Most adults are familiar with the game of bingo – we’ve came across the game at some points in our lives. It is true that many us of think of it as a game played in church and community halls in funding raising efforts, or by groups of seniors as a relaxing way of passing the time, but one thing you may not know is that bingo is becoming increasingly popular in education.
Many teachers have come to the conclusion that bingo is well suited to classroom use, because it is easy for students to learn and play, does not require expensive specialist materials, does not make a big mess, and is highly adaptable to teaching different subjects, different lesson plans, and different age groups. When organized by enthusiastic teacher, bingo can indeed be both fun and educational.
As hinted at previously, bingo can be used in a variety of educational environments, including teaching K-12, and for teaching older students. The game can be adapted to almost any subject including English and Reading, English as a Second Language (ESL), Foreign Languages (including Spanish, French, German and Italian), Math, Science, History and more. The main way that the game is adapted to each of these situations is by using custom bingo cards printed with items appropriate to the lesson, and by modifying the game play mechanics. In a K-12 reading class for example, students might just be required to recognize sight words, in a math class the students might be required to write in the answers to math problems into the squares rather than simply cross off squares, and in a foreign language class the bingo cards could be printed in one language but the calss made in another (for example, bingo cards printed with Spanish vocabulary – and students need to match up these words to bingo calls made in English).
By: Sunil Tanna
Most of us tend to think of bingo as a game played as a leisure activity, mostly by older people. However, it is also the case that variations on the standard game of bingo are now being used by many teachers and educators. Bingo has in fact been applied to teaching a wide variety of different subjects including reading, English, foreign languages such as French, Spanish, German and Italian, and math, science, history and geography.
Educational variants of bingo are generally played with the teacher taking the part of bingo caller. The students are each given a bingo card or worksheet, containing a selection of items from a list created in advance of class by the teacher. The particular items that appear on the bingo worksheets are of course specific to the particular subject being taught.
The class then plays bingo. In some subjects, for example if teacher younger kids the alphabet or to recognize Dolch sight words, the teacher may simply call out items that are printed on the bingo worksheets, and students need to find matches on their cards. In other cases, the teacher may call out a clue or question (such as a Spanish word, or a math problem) and students have to find to solve the problem and find the match (such as the English translation of the Spanish word, or the answer to the math problem).
Of course the key requirement to play any of these versions of bingo in a classroom is a set of suitable bingo worksheets. Obviously it would not be a good use of the teacher’s time to spend a long time manually writing out bingo worksheets. Likewise, while it may be possible to buy preprinted educational bingo worksheets, this can get expensive quite quickly if many different worksheets are needed, and in any case, preprinted worksheets may not contain the exact items that the teacher wants for his or her class. The best answer is to use a computer and some bingo worksheet generator software – this way the teacher can quickly and easily prepare custom bingo worksheets whenever they are needed.
By: Sunil Tanna
Most people have played bingo at some point in their lives, but even those of us who have never played the game, generally do know how to play the game.
Traditionally bingo is played using cards containing a grid of squares (usually but not always a grid of 5 X 5 squares), with each square containing a different number. Each player is given one of these bingo cards, and the objective of the game is to mark off a row, column or diagonal of squares (in some versions, the objective is to obtain multiple lines, another square, or even get all squares marked off). Squares on the cards are marked off by the players when the bingo caller (who also acts as referee) calls out the corresponding number.
Bingo has undergone something of a renaissance in popularity in the last few years. While the traditional game remains popular, new variants of bingo are reaching new audiences. In each case, these variants of the game are played using bingo cards containing custom items related to a particular topic, rather than the standard numbered bingo cards.
Some examples include:
- Holiday bingo, using bingo cards with words and phrases themed around a particular holiday be it New Year, Valentine’s Day, July 4th, Halloween, Thanksgiving or Christmas.
- Wedding and baby shower bingo is a popular activity on these social events. Bingo cards containing items related to brides, weddings, or babies, are used as applicable.
- Educational bingo is getting more and more popular with teachers. Versions of the game can be produced for almost any type of class including English (including K12 and ESL), math, science, history, geography or even religious studies. Game play may also be varied by the teacher, so for example in math bingo, cards containing math problems may be used and students must write in the answers to these problems rather than simply tick off the squares.
In order to play any of these variants of the game, you will of course need bingo cards printed with the appropriate themed items. These are not always easy to obtain for every possible topic, and even when available can be expensive. Therefore the best option for most people is to simply print them using a computer and appropriate bingo card generator software.
By: Sunil Tanna
