Bingo, anyone? (with a recycling twist)

Bingo is a fun game to play with your kids, and can be a great learning tool also. There are many store-bought varieties, but here are a few ways you can taylor a game to your specific target skill, and age/level.

And for those who know me, I am the hoarding recycle queen, so this is a great way to use things that I have scattered around the house in the recycle bin.

Do you have these?

I love using cereal boxes, because I get 4 game boards, and I even use the sides for the game pieces! But any cardboard box works, and game pieces can be printed on cardstock.

The picture above shows one way you can differentiate your game to the needs of your kiddos. The game board is upper case, and you can make both upper and lower case game pieces.  For this example I only drew 4 squares, but you can cut your boards to be larger and fit 6 or 8 squares on each. Also, younger children loose interest quickly or get frustrated, but as their attention span lengthens, you can increase the number of squares on your board.

I watch a pair of brothers (3 & 6) who both want to play, but the letter board is too easy for the 6yr old. I drew pictures on one board, so when a letter is drawn he has to find the item that begins with that letter or sound. For the sake of recycling and wanting this to be a practically free activity, I drew the pictures. But I am a horrible artist, and I will have to print out pictures in the future and glue or tape them to the game board.

if anyone knows how to rotate a picture in blogger, please help!!!
the picture itself is horizontal, but blogger uploads it as vertical

This numbers bingo game shows the variety of ways you can target a skill - numbers, counting, addition and subtraction (I put them all on the same board as an example).

The possibilities are almost endless! Some other ideas are: shapes, community helpers (match the helper to the job/building/vehicle/etc.), sight words, animals (farm, ocean, jungle, etc), transportation theme, holiday themes, colors, you could even make a personalized family game with pictures of family members!

And of course, you need bingo markers. "What should I use", you ask? Why, bottle caps! Another treasure that has so many uses!!! But that is another post in the works.

I'd love to hear your bingo game ideas!
Miss Liz