This game is an excellent way to get your child to practice their letter sounds! It’s simple, straightforward, and fun. Not to mention SO easy to prepare and very inexpensive. Also, it’s a great way to introduce game playing and turn taking to small children.
I found the colored foam sheets for the Bingo cards at our local Dollar store. You could use construction paper just the same, though. I found the glass “gems” at the Dollar store as well. I used a permanent marker to draw a grid and write in random letters, and a star for a “free space”.
The glass “gems” are fun for preschoolers to get their hands on, too. I will definitely be trying to think up other activities to utilize them in.
Anyway, I cut index cards in half to make the mini letter cards in which to call out the Bingo letters. My daughter and I took turns of who would be calling out the letter sounds per game. I am focusing on the letter sounds as opposed to letter names because we are in process of learning phonics reading. This Bingo game is great because you can choose whether you want to focus on naming the letters of the alphabet, or just the sounds that the letters make. In addition, you can make the game more challenging by not showing the visual letter, and having your child figure out which one you’re talking about only by sound.
After playing for a while I realized we needed a bit more of a challenge because we were both winning very quickly. I think have a smaller grid with fewer letters is excellent for beginners of the alphabet, but I soon realized that we could definitely “up” the challenge with a larger grid for my preschooler (as shown above).
After playing this game with my daughter a few times, I have become aware that she has retained a lot more knowledge of letter sounds than I previously expected. Like most 3-year-olds, she’s very distractible and has a limited attention span, so often times it’s hard to gauge how much she’s truly retaining. Making learning fun, as with this bingo game, reveals a lot.
~Thanks for reading~