BINGO... It's More Than Just a Game

SLP: "Let's play BINGO today in speech."
Child: "Yes! I love to play games in speech!!"

In the eyes of a child, BINGO is a fun game they can play... In the eyes of a therapist, BINGO is so much more than just a game the children can play. BINGO affords the child a host of skills to develop while playing a game! A thematic game of BINGO can build their receptive and expressive vocabulary as well as increase their ability to describe, interact with peers, work on turn taking, tolerate winning vs. losing and visual scanning, just to name a few.

Vocabulary BINGO is one of our favorite products to make as well as play within our therapy sessions. It is a fun and easy activity that can be adapted to work with children in EC all the way through our students who are in 5th grade.

For children in EC, differentiating instruction based on ability level is key. Some students may only be working on being in proximity of peers, increasing structured work time or even picture to picture match. For others, we might label and then show them the picture of the object they need to find. We can place the large calling card picture close to their card to help them scan and find the match. Some of the children might only require you to say the object name once and they can find it while others might be dependent on a visual to find the object. After finding the picture, depending on the level of the child, you might give the child a model and have them repeat after your model. You might also ask the child what it is and have them label the object without your direct model. BINGO can be tailored for kiddos that have a broader vocabulary base by talking  about some of the features, the function, associations or the class of the object. For example, you might ask some of these questions about Watermelon: What color is watermelon? What do you do with watermelon? What goes with a watermelon? What category does watermelon belong to? These are just some examples of how vocabulary BINGO provides exposure to thematic vocabulary while playing a game, for children across various levels of development.

For older students, BINGO is fun to use as a describing game. Each student takes a turn choosing a picture from the calling card pile. They are not able to show their peers the card but, instead, they have to describe the object in their hand. For example, if they choose a picture of ice cream, they might say, "It is a dessert that is cold. It can melt if you don't eat it quick enough. It comes in a bowl or on a cone. It comes in many different flavors." The students are NOT allowed to guess what the object is until the other student gives 2/3/4 clues. This is a great activity for the children to all work on expressing details or formulating a definition as well as for listening for details and comprehending clues that are given. You wouldn't believe how challenging it is for some of the students to inhibit themselves from blurting out the object until the other student is done giving clues!

For those of you teaching summer school, Summer BINGO is up on TPT now! →Summer BINGO on TPT

For those of you who are enjoying summer break, check back at the end of summer for our other vocabulary BINGO games!

Happy Monday, y'all!