Five by Five Dice

I am not sure why this never occurred to me before, but the other night I got it into my head to do a search for "dice numbered 0 to 5." I was pleasantly surprised to find that there are a handful of vendors who carry such dice ... Five by Five Dice!

It seems that in teaching math to young students, educators incorporate math games using dice numbered 0-5, and so these dice are often available where teaching aides are sold. I decided to buy from a few different places to compare the results.

The first place I shopped was, http://great-extensions.com/ . This site was possibly the most convenient. I simply scrolled down through the dice page until I found the dice I wanted and clicked, add to cart. This took me directly to a paypal checkout and I bought my dice. The dice were shipped standard mail in a thick envelope and arrived promptly.

 These dice have rounded edges and numbers in a sanserif font. They are $1 each. I ordered 6 of them paying $6.00 for the dice, .90 shipping and .51 tax for a total of 7.41 or 1.24 each.

Next I tried, http://catalog.mathlearningcenter.org/ . The math learning center was not quite as convenient. I entered the order online and then had to call with my phone to give a live person my credit card information. These dice came 5 to a pack with a flat $5.00 shipping. (Shipped UPS) 

Five dice cost $3 here but shipping charges are rough on a small order. I ended up ordering 2 packs of five bringing my price to $1.10 per die with shipping, which was cheaper than the other place, but only because I ordered 10. These dice have squared edges and a serif font.

Finally, I was going to order from http://www.boxcarsandoneeyedjacks.com/ . They pictured dice with different colored numbers. These were .75 each and I placed an order for 10 of them. But then my order was rejected stating that I had not met the company's minimum shipping requirement. "Phewey!" I ended up not ordering the cool dice with the colored numbers.

Which is just as well. I have decided that I don't like the rounded edges or the sanserif font as much as I like the squared edge and the serif font. So, the dice from Math Learning Center end up being my favorite. I bought enough dice to give a pair to everyone in my Tuesday night Five by Five game which will make a nice surprise for tonight.

Regards,

Jeff