Google Bingo
Everyone knows how to play and will enjoy Google Bingo. BuzzBuzzBingo is home to the popular Buzzword Bingo Party Game! Turn your next TV watching gathering into the ultimate couch party or spice up your classroom with a fun game for all! Print and download free Google Bingo Cards or Make Custom Google Bingo. Want to Make Your Own Bingo Boards? Step 1: Modify the Google Spreadsheet Template. Make a copy of this template. (You'll need to sign-in with your Google account.) Edit the Terms. Use as many terms as you want, but you need at least 25 to fill a Bingo board. The more terms you use, the longer it will take someone to win.
Looking for a fun and engaging game to play online? Here’s a super easy virtual bingo game that you can make yourself with Google Slides. No time to make your own? No worries! After the simple instructions, I also give you an opportunity to access a free virtual bingo game template. You can customize and reuse the template as many times as you like. How do you make a homemade virtual bingo game? Read on to find out!
What is Virtual Bingo?
Some businesses use virtual bingo for marketing, but this virtual bingo is meant for classrooms or parties. It may be adapted to fit many subjects and age levels. It is basically bingo played online and can be an engaging way to review concepts. It’s ideal for playing in a virtual setting, such as a Google meet or Zoom meeting. The beauty of this bingo game is that the players can choose where each word, number or picture go on their board. There is no need for the teacher or bingo host to create multiple boards. Once you have made a virtual bingo master template, you can create multiple variations.
Creating the Virtual Bingo Board
First, you need to open up Google Slides. Insert a table to use as your Bingo board. For this example and the template I created, I chose a 5 by 5 grid. Size the grid to fit your needs, and insert a symbol in the middle spot for a free space. Choose a font and type the word “BINGO” at the top of the board.
Saving the Bingo Board as a Background Image
You don’t want bingo players to be able to edit the bingo board, so you need to save the board as a background image. To do that, you will need to go to File, then Download, and download the slide you created as a JPEG image or a PNG image. The PNG image is a larger file size but the image is a bit sharper. Once the image is downloaded, create a new blank slide and upload the bingo board image as a background by going to Insert, then Image, then Upload from computer.
Adding the Markers to the Virtual Bingo Board
Amaze the bingo players with some endlessly (seemingly) regenerating bingo markers. They are very easy to make. Just create one circle or another shape of a desired size and color. Make identical copies and place them directly on top of the first one. Keep making copies and stacking them on top of each other until you have the amount you want. For the example template, I made 100 markers. When a player drags a marker over to the board, there is another underneath. No need to have a pile of markers spread all over the place with this easy method. To make sure that the markers are in front of the images or words on the bingo board when they are used, select multiple markers, then go to Arrange>Order>Bring to front. You can make your markers any color you like.
Adding the Images or Words to the Bingo Board
This versatile gameboard may be filled with words, images, or both. Images would be simplest for younger students to work with on their virtual bingo board. Images are easy to add by searching in Google from within the Google Slides platform. For older students, vocabulary words or spelling words could be used. Words from a social studies unit or science unit would be fun to use as well. The possibilities are many. Simply add text boxes and type in the words you need. I find it easiest to copy a text box from a previously-used word and change the letters inside the box rather than creating a new text from the Insert menu each time. You may also choose to have your students use a combination of words and images, as in the free template I offer.
Making a Copy for Each Player
If you are using Google Classroom, it’s easy to make a copy of the virtual bingo board for each student. Go into the Classwork section of your Google Classroom and create a new assignment. When you are inserting the link to the bingo board, make sure you select Add from Google Drive. If you try to just copy and paste the link to the virtual bingo board slideshow, you will not get the option to make a copy for each student. Here’s a quick tutorial to show you how it works.
Letting Players Set Up Their Bingo Board
Once students have opened their individual copy of the virtual bingo board, they can customize it by dragging the words or images into the boxes. In this way, each student will have a unique bingo board to use. No need for the teacher to make multiple bingo boards!
Give students a time limit, and when you are about ready to start playing, give students a bit of a warning that the game will begin soon. Between bingo rounds, students may rearrange the words or images on their boards if they wish.
How do you Play Bingo with Words?
To play virtual bingo with words, the teacher could call out the word in the virtual meeting. The teacher could also show the word on a screen and share it with students. For spelling practice, the class could spell the word together after it had been called.
How Many Words do you Need for Bingo?
The number of words you use depends upon the number of blanks you have on your board. For the example bingo board I offer, there are 24 blank spaces. You would want to have at least 24 words for students to move into the bingo spaces. You could certainly have more words for the students to choose from than the number of spaces.
How do you Play Virtual Bingo?
After students have been given time to set up their boards, the teacher calls out random images or words from the bank of choices. I’ve included a bank of choices in the example template I offer. When the teacher calls out a choice, the teacher drags the word or image over to the other side of the slide that contains the word bank.
The students drag a marker over to cover the choice that was called. The teacher keeps calling out choices until at least one student gets a completed row across, down, or diagonally and calls out “Bingo!” Another variation is “four corners” where a student has to fill all four corners in order to call “Bingo”.
How can I Make Virtual Bingo More Fun?
To make virtual bingo more fun, you could offer prizes of some sort. The winner could have a special privilege, such as getting to use a special virtual background or getting an electronic gift card, if the stakes were high. The student could choose to have the teacher do something silly, like sing a song. If you have creative ideas for virtual prizes, I’d love to know about them. The best ones are inexpensive (or free) and fun.
Free Template
Going to give virtual bingo a try? I hope you have found this post to be informative and useful. I have a lot of fun with Google slides. It’s an excellent way for students to share information with each other. Do you have any fabulous Google slides projects? I’d enjoy learning about them. I’m always on the lookout for more project ideas. If you are short on time and would like a free, premade virtual bingo template, I have one ready!
It’s fully customizable when you make your own copy, includes a teacher page, and is free to subscribers, along with many other resources for teachers.
Even More Templates
If you love this idea but don’t have any time to create the boards, I’ve designed templates for many special occasions:
I hope you find something you can use. If you have any ideas for other templates I could make, feel free to let me know.
You Might Also Enjoy These Related Posts about Google Slides:
Have a wonderful week, and have fun playing virtual bingo using Google Slides!
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Create Bingo Card
7 Easy Steps To Create Your Own Bingo
This online bingo card generator is easy to use. Just follow the instructions below.
- Enter a creative card title that describes your bingo game
- Choose the number of grid spaces – 5×5, 4×4, or 3×3
- Choose whether you want the center square as a free space
- Enter any words, phrases, or images into the bingo creator
- Change the colors of the bingo card template to add some fun
- Click “Generate”
- Print your bingo cards or share them with friends or family
How Does An Online Bingo Generator Work?
There’s no need to pop down to a craft store to buy bingo cards to use at home. With this free bingo generator, you can receive a PDF print out of your customized cards. You can also copy the URL for your cards to share with your friends online. The skies the limit with the types of cards you can create. Make several types of bingo sheets around any topic of interest: sports, travel, animals, food, movies, or TV shows. Anything goes! Each card you print will be randomized. This means that all cards are unique.
What Are Some Fun Ways To Use This Online Bingo Card Creator
You can create bingo cards for a variety of activities. Use them for teaching kids while having fun, during homeschooling, or for birthday parties. Use this bingo card maker to create a fun activity for Zoom calls with friends and family.
How To Play Bingo With Friends Online
There are two ways to use this bingo card generator. You can print the cards. Or you can copy the URL of the cards generated and send them to friends to play bingo online. After creating your bingo cards, click Generate. On the next page, you will see your sample bingo card. At the bottom, there is an option to Play Online Bingo. Simply copy that URL and share it with friends and family to play bingo online. Each player receives a different card. Set up a call on Zoom, Facebook Messenger, or Google Hangouts for your group. You call out the words, phrases, or images, and each player can mark them on their board until one wins Bingo!
Google Bingo Board
Sample Bingo Card From This Generator:
This sample bingo card on MLB teams doesn’t include the free spot but adds an extra row to fit all the teams.
Google Bingo Cards
FAQs – How To Make Your Own Bingo Card Template
Using this free bingo maker, you can be ready to play bingo in 5 minutes. Just enter the words or phrases you want and click Generate and Print.
You can use this bingo card creator to print up to 9 pages of cards, with multiple cards on each page. Once the bingo boards are ready, select the number of pages and the number of cards per page. Then, click Print to save the bingo boards as a PDF to your computer.
A call sheet is a list of the words or phrases you choose to add to your bingo cards. At the end of the PDF is a call sheet that includes these words to call to your bingo players.
Google Bingo Games
Yes. Click on any square within the card. Instead of typing a word or phrase, upload an image from your computer. This is a great option for teaching kids. You can use all images or a combination of pictures and words.
You can use this tool to generate bingo cards with a call list and print up to 9 pages of cards. For groups of players, who need 20 or 30 cards, you can print 4 free printable bingo cards on each page. Each card will be different. This generator creates up to 36 cards, which can be cut for sharing.