Friend Bingo is an idea I got from a workshop I attended once and it’s a great activity for the beginning of the year. It helps children learn the names of their new friends and teachers. It also serves as a kind of observational assessment because it helps me see which children have not learned any or very few names. Maybe that child needs some guidance making friends.
Most importantly, children love to play Friend Bingo!
How to make the game:
Create a table with 2 rows, 4 columns in a Word document. Adjust the table cells to the size you want. A little tip: Highlight your entire table, click Layout, Auto Fit, & Fixed Column Width (Word version 2007)– that will keep the images you insert the size you want them. Then insert photos of your students into the cells, print the bingo cards on cardstock, and laminate. Also make a set of “calling cards” — photo cards that the “caller” (you or the children) can use to call out names during the game. We used Unifix cubes as our bingo markers.
To save yourself some work, you can use this template if it is compatible with your computer. This is a Word Doc file:
Download: Friend Bingo Template DOC
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yes! i love this.
i just made pictoral directories which would work perfectly.
thanks.
This is a great idea! Your site always has very innovative activities. Thanks so much for sharing them!
Thanks!
I also teach Georgia pre-k. In order to foster a sense of community, we had the students say something kind about the person that was drawn before they could mark it. When a challenging student had to say something nice about himself it was a special moment for him and the teacher.
Thanks, Monica!
Love this!! We are definitely going to do this!
Love your friend bingo but I need 5 columns and 3 rows. I also want to add a text box for the child’s name, but my rows won’t stay fixed. The columns remain fixed but not the rows. Can anyone help please. Thanks, Dottie
Use Microsft Publisher ,much easier and ad a table. If you have trouble make the table in word and transfer it to Microsft publisher
I want to become a teacher and I think that this would be great
Welcome, Tshari! Good luck on your journey!
I was so excited when I found this website! I am teaching pre-k this year after teaching kindergarten for 14 years. I love the info. I found and can’t wait to incorporate them into my classroom! Thank you so much! Your website has me excited again!
Thanks Ellen! Have a great year!
Hello!! I have found your website so helpful!! This is the first year I am teaching prek, I have always worked with Kindergartners, and I was a little bit afraid because they are very different levels. Your website and ideas are life saving!! thank you very much!!! Any tip for a new prek teacher??
And, if there is someway to repay your help, I would gladly do so, thank you!! 🙂
thank you very much!! Your website is a beacon of hope! I will be teaching this year prek after working with Kindergartners for almost 4 years… got any extra tips?? 🙂 If there is anyway to repay for your help, please tell me so that I can do it.
Thank you so much!!
Hi! Thanks for sharing! How do you play this game?
This game is played like all bingo games. You give each child a game card, in this case, there are 8 pictures on the game card. You need something the kids can cover the pictures on their game card (I used Unifix cubes, but you can use any small pieces that can cover the pictures). You’ll need a set of Calling Cards. You will draw a calling card from the stack and say the child’s name. The children will look on their game card to see if they have that child’s picture. Continue playing. When a child covers all 8 pictures, they have won the game. I keep playing until everyone wins. Hope this helps!
This is a wonderful idea to help kids make friends! Thanks so much!
I LOVE this! I did open up the template, and it was super easy to drop photos in! I did NOT have to resize pictures! I used these for families as well and changed friend bingo to family bingo. Had parents send me pictures of family members and created boards to play at home! THANK YOU!