Firstly I’d like to welcome all of my fans, followers and fellow bingo players to bingo-room. This is my personal blog and my goal is to cover as much bingo material as is humanly possible. Believe it or not, bingo caters to more than just an adult audience; there’s significant room for bingo’s potential as an invaluable teaching aid for children too.
Now that the humdrum of Britain’s ‘Hung Parliament’ debacle seems to be settling, we can all get on with the business of real-life. And what could be more relevant than the education of our nation’s children. Here in the UK, there is a growing trend towards delinquency with high dropout rates and increasing levels of teen pregnancy. This is certainly an issue which our esteemed politicians at 10 Downing Street no doubt lose sleep over.
As concerned citizens, it makes all the sense in the world to do our part to improve our communities in each and every way possible. To this end I’m deeply grateful to my friend Jessica for helping me to see the potential that bingo has for teaching young children. I can see you guys out there doing a double-take. But I’ll get to it soon – I promise. I figured: if bingo can act as a facilitator of dating, gaming and social interaction – then why not education too?
Bingo gets the grey matter working overtime
Until I actually saw this in action, I was as nonplussed as the next person. But I’ll have you know that kids and teens can make use of bingo gaming to learn advanced arithmetic. It’s really easy to get started here and teachers/parents can take the initiative with little frustration. Here are the steps to follow:
- Take a piece of paper and fold it into 8 equal sections
- Define the 8 blocks and place that sheet of paper aside
- Complete an identical 8 blocks and cut them into single squares
- The full sheet of paper acts as the bingo board replete with maths equations
- The cut-ups have only the answers to the 8 equation questions
The way the game is played is quite fascinating. All the answers can either be called out (from the 8 or more bingo cards) and the bingo boards with all the questions are distributed among students (make several boards for the correlating number of students). Students then complete their bingo cards by marking their equations/questions with the bingo answer cards that have been called out. It’s that simple and I tell you – it’s one of the most interactive and exciting ways to learn maths and win prizes at the same time.
If your communities or schools have exciting educational uses for bingo please share your ideas with us.
Image credit: dbylibrary
I am a teacher and I am thinking of using this idea for my classes. It’s an interesting idea. Good work!
I am teacher also. I never work with games in classroom like bingo. It is effective? Perhaps you can share with me more information on system setup?
Najid
Well certainly Najid. What you’d really like to do is to check out your lesson plan. What exactly are you looking to achieve here? Then formulate cards to that effect. Play a game with the students where you use terminology and clues and develop a bingo card (5 x 5) and let it go!
Enjoy it and let me know how it goes -
Jeremy Stersky
That’s certainly the truth! I’ve been playing old ladies bingo for many years…
This is one of those better bingo ideas. A lot of the time I tend to associate bingo with gambling – to a degree – so it’s really nice to see that there are so many useful ways to apply this game in real-life situations. Entertaining and educational gaming.
I tend to agree with you. I’m up with the kids now – it’s Christmas Day 2010 in Germany and we’re all opening our gifts at like 6 am. It’s nutz. I got the boys a bingo set – believe it or not – educational bingo. Merry Christmas!
Didn’t realize it was like so accessible.
You rock like a champ dude! Keep on rocking!
I am in 5th grade and we use bingo sumtimes at school. thnks jermy. yarin
I can’t believe it – bingo in school? In Milan we don’t use it – but it’s great for you kid!
Well yes, bingo is used in the education systems throughout the world. It’s a game that can merge academics, fun and competitiveness.
It’s possible that this idea might work. I’ve tried using board games based on a similar premise and they worked very well in the classroom. That’s a good card.
It is the best integration game for education. Good to read of this development.
Hello aLEX, much appreciated. Indeed bingo is a powerful tool to aid in learning. Thanks for your feedback.
Pepino con aroz es mui bien! I like very mucho si jeremito!
You are funny – this is an English site you know – but google does a good job.
Hello there Janet Leche,
If I’m not mistaken – you’ve mentioned something about cucumbers and rice are very nice! I’d tend to agree and I’m getting a rumbling idea in my stomach for the contents of my next bingo post. Perhaps something along the lines of cullinary delights?
Thanks for the tip!
Jeremy Stersky
In Germany we have used this teaching method. It is very effective.
Thank you Alex. Yes it’s certainly an effective method of instruction. It works by stimulating their minds to the point where they are interested in learning about mathematics, science, history and other subjects. It really works as a teaching tool.
Thanks for your comments.
Jeremy Stersky
Well I do say old bean, you’re right on the money what. I see these chaps are very keen to get you interested in the gaming. Educating children is a delight to behold. I just finished perusing your other masterpiece on the arcade version of bingo. Spiffing old boy – indeed.
you r very interesting mans for writing such funny responses so many times
As a fellow educator I’m very impressed here. Bingo for education is a novel experience. Congrats to you Mr Stersky.
Toon
Eidam
These young kinders – they play bingo at such an early age? Do they play for money? I don’t quite understand jeremy? It’svery well written. Please send me some feedback.
No Sarie they dont’ gamble for money at that young age. Are you from Bloem? I knew a Sarie Koernhof from Bloem. Anyways with this bingo you just game and not necessarily for money – it’s not the issue. It’s for fun only. Please clarify for us Jeremy – thanks.
Hello Koos,
Gambling is for adults only. Further it should be remembered that being an adult does not necessarily make someone a responsible gambler.
That’s why I recommend gambling responsibly. Only play with what you are prepared to lose. That’s the secret. If you can’t afford to lose then don’t gamble.
But bingo is all about fun gaming too – social interaction – and generally engaging with other players.
Take care and enjoy the game,
Jeremy Stersky
That’s quite sumthing – I like it very much!!!! Socially speakin I’m the puff daddy but with bingo – i’m the gorilla of gaming
)))))
This is a nice article You have highlighted many of the positive aspects of bingo. I’m notsure what JackBlack2 is talking about but I guess he/she is happy with the content.
I’ve managed to get a hold of this now. It’s really interesting to see such games making it through into the mainstream of education. I never quite believed that this was possible – but there you have it – it’s all possible at the click of a button – or rather in SCHOOL!!!!
Bingo for kids will work wonders in this game of tricks and fun. I love this as a great way to educate kids and it looks unbelievably cool as a method of teaching kids the right way to do things. What a really good idea. Found this via a link that was forwarded to me. Thanks js
There is great efficacy for bingo as a teaching methodology. I personally have used it with my students and it works supremely well.
Bingo is a great educational tool and I’m confident that it can serve the communities well throughout the USA. This particular article provides compelling evidence that bingo is great for building up the educational institutions across public schools.
Sue Medley
Thanks Susan!
Your feedback is much appreciated. I look forward to hearing from you on all future articles here at Bingo-Room!
Jeremy Stersky
Hi there Susan – you’re doing a bang-up job here – good effort. Do you really like to play bingo or is it a part-time thingy?
Good article. Me gusta! I try this with my children to help them learn. Gracias!
MUI BIEN MERCEDES!!!!!! ME GUSTA TAMBIEN!
I think this is a great activity to do with your kids. You get to spent time with your family, teach your children and have fun
thanks Jeremy, great article