Turn any time of year into a fun reading challenge by making your own reading bingo card for kids of all ages.
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Draw a simple reading bingo grid to create your own summer reading challenge, or plan one for any time of year. Graph paper makes creating the 5-by-5 grid simple.
Fill in the boxes and make a game of marking off each square as you read. Customize this activity to fit your child’s interests and reading level. Choose books you have at home or borrow from the library.
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How to make a reading bingo card
Supplies
Instructions
1. Start in the center.
Find the box that’s closest to the center of the graph paper. Outline it in marker and write free in the middle.
2. Draw the horizontal row.
Skip a few lines and draw a box on either side left and right of the free space. Skip the same number of lines and draw a second box on both sides. This is your center row.
3. Draw the vertical column.
Use the same technique to draw boxes above and below the free space. Make sure you skip the same number of lines between every box and that they’re the same size. This is your center column.
4. Finish the grid boxes.
Use the horizontal and vertical boxes as a guide to draw the rest of the bingo grid. When you finish, there should be a 5-by-5 square of 25 boxes with the free space in the center.
5. Draw the letters.
At the top of the grid, write the letters B I N G O, one over each box.
6. Trim the paper.
Use scissors to trim the excess paper from around your bingo grid. Leave a margin of white space. If your boxes weren’t centered in the paper because of the graph paper layout, you can make it centered now.
7. Outline lettering.
This is optional, but now is a good time to decorate your page. Outline the letters to make them easier to read. To create this shadow effect, we used a black pen to outline the left and bottom edge of the yellow marker.
8. Fill in the boxes.
To finish the bingo card, fill in the 24 empty boxes. You can write whatever you like and customize it to your child’s age and reading level.
Pick specific book titles, choose an assortment of themes like we did for our 30 day reading calendar, or fill it in with times.
If you write 5-minute intervals from 5 to 60 minutes, you’ll use each time twice.
Once you’ve created your reading bingo card, it’s time to play! You can select a box however you like, letting the adult or child choose one. For a random selection, try using a pair of 6-sided dice.
- The first roll is the letter, 1B, 2I, 3N, 4G, 5O. If they roll a 6, try again.
- The second roll is the vertical column, counting down. If they roll a 6, try again.
- For example: If you roll a 2 (I) and then a 5 (bottom row), then read for 50 minutes.
Be sure to mark off the square when it’s completed. And have fun!
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