Chore Bingo

We played Bingo (though we called it Bravo!) a lot when I was a Spanish teacher because it was a really fun way to learn our new second-language vocabulary words.  We'd put words from our list in the empty squares and first I'd call them in Spanish so that the students could hear the pronunciation and get used to seeing how the word was spelled.  Then we'd ramp it up and I'd call the English and they'd have to find the Spanish equivalent.


Here's a fun twist to an old favorite, why not try CHORE Bingo? Brainstorm with your class a list of at least 30 chores, tasks, or responsibilities that a kid could have at school, at home, and in their community. If they get stuck, help them realize that "doing my homework," "going to my Scout meeting," or "soccer practice" are all responsibilities.  Once your list is complete, have students randomly fill in the squares on their CHORE board with responsibilities from the list.

Click here to download this Chore Board

As students complete their boards, copy the list onto a piece of paper and cut the tasks into strips that will be put into a pile and randomly drawn out during the CHORE Bingo game. Students will each need at least 25 "chips" that they'll use to cover the tasks as they hear a match; dried beans, kernels of corn, pennies, or squares of construction paper work well. Once students have their chips and their completed boards, you're ready to play.

The teacher (or a student leader) can select a strip of paper with a task on it and read it aloud. If students have this task on their CHORE Bingo board, they will cover it up. Continue to draw tasks from the pile until a student gets five in a row or four corners and the middle. The student who achieves this goal first says, "CHORE" and has won the game. You can also play rounds asking students to cover their tasks in fun shapes like a T, a Y, a Z, etc. or play "Black Out" where players have to cover all 25 squares to win. Once you've played a few rounds, talk with students about what happens in the game when they cover (or complete) their chores and how that relates to their real life responsibilities.

NOTE: For a variation for younger kids, why not try JOB Bingo? Have students make a 3X3 grid and fill it with nine chores (or eight and a free homework pass!).