeat shaking, rolling and stopping; now show the number with another body part too: feet, elbows or knees (1 min).
6. Last roll in slow motion: shake very slowly, roll gently and end up sitting and breathing (1 min).

Rules

• Dice shake in their own spot, no pushing.
• When a die lands, it stays still as a rock.
• We only roll into empty spaces.

Variations

Adaptations

• Limited mobility: in a wheelchair, shake arms and trunk, and the roll is a turn of the chair with help or a short move.
• Autism: give a heads-up with a “now we roll” card and let the child shake inside their own hoop if the group feels too close.
• Hearing loss: pair “Roll!” with a big throwing gesture.

Learning goals

• Warm up the body with shaking and rolling.
• Switch from movement to stillness on a signal.
• Link small numbers to a matching number of jumps.

Teacher tip

Check that the floor is clean enough to roll on. The usual mistake is everyone rolling toward the same spot: point to open space before each roll.

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