Bingo Games 4 - Area & Perimeter Bingo

Playing Cards

I choose a 16 square grid so there would not be an over abundance of information facing the player.

I was sure to include similar answers - such as 24" and 24 sq. in. I want them to understand the need for careful labeling of answers. I was also able to make sure they are acquainted with abbreviations. Any number of playing cards can be created, just making the responses in different locations. Remember not all problems will have a solution on each card.

Calling Cards

Here I drew pictures of the geometric shapes and gave the needs dimension. I wrote AREA or PERIMETER at the bottom of each card. 

I have the players keep a piece of paper handy for any calculations that may be necessary. 

I should have included a little number in a bottom corner of each calling card so that I could include an answer key. In that way I would not always have to be a part of the game.

SOLITAIRE PLAY is possible. Have the player select a card and then give them the assignment of finding a particular BINGO. For example, ask them to find the calling cards to make a BINGO across the top. They can simply use the calling card to cover the space as they find the right one. They may have to work through several additional calling cards before they find the ones needed.

Click to see other BINGO GAMES

OH NUTS! Deluxe - An Over-sized Gameboard

An over-sized gameboard just adds to the fun. 

Oh Nuts! was a favorite format of my children at home and in the classroom. It is still a winner with my grandchildren.

The original Oh Nuts! is played a little different than this DELUXE version. But one thing I learned about my children is that BIGGER IS OFTEN BETTER. They loved larger gameboards. When I made this gameboard, I decided to add the spinner, thus making ANY skill cards I had usable with it without adding OH NUTS CARDS.

TO MAKE:

I used three filefolders, two green and one blue. First, using duct tape, I taped one blue and one green filefolders together, making a large square board. Then, because I wanted it to look like a hill, I cut the second green filefolder and glued it along the taped edge over the blue filefolder.

I added the pictures of the chipmunk and the tree. Then I added the spinner and the black and white 3/4 inch circle stickers for a path. After I covered it with clear Contact paper, I added the arrow to the spinner.

TO PLAY:

The players all start with their markers on the chipmunk. The first player draws a skill card and answers it. If he is correct, he spins and moves his game piece accordingly.

If he spins "Oh Nuts!" he does not get to move and his turn ends.

The use of a spinner in this format allows use of any skill cards with the addition of OH NUTS! cards. 

However, if he spins a number and moves he has a decision to make. He may play again. The danger in playing again is: At anytime he incorrectly answers a skill card OR spins "Oh Nuts!" ALL progress on this turn is lost and he returns to the space where THIS turn began. (We would mark this space with a penny, as a player begins his turn.)

A player may continue his turn as long as he wants unless he answers incorrectly or spins "Oh Nuts!" When a player is satisfied with the progress he has made on a turn, he simply passes the play to the next player. THIS progress he can never lose.

The first player to reach the tree is the winner.

Click to see a Cooperative Play OH NUTS! Version

Oh Nuts! - a game for any skill

OH NUTS! is an exciting way to play and learn at the same time.

First a gameboard is needed. We have used several different versions of this. In the classroom, I drew two paths along the blackboard. They each had the same number of spaces. At home, we have made a cute board on a file folder, with only one path. We have also played this outdoors with spaces drawn on the blacktop and children used as playing pieces.

A deck of cards is the next thing that is needed. After deciding what skill is to be drilled, make a deck of about 50 or more cards asking questions, or showing the skill (clocks to tell the time, math facts to give the answer, coins to count, etc....) The deck of cards also needs OH NUTS! Cards. I usually have about 1/3 of the cards be OH NUTS! Cards. For these I have drawn a peanut and written the words OH NUTS! below it.

To Play:

A player draws a card and answers the question or solves the problem. If correct, he moves his game piece one space. Then he can decide if he wishes to go again. A player may keep moving one space for each correct response he gives. However, if he gives an incorrect answer or draws an OH NUTS! Card he must return to the place where this turn began (which we indicate with a penny on a file folder or a stone on the blacktop). Play continues until one player or team gets their game piece to the end of the path.

A STORY:

This was a favorite way to drill things in our classroom. I had OH NUTS! Cards for numerous skills. One day I announced that we would play Capitalization OH NUTS! after recess. I drew the path on the blackboard as soon as the children left the room for their break. I knew that the children would probably choose to play girls against the boys. After I took a short break, I went to call the children in. They were all extra excited about coming in and could not wait to begin the game.

While I had a great group of kids and they were usually cooperative, I should have expected something was up as they were TOO cooperative this day. They came in and immediately began lining up for the game, obviously having already decided it would be girls against the boys. Then they girls said, "the boys can go first." NOW I should really have gotten suspicious, but I didn't YET.

Matthew was first in line on the boys team, so I read the sentence on the first card, after Matt drew it. He decided that it needed three capitals to be correct. I said he was right, so one of the boys moved their game piece ahead three spaces. I asked Matt if he wished to go again and he did. Right, again and more spaces moved. He kept choosing to go again, even though I reminded him of the danger and chance that the next card could be an OH NUTS! Card. But he continued. By this time, I was getting suspicious, especially as all the class seemed to be trying to keep from laughing, and I had also noticed that Matt's mom, the principal of our little school, was watching the game from the doorway.

Matt continued until he had completed the path and the whole class exploded in laughter...it seems the joke was on ME. With the help of Matt's mom, they had sneaked in during recess, and removed all the OH NUTS! Cards from the deck. While I had caught on to what was going on, I gave no clue that I had.

We all had a good laugh and often in the following years they would remind me of the good joke they had pulled on me. 

 Check out A Cooperative Version of OH NUTS!

and OH NUTS! Deluxe

Bingo Games 3 - Count 'Em Bingo & a BONUS TIP

Count 'em Bingo 

Calling Cards - By gridding out a sheet and making all the cards together it is much faster to cover with clear Contact paper or laminate. Then quick to cut apart.

 The pictures were cut from a simple math page in one of those workbooks for children you can buy most anywhere...but don't forget the best spot to find these is FREE boxes at rummage sales.

Playing Cards - Use a simple grid. Here I used only 16 spaces because I wanted more room.  Write the needed numbers in a mixed up order. Not every card will have each number. I added a little picture (from the same book) to each playing card just to make them look nicer. Besides sometimes it is the picture that captures the child and it will become their "favorite" card.

SPECIAL TIP - One of the most frustrating things for little ones when they play BINGO is bumping their playing card and messing it all up. SO....here is an easy solution.

Make up a plastic sleeve with pieces of velcro strategically placed so they will be in each section of the grid. You can see from the next two pictures what this looks like. 

Rather than cover or laminate the playing cards, they will be placed in plastic sleeves (page protectors). The Velcro is on the outside. In this way you can use the sleeves for all your BINGO games. Since I have several different grids I use (9 spaces - 25 spaces) I have made these plastic sleeves to match each size and spacing.

As you can see, the Velcro is placed to match up with each BINGO space. 

I have used the matching Velcro pieces on small poker-like chips so they can be used as markers. 

TIP You do not need to make dozens of these plastic sleeves with Velcro. Just make one for each type of grid you may use. Unless, of course, you have multiple young players that may need this added help.

Now you can use these for any BINGO games you may make. Since I now put all my BINGO playing cards in plastic sleeves, it is quick and easy to take one out and put it in one of these special sleeves if it is needed or wanted by a player. 

Bingo Games 2 - A MISTAKE

Begins With...Bingo

PROBLEM - This game is not made in the best way and I want to explain why and save you problems as you make games for your children.

Bingo Card

Calling Cards

Now for the PROBLEM...

The information should be reversed. The child is working on mastering the sounds of the letters. When he is facing an entire page of letters (as on the above playing card) it can be overwhelming. 

It would be much better for the letters to be on the calling cards which get looked at one at a time. I would show the child the card and ask him the sound. When he has correctly given the sound for the letter it will be easy for him to find the picture that begins with that sound.

Another example of how I made this same mistake is when I first made Coin Bingo. Read about it  under point 4 in this post.

Making this Game  The pictures were cut from a phonics workbook. Rather than do pages and pages where the child must identify the beginning letter sound, we will just play a simple game such as this. 

Bingo Games 1 - Beginning Bird Bingo

Beginning Bird Bingo

Using pictures or stickers of birds (or other animals) create some bingo game playing cards. Vary the position of the birds on each card. Not every bird must be on each card. 

To create the calling cards use colored card stock divided into sections as I have done here. Posterboard pieces or index cards cut in half also work fine.

I like to create full sheets like this and then cover them with clear Contact paper BEFORE I cut them apart....much less cutting time this way. The Contact paper makes them more durable. If using posterboard this is not so necessary.

Junk Mail to Gameboard

Place Value - Disney

Ones - Tens - Hundreds Places

Sorry that this is blurry. I didn't realize it until I uploaded it and, of course, it was now too late since it had all been torn apart.

Here is the junk mail we received to join a Disney video club. We get packets like this regularly. So I decided it was time to actually use this for more than letting the three year old have fun with the stickers.

Using a couple punches I have, I got these pictures off the informational pages. I will use them to be the theme of the game.

Sorry this is also a little blurry. I will have to be more careful.

There was a page of stickers. These were the movies that could be chosen. I will use them for the spaces along the path. At first, I thought I would cut off the numbers, but changed my mind. We will use the numbers for another type of game. (see below.)

Here are the stickers and the punched pictures forming the path. 

Thinking that the gameboard path looked a little difficult to follow, I added some simple lines to make the path clearer to follow.

GENERIC GAMEBOARD - Using this as a generic gameboard was my first intention and it will work well for almost any skill. I think younger children will enjoy seeing some of their favorite Disney characters and movies along the path.

PLACE VALUE DISNEY - Following the format of Duck Pond we will drill the ones, tens, and hundreds places using the numbers on the movie stickers. All I needed to add were a number to the START space (I chose the 3-digit number 123) and a spinner. The spinner will have just 3 spaces on it instead of four like shown on the Duck Pond game.

This means we all have to look at "junk mail" a little differently from now on. There are game possibilities everywhere we look. 

Generic Board Games 101

What is a Generic Game Board?

The simple answer is it is a game playing board that has no educational skill directly a part of the board.

As example, if you are working to teach your child colors and needed a simple game, you would probably choose Candyland. The colors are on the skill cards and also a part of the playing board.

However, if your child no longer needs this basic skill, Candyland can become a generic gameboard. New skill cards would need to be provided. Maybe the child would draw a card with a letter on it and be required to give the sound it makes, a word that begins with that letter, or the name of the letter. After giving a correct response, the child would draw one of the Candyland cards and that would indicate how far he could move. The skill is no longer a part of the board.

This leaves the possibility that the format (method of play) is still Candyland by its rules, but so many skills could be used to play the game.

Simply grab ANY game skill cards you may have or even flashcards and use the Candyland board and rules and have some fun drilling the skill.

Examples of Generic Gameboards

Save the Princess

Save the Princess

Using a blue filefolder I attached the two pictures. These are notepads I had on hand and seemed a natural for my daughter who was princess crazy at the time. The spaces are 3/4" circle stickers that can be purchased at most big box stores or office supply shops. After attaching the pictures, adding the name to the knight's shield, and creating the path, I covered both halves of the filefolder with clear Contact paper. Next I attached some fun gems I had in my crafting supplies. I notice that a few of the gems have disappeared over the years, but the board is still usable for my granddaughters. 

To Play: Players select a game piece and place it on the knight. In turn, players give a response to a skill card. When they have given a correct answer (even if help is needed), they shake a die and move the indicated number of spaces.

Generic Worm Board

Generic Worm Board

Using a red filefolder, I drew the path using a circle template. I added the simplistic art work and wording. No need to cover this gameboard as there is nothing special to protect. If the gameboard wears out it is easy enough to remake.

To Play: This is a great board for younger players as the spaces are large. It is also a fun time to use some of our larger game pieces. After placing their chosen pieces on start, players would take turns responding to whatever skill cards we had selected for play. Dice or spinners could be used to decide how far a player may move.

Coral Reef

Coral Reef

I chose a blue filefolder to represent water. The stickers along the path are reinforcement stickers for the holes in notebook paper. I like them because they look like bubbles and are something a little different.  Easy to add a fun theme to this game using the fish stickers.

To Play: If you notice that there are some fish along the path this game could be played like Candyland - sort of. Cards with matching stickers would be place among the skill cards. If one of these cards is drawn, then the player would not give an answer, nor would he shake a die to see how far he would move. He would simply move to the corresponding space. This could be a forward or backward move. I usually find that having two of each matching stickers within the cards makes for a fun game. 

The play could simply ignore these sticker spaces and just consider them as added decoration to the game.

Speedway

Speedway

This gameboard was made extra large using two filefolders taped together on the reverse side. The spaces are pieces of colored paper cut and glued to the board in an oval path. I then covered the board using 4 pieces of Contact paper.

To Play: Players begin on START and, in turn, answer a skill card and move after shaking a die. The player then follows the directions on the landed on space. Because of the interesting directions play can go forward and backward, even returning to START. However, because there are 4 WIN spaces on the path the game can be over very quickly or last for quite awhile. Cars make for fun game pieces.

Feel free to join Games For Learning on FaceBook if you have questions about these games. 

I will be sharing some more generic gameboard examples.

Books I Will Use to Make Games

I went through my cutting box and found some great books in there. Here are three books that will make some fun learning games. 


BOOK 1:

This is one I found in a FREE box at a garage. Because all of the stickers have been already placed on the fold-out mural I assume the people felt it was no longer of value. But, I assure you, I quickly grabbed it!

 

The stickers are reusable so I will be able to remove them from the mural.

The back of each section of the mural has a picture of the animal and a brief bit of information that I may be able to use as I create a game using this book. Also thinking I may copy this information and picture and put it on game cards. Purpose??? Not sure yet.










BOOK 2:

Not sure where I got this one, but likely a garage sale. This is loaded with wonderful pictures and tons of information. 

As you can see the pictures are bright and colorful and all the birds are clearly identified. There are several pages similar to this one.

This page of pictures of the eggs of different birds should make an interesting addition to a game. A possibility I think of as I type is these could be used as the spaces on a board game. 

This awesome page with the sketches of the beaks/bills and feet of different types of birds will be a great addition to a game. It actually could be two different sorting type games.  We could use pictures from the book on cards and sort into pockets according to the beak/bill or feet. These kinds of activities get the children thinking. It is less about "right" answers and more about having them use their eyes and reasoning skills. 












Book 3:  

This book also has reusable stickers which will make some nice addition to game boards or cards.

As you can see, the layouts are awesome! There are ones for several different habitats. I will probably use these as the game boards.  I will simply mount them on the file folders to make them more durable. 

I hope this gives a bit of an idea of why I collect books to put into my cutting box. These books will be played with over and over once they become games and they will provide much learning fun.  

Doubles Addition Cupcakes

"Cupcakes" is in the name simply because of the fun cards we used. The children enjoyed drilling simple addition doubles facts.

The Cards

Made from bulletin board strips...

 The strips had cupcakes in several colors. I cut them apart and have saved them for quick use for games. Today I used the purple ones I had left. On the back I wrote the addition facts for the doubles from 0 + 0 =  to 14 + 14 =.  I did them both in vertical and horizontal form. I did to 14 simply because that was the number of cards that I had.

Introducing the Cards

First we did a little activity. I set out the 0 + 0 =  cards. I showed them two empty spots. I asked how many counters we would have if we combined/added the two empty spots. ZERO, of course, was the answer. Next they each put 1 counter in each space. I asked how many we would have if we added 1 + 1 and they shouted TWO.  We continued adding one counter to each pile and stating the new addition fact. Wesley, age 6, knows many of them, but soon realized that the answers were counting by TWO and so he predicted what the next answer would be. This was a great discovery for him to make and one I had not planned.

We finished going through all the cards (facts to 14 + 14 =) just so Wesley could see that his predictions continue. Then we got down to drilling some of the facts. We used only the first six facts (up to 5 + 5 =) to now play some games. Even though the first things we did were not REAL games, by calling the such, the children excitedly played. (They thought of it as play, because, after all, I was calling it a game.)

First I gave them each a set. Wesley had the horizontal form and Diana, 4, had the vertical. They laid them out in front of themselves and we drilled the facts in any way I could think of.

1. I placed them in order and drilled them each through their cards. They would read the fact and give the answer.

2. Next, I skipped around, pointing to cards out of order. They again read the facts and gave the answer.

3. I mixed up their cards and they stated only the answers to each fact.

 Here Diana is giving the answers to her fact cards. While Wesley finds his matching card.

Next we played some REAL GAMES.

Game 1 Since Diana is two years younger I started with One At a Time Take. For this game I shuffled all the cards. I held up one card at a time and they took turns giving the answer. If they answered correctly, they got to collect the cupcake. (Calling them "cupcakes" instead of cards, just makes it more fun.) If they gave an incorrect response, the other person got to give an answer and collect the card. We did this several times until they were both doing it pretty rapidly.

Game 2 I called this Speed Cupcake Take. This time when I held up the card both Wesley and Diana tried to be the first to give the answer. Wesley won the first two cards and Diana was getting discouraged, but I reminder her that she knew these now and if they tied, she would win the card. She sat back up and won the next card, mostly because Wesley wasn't paying attention...but she was so excited. She tied him a couple times and ended up with 5 of the 12 cards. However, before Wesley could count them and declare he had beat her, I swept up the cards and shuffled them and said, "Let's go again." The second game she got 7 of the cards, but again I tried not to make a big deal about a "winner." Because, if you have a winner, there must be a loser...and no one wants to be the loser.

We had fun with this quickly made game and the children are memorizing these facts. Tomorrow we will do them again and probably add one or two more fact cards.

Games make drilling so much fun. Flash cards could be used, but making the "pretty" cupcake cards and calling it a GAME, made it much more fun.

Phonics Blends OH NUTS!

OH NUTS! is one of our favorite games to play. We use it for so many skills. All of the children, regardless of age, enjoy OH NUTS!

The Cards:

Using a bulletin board border strip, I covered the front side with clear Contact paper to make the cards more durable. I then cut the sections apart. I have used some of these cards for other activities like counting, addition, and patterns. The backsides were left plain and uncovered so they were already to be used to make this game.

Wesley and Diana are both working on these types of blends. We use ABeka for phonics. The Handbook and their Letters and Sounds books have them reading these type blends. They both will benefit from more practice with these.

Of course, to really make this a fun game we needed to add OH NUTS! cards.

For some of the other OH NUTS! games I made, I drew a cute little peanut around the words. But I was making this game up quickly while they were doing some of their other work. I make about 1/3 of the cards in the deck be OH NUTS! cards. This amount has made the games work well for us.

 To Play:

The cards were shuffled and placed in the center of the table. In turn, players draw cards and read the blends.

Wesley correctly reads his first draw. Now he has a choice to make. He can keep this card and move it to his SAFE pile and end his turn or he may draw again.  IF he draws again and gets an OH NUTS! card he forfeits all the cards he has collected on this turn. (Once cards are placed in the SAFE pile, they are protected for the rest of the game.)

Wesley decides to draw again and gets another blend card which he correctly reads. If he had incorrectly read the card his turn would also end and he would have to return all the cards collected on this turn. However, we play with a little help allowed since Wesley is struggling a little with identifying the long and short vowels. So for today, as this was our first time playing, if they made a mistake, I pointed out the correct vowel sound and let them try again without penalty. One of the greatest things about games is the way rules may be bent. We bend rules for younger children, new skills being learned, or just because...just because we want to try something different.

After Wesley reads his card, he decides to go again. He is lucky and drew another blend card.

Even though I cautioned him that an OH NUTS! card was likely coming up soon, he decides to draw again.

He was lucky and got another good card which he read. He then decided to move all his cards to his SAFE pile. It was then Diana's turn. The very first card she turned up was an OH NUTS! card. Wesley had made a good choice. Diana collected no cards on this turn and Wesley got to play again.

Now it is later in the game....

 Diana already has a few cards in her SAFE pile, but she doesn't like to quit as this group of pictures will show.

 After her first draw and correct reading, she decides to go again....

 and again...

and again...

OOOOPS!.... OH NUTS!  Turn over. Cards lost.

But we had lots of fun and laughs. AND...the kids got lots of practice reading their blends. They wanted to play again even though neither one of them had collected many cards. I think they missed a bit of the idea of the game. Their older brothers were watching and kept encouraging them to quit after getting a couple cards, but they just kept wanting to draw again.

Oh well. They had fun and the REAL purpose of the game was accomplished ....they drilled their blends.

Storage:

I store card games I make in Ziplock baggies. Some of these are kept in boxes on a shelf  - for current skills. Others are hung on a pegboard in a nearby closet.

To see other OH NUTS! card games we enjoy.

HOT DOTS Clocks and Time

This is a purchased game that my grandchild LOVE! At the end I will show you how you can make your own games for any skill you need.

 Diana is using the special pen to select the correct response to the time at the top of the card.

 If the correct answer is selected the pen turns on a green light. It also plays music or says an encouraging phrase for the child.

 If a wrong response is chosen, the light on the pen is red. The pen also makes a beeping sound and tells the child to try again.

The purchased games come in nice recipe-sized boxes. They have them for several different math and phonics skills. We have clocks, money, addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, beginning letter sounds.

But what really makes Hot Dots versatile is the extra dots you can buy. There are two sheets of COLD dots (wrong answer) and one sheet of HOT dots (right answer) in each package. The pens can also be purchased separately. I have made lots of other games for the grandchildren using these dots.

I don't often promote purchased games....but we really like these. ...and the skill possibilities are endless!