Kids love games! - Part 2: Bingo is B-I-N-G-O

A reader asked me about a game that she/he can play in their English class with 4th and 5th grade students, and I immediately thought of a game called BINGO...

Who doesn't like playing BINGO? I think it's one of those games that never gets old and boring because of that one moment when someone calls out, "BINGO!" and everybody cheers! :) It's a game that can be played across age groups with as little as 2 people, and incorporate any topics.

I usually play BINGO at the end of a unit to review materials, although sometimes I do it at the beginning to assess my students' prior knowledge and to start a discussion about the connection between the words. You can play BINGO using any kinds of topics, and it's very easy to prepare.

How you can play BINGO in class (click to see samples): 

1. English : review topic-specific vocabulary e.g. occupations, body parts, kitchen items; grammar-related vocabulary e.g. homonyms, prepositions
2. Math: addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, shapes, and many more... Your students won't realize that they're learning their times table! 
3. Human BINGO: an easy and fun ice-breaker game to do at the beginning of the school year
4. Social studies or science: you read out definitions and students choose the correct word in their bingo card. 

Let's make a BINGO card then!
Nowadays there are so many websites where you can quickly generate BINGO cards like

• http://www.teachingmadeeasier.com/ (pro: user-friendly and you can keep the word lists so you don't have to type them again and again; cons: not free but I've used the trial version for months now, so can you...),
• http://saksena.net/partygames/bingo/ (pro: free and easy to use; cons: the cards turn out small)

What if the idea of playing BINGO suddenly comes to mind in the middle of a lesson or what if you don't have time to type and print BINGO cards? Well, easy...

• Prepare a long list of words that you'd like to use and papers enough for your students
• Decide the size of your BINGO cards (e.g. 4x4 or 5x5) and ask your students to copy the words on the cards in random order 
• Start the game! Easy, isn't it? :) 

To make the game more fun, you could use small game pieces, math counters/manipulatives or chocolate! I once used Hershey's Chocolate Kisses and the winner got to keep hers... That was a big hit! :)

 Let's play, BINGO~!