Most people are familiar with the game of bingo. Even those people who have never played bingo, probably do know how the game is played. However, just in case you are one of those rare few who don’t know how to play, he are instructions:
1. One person acts as the bingo caller (and referee), the others act as players.
2. Each of the players is given a bingo card containing a grid of squares (normally 5 by 5, but other sizes may be used), with each square containing a different number.
3. The bingo caller calls out the numbers in a random order, and players mark off the squares containing that number from their cards.
4. The player’s objective is to get a row, column or diagonal of squares marked off (or in some variants, other shapes or all the items on the card). When a player achieves this he shouts “Bingo!”, and the first who shouts this is the winner.
There are of course many variants of the game, and it is these variants that are bringing bingo to the attention of a much wider audience. Some examples of these include:
- Baby Shower Bingo – Played as a baby shower game, using bingo cards printed with items related to babies.
- Wedding Shower Bingo – Played at wedding and bridal showers, this time using bingo cards with items related weddings.
- Holiday Bingo – Bingo played on special occasions such as Christmas, New Year, Valentine’s Day, July 4th, Halloween or Thanksgiving – however themed for the day by using bingo cards containing items relating to the particular holiday.
- Educational Bingo – Bingo is also as increasingly popular activity with teachers and educators. Educational variants of bingo are commonly played in schools, colleges, Sunday schools, and in ESL classes. Once again specially printed bingo cards are used, be it with words student must learn to read, math problems, names of countries or cities, chemical elements, or anything else.
The common thread running through all these different variants of bingo, is that non-standard bingo cards are used. In some cases, it may be possible to order preprinted cards from a specialist publisher, although this can get expensive fast! In other cases, preprinted cards may simply not be available. As a result, usually the best option is for the game organizer to prepare the bingo cards – fortunately with the help of a computer and suitable bingo card maker software, this can be a quick and easy job.
By: Sunil Tanna
Most people are familiar with the game of bingo – it’s a wonderful game that can be enjoyed by young and old, and is very popular with church and community groups. But did you know that bingo can also be important educational tool? An increasing number of teachers, have found that bingo is ideal for classroom use. This is because the game is easy to learn, highly adaptable, doesn’t require expensive materials, and most important, is a lot fun.
In the traditional game of bingo, players are of course each given a card containing a 5 by 5 grid of numbers, and check off squares on their cards when the bingo caller calls out the corresponding number. Depending on which version of the rules you prefer, the objective is for a player either to get a line of five items checked off, or to check off every item on their card. The winner of the game is the first person who checks off their items and shouts out “Bingo!”
In educational variants, the basic game is exactly the same, but there are usually some differences in detail. The first and most important modification is that instead of using bingo cards containing numbers, you use bingo cards containing whatever is the subject of the lesson. If the subject was English, you might use words from the spelling test, if the subject was geography you might use names of countries, states or cities, and in a religious or bible study class, you would use items related to theme of the class, for example, books of the Old or New Testament, names of the people in biblical stories, saints’ names, etc. And, don’t forget, you can also play themed versions of bingo to celebrate particular times of year like Christmas or Easter too!
As well as changing the bingo cards, some teachers also like to vary the game play. If you want to make the game into a kind of test, you can require the person claiming “Bingo!” to describe each of the items that they have marked off on their bingo cards – in other words, they can’t claim (for example) “Noah” as part of their winning line, unless they know a little bit of Noah’s story (including of course his building of the ark). Alternatively, if you prefer not to make the game into a test, you could for example have a class discussion after item is called out, or ask for a volunteer to explain the particular bible story or character, etc. Really, your imagination is the limit.
Of course, in order to play these variants of bingo, you will need specially themed bingo cards. In the bad old days, you would have to had to send off for them to a specialist publisher – which could be kind of expensive, even for just one set of bingo cards. Modern technology has however made this part much easier – you can simply print the bingo cards from your computer: Easy-to-use and affordable bingo card maker software makes it straightforward to print bingo cards on any theme that you like, in unlimited quantities.
By: Sunil Tanna
Most teachers are always looking for challenging and engaging things for their students to do in class. Activities that encourage participation in class discussions, are always especially welcome. Ideally classroom activities will be fun too – which is one reason why games are popular – although of course we must never forget that the purpose behind all these activities is to encourage and assist learning.
However being interesting and educational is not enough by itself. An activity must also suitable to be adapted for different lesson plans, different ages of students, and, of course, different school subjects. Furthermore, in today’s educational environment cost considerations must necessarily play a part: teachers are both unable and unwilling to spend money on expensive materials that can only be used rarely, or even just once.
One idea that is worth considering is bingo. The basic idea is to play the game using specially prepared bingo cards containing items related to the subject. For example, in a chemistry class you might use the names of elements, compounds or chemical processes. In a math class, you might use mathematical problems. In a geography class, you might use the names of countries, states, provinces, cities, rivers or mountains. And in a foreign language class, you could play bingo using words of French, German or Spanish vocabulary that students are learning.
The beauty of bingo is that you can adapt the game to almost any subject or age range of students. Additionally, you can play the game in a variety of different ways: you could play a “normal” game with the teacher as caller, you could have the teacher call out “clues” instead of the items on the cards, you could ask students to explain the items as they check them off from their bingo cards, or you could even have class discussions during the game after each item is called.
Bingo is also compatible with the cost restrictions that today’s teachers must work under: you can simply print the bingo cards from your computer rather than sending off for expensive supplies. There are two main ways to do that: either you can download ready-made free educational bingo printables from the Internet (available on a variety of subjects), or you can purchase inexpensive bingo card printing software (which will allow you to print bingo cards on any topic, whenever you want). Furthermore, if you find yourself playing bingo on a regular basis, you can even save on your printing costs – simply print once on to good quality paper or card, use the school’s laminator on these, and when you play in class, students can put counters over the squares on the bingo cards rather than writing on them.
By: Sunil Tanna
