Play Math Bingo
Fun tools to turn math into play? You bet! Turn classic bingo into a game that flexes your child’s mental math muscles. Instead of simply calling out a number, call out a math equation whose answer corresponds to one of the numbers on your bingo cards.
Why Turn Math into a Game?
Math lends itself well to gameplay, which is a great lever for learning. More specifically, gamifying math can help your child to do the following:
- Explore freely
- Feel more motivated
- Learn without fear of making mistakes
- Apply abstract concepts in a tangible way
- Make and validate hypotheses
- Follow instructions
How to Play Math Bingo
Instructions
1. Cut out the bingo cards.
2. Cut out the math operations. Each number is represented by at least three equations, so you can choose which ones to use according to your child’s arithmetic skills (division is only available for numbers 2 to 20).
3. Put all the pieces of paper into a bowl.
Procedure
To play this variation of the traditional bingo game, hand out one card to each family member who wants to play, or invite a few of your child’s friends to join in! The game host, referred to as the caller, draws a piece of paper at random and chooses one of the operations. For example, for 16, the possible options are 12 + 4, 28 – 12, and 4 × 4. Players who have the answer on their card (16) place a token over that number.
You can check a player’s answer by asking them to discreetly show you the number they are about to cover. Just as in the original version, the objective is to get a full row of tokens. The line can run vertically, horizontally, or diagonally. Bingo!
