Going back many years, bingo has always played a large role in raising funds for charitable causes. Actually before bingo became a huge commercial success it was chiefly played by communities to raise funds for their local parishes and churches. In fact more funds for church steeples and repaired church roofs have been raised through funding from bingo games than anything else.
With the growing trend for online bingo and playing in land based clubs, although some communities still do use bingo for raising funds, bingo has taken a different turn. Instead of local communities raising funds through bingo, clubs and online bingo sites are now making a huge effort to raise funds for charitable causes and they stage “charity games” on a regular basis.
Bingo for charity is played in exactly the same manner as a normal game of bingo would be played. The difference is that a portion of the proceeds of a particular game or day is dished out to a charity of choice. In this instance players are still afforded with the opportunity to win, as well as have the knowledge that the wagers they contribute towards the game will be well spent, in that a charity will benefit from them.
Online bingo operators, and there are a long list of them, make every effort to raise funds for charity and there is one site that is completely dedicated to charity. This site is very aptly names “Big Heart Bingo”. However there are many others that host charity days and fund raising drives. Mirror Bingo hosts a Charity day once a month. The modest player who plays for as little as ยค10 per week is able to raise many hundreds of pounds to help support charitable causes.
If you are keen to play bingo in aid of charitable causes, you just have to take a look at various bingo sites and see what turns you on. Of course by consulting an online bingo portal, you will also find out this kind of information, and this will preclude the need to trawl a whole lot of bingo sites until you find what you are looking for.
For interests’ sake, Big Heart Bingo provides charitable donations to three charitable sectors, these are 28% of the popular vote goes to animal charity, 19% of the popular vote to cancer research and 18% to children’s charities, 50% of Big Heart Bingo’s revenues goes to these and other individual charitable campaigns.
By: Robert Hutchison
Phonics is a very popular method of teaching children to read and write. It is based on the idea that particular letters or groups of letters can be associated with a particular sound. Teachers use a variety of teaching techniques, and classroom activities to teach children these phonics rules – typical classroom activities include flash cards, reading and writing games, and group activities. One particular classroom activity that is especially suitable for teaching phonics is phonics bingo.
All versions of phonics bingo are based on the same general principle: Each child is given a bingo card or worksheet, the teacher or parent reads out words or clues as bingo calls, and the children mark off squares from their cards which correspond to the bingo calls. The winner is the first child to achieve a winning pattern (for example, a straight line of five marked off squares) on their bingo card and call out “bingo!”.
The most basic phonics bingo game is “phonemic awareness bingo”. In this case, the children’s bingo cards are printed with a random selection letters. The teacher calls out words, and children must try to identify the beginning sound of the letter, and find the matching square on their card. For example, if the teacher called out “apple”, the children would look for a bingo square containing the letter “a”.
As students progress, more advanced versions of phonics bingo can be introduced. In these, children have to recognize a word called out by the teacher on their card. Generally you might start with “CVC words” (words consisting of consonant, short vowel, then another consonant), and then gradually progress through more advanced phonics concepts, such as consonant and vowel digraphs, r-controlled vowel words, bossy E words, etc.
One additional variation that can be a lot of fun, and again is good practise for students learning to recognize word sounds, is rhyming bingo. In this version, the teacher calls out a word, and students look for rhymes on their bingo cards. For example, if the teacher called out “bat”, students could match a square which contain “cat”, “hat” or “mat”.
By: Sunil Tanna
Millions of people play bingo and millions more are keen to give it a try. Online bingo now makes it possible for almost anyone to play without leaving the comfort of your home. But if you are new to bingo or it’s been a few years since you played, you should make sure you know the rules.
Now this is not a difficult task because the rules of bingo are both few and easy. Learn the rules and then give yourself some fun – and possibly even some winnings – with a game of bingo.
In short you have a caller, a person who runs the bingo game. He or she calls out individual numbers. These numbers are selected at random by either choosing a card with a number on it or choosing a numbered ball from a box of numbered balls. It’s simply a game of chance although you must have your wits about you.
Every player must have at least one bingo card and the word BINGO must be clearly shown on the top of the card. If you want to increase your chances of winning, you can purchase more cards. Each card will have a series of numbers in columns. The aim is to draw a line between five numbers as they are announced by the caller.
There are other items a player can purchase to play bingo but the minimum is the correct bingo card and a marker to mark your bingo card if your numbers are called.
Some bingo games have variations to their rules. Sometimes the five numbers must be in a certain line or pattern or in any pattern or sometimes they must simply be the correct five numbers.
It’s important that you understand the required version of the correct numbers before you start to play each game. This is where knowing the bingo rules, the simple bingo rules, are so important. You don’t want to obtain the correct numbers only to have them in the wrong pattern. Most bingo games require the winning player to have a single line between the five winning numbers.
The caller always places every called number to one side once each number is announced. This is so any player who claims to have the correct numbers can have their claim verified. Usually the caller is the judge or person who examines any card which claims to be the winner but some games will have an independent person to do this – someone other than the caller.
The end of each game of bingo is clearly defined in the rules. A game is over when the first player to claim all five numbers in the pattern announced for the game has had their claim verified.
One interesting aspect of the formal rules of bingo is that prizes are optional. If you wish to play online bingo or any game for that matter, check to see if there is a prize or reward for the person who wins the game. A prize will be great but for many people the reward is the fun and enjoyment of the game and the people you meet in playing bingo.
By: Sheila Danes
