Dice and Spinners


There are a number of virtual dice, coin, and spinners available on the web. A quick google search can easily reveal them. The ones listed below lend themselves to mathematical teaching or are adjustable by the teacher or student.

Web Link: Adjustable Spinner

Flexibility: Provides an adjustable spinner for 1 to 12 sections. You can decide how many times the spinner is to spin (up to 1000) and the applet will track each spin result on a chart. Although you can only do 1000 spins each time, you can spin multiple times to keep adding to the chart. Each colour on the spinner will be given an actual and a theoretical percentage. You can skip to the end and do not have to watch each spin. You can also see a pie chart of the results at the end.

User Interfaces: Mouse and touchpad friendly. Intermittently touch-friendly, sometimes the size of the sections do not want to change with touch.

Browsers: Works with all major browsers.

Web Link: Interactivate: Adjustable Spinner

Flexibility: This virtual manipulative allows you to set the spinner from 1 to 12 sections. It also allows the user to set what theoretical probability each colour should have. The user can set it to run from 1 to 100,000 times. However, future spins tally on the last spins, so more than 100,00 spins are possible. The applet tracks what the actual number of stops on each colour were and provides it in a chart to the right of the applet. After spinning, the user is able to see the experimental graph as opposed to the theoretical graph (the spinner).

User Interfaces: Mouse and touchpad friendly. Works with touch, but the touchpoints are small and hard to adequately touch.

Browsers: Works with all major browsers.

Web Link: Dice

Flexibility: This applet allows you to drag out 6 dice initially. After a die is dragged out its colour can be changed and the die can be cloned. There is an option to roll one die at a time or to roll all dice. There are 6 colours that the die can be set to. A toggle allows the die to be swapped between dots and numbers.

User Interfaces: Mouse and touchpad friendly. Touch-friendly.

Browsers: Works with all major browsers.

Web Link: Dice Tool

Flexibility: This applet allows you to drag out as many dice as you want. Each dice can either use dots or numbers 1 to 6. There is an option to colour dice red, green, or white which is great for probability. All dice are rolled at one time, there is no option to roll only one die.

User Interfaces: Mouse and touchpad friendly. Touch-friendly.

Browsers: Works with all major browsers.

Web Link: Polypad – Virtual Manipulatives – Mathigon

Flexibility: You are able to bring in either coins or a 6-sided die to the canvas in polypad. Selecting one of the die or coins will allow you the option to roll the one selected. You can select all of the die or only the number you want to roll. The section says that more options for probability will be coming in the future.

User Interfaces: Mouse and touchpad friendly. Touch-friendly.

Browsers: Works with all major browsers.

Web Link: Dice | Toy Theater Educational Games

Flexibility: Simple dice thrower. Can throw between 1 and 5 die. There are options for 4, 5, 8, 10, 12, and 20 sided die. You can only throw one type of die at a time.

User Interfaces: Mouse and touchpad friendly. Touch-friendly.

Browsers: Works with all major browsers.

Web Link: Coin Flip | Toy Theater Educational Games

Flexibility: Simple coin flipper. Can pull out as many coins as can fit on the canvas (~30). Clicking flip with flip all of them at once.

User Interfaces: Mouse and touchpad friendly. Touch-Friendly.

Browsers: Works with all major browsers.

Web Link: Spin tool

Flexibility: Simple spin tool. Can select between 1 to 10 sections. Able to turn on or off colours and numbers in the sections. Can only spin once

User Interfaces: Mouse and touchpad friendly. Touch-friendly.

Browsers: Works with all major browsers.

Web Link: Probability Spinner | Visnos

Flexibility: This spinner is originally meant for creating algebraic equations from three digits. The students can calculate a given equation from the 2 to 4 numbers given, substitute, or find the rule that is being made. However, it also doubles as a spinner. You can set 1 to 4 spinners and set how many sides each has from 2 to 12. All 4 spin at once. There is a sound feature for those students who might need the feedback.

User Interfaces: Mouse and touchpad friendly. Touch-friendly.

Browsers: Works with all major browsers.

Google Spinners, Dice, and Coins (Google)

Web Link: Google Spinner, Google Coin, Google Die

Flexibility: Doing a google search for "10 value spinner" "flip a coin" or "roll a dice" will give a spinner, coin flipper, and a die roller. The spinner can be any number from 10 to 20. There will only be a single coin to flip. You can roll a single die, either 4, 6, 7, 10, 12, or 20 sided die.

User Interfaces: Mouse and touchpad friendly. Touch-friendly.

Browsers: Works with all major browsers.

Web Link: Spinner |Toy Theater Educational Games

Flexibility: A simple spinner that can either be colour-based or number-based. You can select between 3 and 9 equal segments to split the circle into. Only one spin per click

User Interfaces: Mouse and touchpad friendly. Touch-friendly.

Browsers: Works with all major browsers.