Game Spinner Generator

A spinner, plus the arrow to go with it

The page prints a circle divided into three to eight equal wedges, and an arrow template beside it. Cut both out, push a split pin through the arrow and the centre of the circle, and it spins.

Three display modes: your own labels in each wedge, plain numbers, or coloured wedges with no text at all.

Choosing the mode

Labels is the general-purpose one. Chores, activities, names, choices, question types.

Numbers makes it a random number generator, which is genuinely useful when you want a spread other than a die's — a six-wedge spinner and a die both give 1 to 6, but an eight-wedge spinner gives 1 to 8, which no ordinary die does.

Colours works for the youngest children, for a game where the wedges mean something the players already know, and for anyone who cannot yet read the labels.

Equal wedges, and why that matters

Every wedge is the same size, so every outcome is equally likely. On a five-wedge spinner each has a one-in-five chance, which is 20%.

That makes it a better probability teaching tool than dice, because the chances are visible. A child can see that the wedge is a fifth of the circle in a way they cannot see that a die face is a sixth of a cube, and predicted versus actual results over forty spins is a whole lesson with no equipment beyond this sheet and a pin.

If you want unequal probabilities, put the same label on two wedges. Two "green" wedges out of six is a third, and asking a class to work out why is a better question than any worksheet on fractions of a circle.

Making it spin properly

Print on card, or glue the sheet to card first. A paper arrow bends rather than spins.

A split pin through the centre works best. If you have not got one, a pencil point held through a pinhole works, and so does a paperclip straightened into a hook. The arrow needs to turn freely without flopping, which means the hole should be slightly larger than the pin and the arrow should be stiff.

If the arrow keeps stopping in the same place, the pin is too tight or the card is bent. Loosen it and flatten the circle.

Adjustments

Wedge count from 3 to 8, the mode, and your labels. A4 or US Letter.

Labels are read while spinning, so keep them to a word or two — eight wedges leaves each one narrow, and a long phrase will be set small.

Print at 100% on A4 or US Letter.