Activity And Project

Let's Play Bingo!

Grades
K - 2
Activity Time
45 minutes to one hour to create the board, plus time to play
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Activity Description

Playing games is a great way to spend time with family and friends!  Work together to create a bingo board that can be played while walking around town, going to the zoo or a museum, or traveling on a vacation.  Think of words related to your activity and make a game board to go with it!

Why This Is Helpful

Language play and writing can be fun-in fact, they should be fun. Have fun with language and share language play with your child and they will learn as you play.  By creating Bingo boards in preparation for a field trip, outing, or event, children can think about what they will see and do.  This anticipation will help them ready themselves for their adventure!

This activity was modified from the ReadWriteThink lesson plan "Playing Name Bingo with Chrysanthemum."

What You Need

  • Art supplies to make a Bingo Board (paper, markers, pens) or blank Bingo Board
  • Items to mark off spaces on Bingo Board like beans, tokens, chips, markers, or pens

Here's What To Do

  1. Ask the family and friends who are going to play if any of them have ever played Bingo before. Have those who are familiar with the game help you explain the rules.
  2. Pass out blank Bingo cards or create your own using paper and general art supplies.
  3. The children and adults who will be playing should brainstorm a list of words associated with an activity you will be doing together or a place you might be visiting.  See the example list about a trip to the library.
  4. Using the list of brainstormed words, family and friends should each make a Bingo board.  You can label the Bingo card with words, pictures that are drawn, or images cut out of magazines or catalogs. Remind the players that they cannot use the same word or picture twice on their cards. They should not put anything in the center square - this is the free space.
  5. Take the Bingo board with you as you go to the activity.
  6. When you find an item on your Bingo board, mark it off using tokens, beans or chips, or if you are on the go, mark off the square with a pen or marker.
  7. The first person to get Bingo is the winner!
  8. Continue to play until someone says, "Bingo!"
  9. When you finish one game, have players switch cards with others and play again.

More Ideas To Try

  • Read more about Bingo Instructions.
  • Play Bingo with math facts.  The board can contain equations (4+3) and the caller says the answer (7).  Or the board can have numbers and the caller names an equation.
  • Play with words! The Bingo board can have rhyming words, synonyms, or antonyms.
  • If your family speaks more than one language, make a bilingual Bingo board.
  • If you are planning a trip, your words can be states and capitols or countries and capitols.

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