Our 3-Year-Olds Are Obsessed With This GiganticDungeons & DragonsDie
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This summer, both my 3.5-year-old son and Strategist senior editor Winnie Yang’s 3-year-old son have become obsessed with a giant foamDungeons & Dragonsdie. Most D20 dice, which are commonly used to playD&Dor other tabletoprole-playing games, are the size of a large marble and made of hard resin. But this upscaled novelty version is almost the size of a cantaloupe and made of soft foam that doesn’t hurt if it hits you in the head. It’s not officially a kids’ toy, but it’s been a huge hit with both of our preschool-age kids, who love counting and numbers in general.
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The die came into our lives a couple months ago when my husband, a teacher, found it at the school where he teaches. He’d been using it as a math-learning tool with his first-grade students, and the night he brought it home, our son and I used it to play catch on the couch while my husband made dinner. Our son is working on recognizing numbers between 10 and 20, and each time one of us caught the foam die, we’d say the number on the top out loud, then throw it back. For some reason, this simple game made him giggle uncontrollably, and he started knowingly yelling out “two-teen” and “one-teen” instead of 12 and 11, which made me laugh too.
The next day, I told Yang and the rest of our fellow Strategist parents about my discovery; Yang had just asked the group to recommend a nice-looking clock for her 3-year-old son, who is obsessed with the showNumberblocksand loves regular-size dice. Yang bought a blue one that afternoon — the die is available in six colors for about$20 on Amazon— and when it arrived, she told me, “This kid is the happiest 3-year-old you’ve ever seen.”
Since then, my son has brought it in the bath (it floats), to the park, and even on vacation as a substitute for a small playground ball or soccer ball. It’s great for practicing throwing and catching because of how soft and squishy it is. And when my son starts getting wacky before bedtime, playing with it and shouting out the numbers is an excellent way to use up the kind of energy that can easily turn into a tantrum. Just this week, he started throwing it up in the air and drop-kicking it as hard and far as he can.
As with all great open-ended toys, it has unlimited possible uses. I’ve been thinking of outdoor challenges to try with my son and his older cousins, like throwing the die and doing as many jumping jacks or bunny hops as the number you land on. Or using it to play a drawing game where you roll it to see how many eyes, arms, horns, and feet to draw on your monster portrait. The die would also make an excellent birthday or holiday gift for older kids who are just getting intoD&Dor other RPGs.
More open-ended toys we like
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Magnetic tiles for building everything from castles to fire stations.
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Miniature stepping stones that can also be used as bowls for dolls or water scoopers.
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