Home / Hands-on activities / Chance Spinners

Math activity

Chance Spinners

Make a spinner with colors and spin it to see where it lands! Some colors have bigger spaces, so they come up more often. Discover which colors are easiest to spin.

Hands OnAbout 20 minutesScreen-freeParent help expected

Materials and setup

How this changes by age

Pre-K (ages 3–4)

Make a spinner with colors and spin it to see where it lands! Some colors have bigger spaces, so they come up more often. Discover which colors are easiest to spin.

Difficulty 1 of 3

Steps

  1. Make a spinner: draw a circle on cardboard, divide into 3 sections, color them red, blue, and yellow.
  2. Poke a pencil through the center and add a paper clip as the spinner arrow.
  3. Spin 10 times. After each spin, put a sticker on a chart for the color it landed on.
  4. Count the stickers. Which color came up most? Which came up least?
  5. Make another spinner where one color takes up half the circle. Predict which color will come up most, then test it!
  6. Tell a grown-up one thing that surprised you.

Learning objectives

  • Build and use a simple spinner
  • Record outcomes of spinner experiments
  • Observe that larger sections are more likely to be landed on

Kindergarten (ages 5–6)

Build spinners with different-sized sections and predict which color will come up most. Test predictions by spinning many times and recording results.

Difficulty 2 of 3

Steps

  1. Make Spinner A: equal sections of 4 colors (each is 1/4).
  2. Make Spinner B: one color takes half, two colors split the other half.
  3. Predict: 'On Spinner B, which color will come up most often? Why?'
  4. Spin each spinner 20 times. Record results in a tally chart.
  5. Compare results to predictions. Was the big section winner? Did results match what you expected?
  6. Tell a grown-up one thing that surprised you.

Learning objectives

  • Build spinners with equal and unequal sections
  • Predict outcomes based on section size
  • Compare predictions to experimental results

Early elementary (ages 6–8)

Design spinners to match given probabilities. Calculate theoretical probability from spinner sections and compare to experimental results over many spins.

Difficulty 2 of 3

Steps

  1. Design a spinner where P(red) = 1/2, P(blue) = 1/4, and P(green) = 1/4. Draw sections to match.
  2. Calculate theoretical probability for each color as a fraction, decimal, and percentage.
  3. Spin 50 times. Calculate experimental probability for each color.
  4. Compare theoretical vs. experimental: make a table showing both side by side.
  5. Challenge: design a spinner where landing on purple is 3 times as likely as landing on orange. What fraction is each?
  6. Combine spinners with dice: spin to get a color, roll to get a number. How many combined outcomes are there?
  7. In one sentence, tell a parent or sibling what surprised you today.

Learning objectives

  • Design spinners that match specific probability requirements
  • Calculate and compare theoretical and experimental probabilities
  • Understand that more trials bring experimental probability closer to theoretical

Upper elementary (ages 8–10)

Design complex probability experiments with spinners. Calculate compound probabilities, create tree diagrams for combined events, and analyze expected value.

Difficulty 3 of 3

Steps

  1. Build 3 spinners with different probability distributions. Label each section with its probability.
  2. Calculate compound probability: if you spin two spinners, what is P(red on spinner 1 AND blue on spinner 2)?
  3. Create a tree diagram showing ALL possible outcomes for spinning two spinners. Calculate each branch's probability.
  4. Expected value: if a spinner game pays $3 for red (P=1/4), $1 for blue (P=1/2), and $0 for green (P=1/4), what is the expected payout per spin?
  5. Design a fair carnival game using a spinner: the owner should profit, but players should sometimes win. Calculate the expected profit per spin.
  6. Write an analysis: is your game fair? How much would the carnival expect to earn after 100 players?
  7. In one sentence, tell a parent or sibling what surprised you today.

Learning objectives

  • Calculate compound probabilities using multiplication and tree diagrams
  • Determine expected value from probability distributions
  • Design probability-based games and analyze fairness mathematically

Safety and evidence note

Read the full activity before beginning. An adult should supervise tools, heat, food, outdoor work, movement, and experiments as appropriate. Completion records that the activity was done; the child’s explanation, work sample, photo, or demonstration is stronger evidence of learning than a completion check alone.

Related math activities

Addition and Subtraction Stories

Use toy animals to tell math stories. '3 ducks are swimming. 2 more come. How many now?' Act it out and count together.

Algebra Adventures: Patterns and Variables

Build a pattern with red and blue blocks — red, blue, red, blue! What comes next? Find patterns on shirts, tiles, and bricks too.

Angle Explorers

Explore turns and corners! Open a book wide or just a little bit. Discover that doors, scissors, and your arms all make angles when they open and close.

Animal Counting Corral

Round up toy animals into corrals (bowls or boxes) and count how many are in each group. Practice counting up to 10 with one-to-one correspondence.

Browse all 575 activities · Explore course syllabi