7 Quick Tips to Make Your Bingo Games More Fun!

fun ideas for bingo

Our friends over at notjustbingo.com have provided us with some great ideas for your Fall or Winter BINGO activities! We’d love for you to share your feedback in the comments!

Bingo is fun, but over time it can become monotonous and a bit stale, even for those calling the game. Consider adding more energy to your next bingo game with a few new twists.

If you’d like to print and save these ideas, here is a printable version.

1. Play different styles of bingo games. Instead of playing the traditional bingo game in which participants must be the first to fill five squares in a row, make up different board-covering rules. For example, award prizes to the first person who covers a postage stamp on the board (the top-right four squares), the first person who covers the corners (the four corner squares of the bingo card), or the first person who covers the whole board (the black-out game). View our blog on How to Shake Up Your Bingo Games in 3 Steps for a printable download with 15 bingo pattern ideas!

2. Use food for the games. For instance, if you are hosting a fun Christmas themed Bingo game, use red and green M&M’s or Hershey’s Kisses as the bingo markers. You will probably want to use holiday themed prizes as well.

3. Alter your bingo cards. It’s so easy to change the mood or style of a bingo game by changing the five letters at the top of the bingo board. Throughout autumn, consider playing A-C-O-R-N instead of B-I-N-G-O. You can make the simple change by taping construction paper squares featuring the new letters at the top of the bingo boards. Just make sure to tell the bingo caller about the change! In addition, if you are going to play A-C-O-R-N, consider using acorn caps as the bingo markers. Another autumn bingo idea includes hosting an apple cider bingo game with the letters C-I-D-E-R at the top of the bingo boards – but don’t forget to serve the apple cider!

4. Organize a themed party around the bingo game. For example, at a nursing home, get your residents out of their rooms by hosting a fun Strawberry Daiquiri Bingo, complete with delicious strawberry daiquiris. If, however, you are planning the game for little ones, schedule a Kool-Aid Bingo featuring the Kool-Aid drink along with Kool-Aid cookies, and, yes, even Kool-Aid cupcakes.

5. Shake things up by using pictures. Try out bingo seniorsa fun new game of Picture Bingo, where participants must find the pictures on the cards that match up with the descriptions that are being read. It’s also colorful and can help improve residents’ cognitive skills while they are having fun!

6. Double the Prizes!  Make one of your bingo games even more competitive among the participants by doubling your usual prize for just that one game. So, if you give out one candy bar as a prize, give out two. If you give out one Frank Sinatra CD as a prize, then yes, give out two!

7. Human bingo. This is a fun game that is a great icebreaker for both adults and kids. To play, just create your own bingo cards filling each square with a different characteristic. For instance, one of the boxes may say “Favorite color: yellow” or “Has ridden in a helicopter.” The object of the game is for each participant to mingle with others to find someone who has that characteristic and then to write their name in the square. The first person who completes five squares in a row wins!

About Not Just Bingo:

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Not Just Bingo is an online resource of fun, senior activity ideas for activity professionals of nursing homes and assisted living facilities. They have been providing fun activity ideas online since 2009, and continue to assist activity professionals across the country by creating meaningful and engaging activity ideas for their residents that go “beyond bingo.” Not Just Bingo feels privileged to help activity directors better the living experiences of their residents while demonstrating that a senior’s quality of life can actually improve when they move to a nursing facility!

Want even more ideas each month? Sign up for the Notjustbingo Membership to receive specialized activity ideas to keep your residents and staff engaged, active, and having fun!

 

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12 thoughts on “7 Quick Tips to Make Your Bingo Games More Fun!

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  3. We have a resident who is very proud of controlling the bingo. Players are used to the same cards and any alterations must be approved by this woman. So most of the ideas to spice it up are not something that the lady will authorize. As a caller 2x a month, I try to tell jokes or make up alterations like a Loser’s Draw but don’t know what else to do. Very bored.

    • How about a Good Neighbor Prize! When someone yells bingo the neighbor/resident on their left or right (caller choose left or right before the game begins) wins a prize as well. Can do Good Neighbor every other game or so.

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