Winter Bingo for Preschoolers
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Winter is in full swing, and this FREE Winter Bingo game is a fun, educational, and hands-on activity perfect to start this season.
The Winter Bingo game includes two versions, each with five pages: one for younger learners and another for more advanced learners. That way, you can decide which kiddos to group based on their developmental level.
Each card of the simpler version includes nine pictures. The advanced version consists of 24 images in each card. I also included 24 picture cards to show the children which pictures they should mark on their bingo cards. You can get the complete set at the end of this post.
Winter Bingo
If your preschoolers have been exposed to other bingo games, they are probably going to be able to work independently. However, new students or children unfamiliar with these types of games will need your guidance.
You can use the Winter Bingo game as a small- or large-group activity, or in combination with other Winter-related activities, to create different stations where children can rotate.
Benefits of The Winter Bingo
This Winter Bingo will help your preschoolers develop several skills while having fun. Some of the most important ones are:
- Concentration and Memory Development – because they need to focus to get it right.
- One-to-One Correspondence and Creating Sets – when they have to match the picture you are showing them with a similar picture on their bingo cards.
- Sensory Development – because they are using some of their senses when they hear and see the card you are showing, and touch, feel, and manipulate objects.
- Eye and Hand Coordination – when they see the picture and place the bingo chip in the appropriate square.
- Social Skills – when they take turns and communicate with other players.
- Fine Motor Development – when they move their hands and fingers while playing the game.
- Visual Discrimination – when they look at the pictures and can match them with the one in their cards.
How to Prepare The Winter Bingo
The process to prepare this game is straightforward. You only need the following materials:
- FREE Winter Bingo cards (found at the bottom of this post).
- Printer.
- White cardstock.
- Bingo chips (these could be mini erasers, charms, mini pom-poms, counters, and anything other material small enough to fit in the bingo cards’ squares).
- Laminator machine and laminator pouches.
- Scissors.
The only thing you need to do is print the Bingo Cards on white cardstock. Then cut them out and laminate. I strongly suggest you do that to protect the cards from wear and tear and to keep them available for your students to play over and over again. When Winter is over, just put them in a Ziploc bag and store them for next year.
How to Play The Winter Bingo
To start, each child chooses a bingo card. The teacher or one student (if they are playing as a small-group activity) should place the picture cards in an envelope, basket, bag, or another container where the cards are not visible.
Then the teacher or a child draws a random card and shows it to the children; whoever has that picture on their bingo card should place a chip on it.
The child who fills an entire row (horizontal, vertical, or diagonal) and yells “Bingo!!!” wins. Suppose the child is distracted and doesn’t shout “Bingo!” before someone else does; he/she loses.
To extend the game, have the winner be the first to fill in their entire card.
Extension Activities
The individual cards are so cute and pretty that you can use them for many other learning activities as well, taking advantage of the variety in the pictures.
Some of the uses and activities that you can use these cards for are:
- Phonological Awareness Game – Take one of the cards and name the picture, emphasizing the beginning sound.
- Letter Recognition – Take one of the cards and name the picture, saying the letter it starts with.
- Language Development – Select one card during circle time and invite your preschoolers to discuss the picture on it.
- Literacy – During a significant or small-group activity, invite your preschoolers to create a story using the picture on one of the cards. At the same time, you take dictation to make a class book. Once the story is finished, type each paragraph individually and paste them onto white paper.
Invite the students who didn’t participate in the story to become the illustrators. Once all the pages are done, staple them together, make a cover with a piece of construction paper, type the title and the names of the authors and illustrators, and laminate all the pages.
Don’t forget to make copies of the book to send home for all the preschoolers.
- Artwork – Place tempera paint and crayons in the art center, and invite each preschooler to select a card as inspiration to draw or paint a picture.
- The “The Missing Card” Game – This game is better as a small group activity. Take three to five cards and place them on a table. Ask your preschoolers to name the pictures on each card, then have your children close their eyes while you remove one card. Then ask your preschoolers to open their eyes and tell you which card is missing.
Winter-related Books
Don’t forget to read to your preschoolers every day. Below are some good books about Winter that you can use. You can find them all at your local library, used bookstores, and Amazon. If you want to add some to your collection permanently, click on the titles to go directly to Amazon through my links.
- What’s a Season: Winter by Kelly Grettlel. With colorful, rhythmic text, this book will show your kiddos what makes winter magical and fun.
- Curious About Snow by Gina Shaw. With beautiful snowflake photos, this book explores the science of snow, the history of record-setting blizzards and snowstorms, and how people have fun in the snow!
- The Biggest Snowman Ever by Steven Kroll is a fun story about how Clayton and Desmond join forces to build the biggest snowman ever for the town’s contest.
- Ten Sparkly Snowflakes by Tiger Tales. A cut math book that used woodland animals to show children how the number of snowflakes decreases from 10 to 1 with each turn of the page.
- Animals in Winter by Henrietta Bancroft. This book is a little advanced for preschoolers, but it can help you introduce your kids to basic science ideas during discussions about the seasons and animals.
- What Can You See in Winter? by Sian Smith. Using beautiful photos, straightforward repeated text, high-frequency and decodable words, and strong photo-to-text matching, this book will teach children about things they can see in winter, including typical winter activities and changes in the natural world.
- What’s a Season: Winter by Kelly Grettlel. With colorful, rhythmic text, this book will show your kiddos what makes winter magical and fun.
- Curious About Snow by Gina Shaw. With beautiful snowflake photos, this book explores the science of snow, the history of record-setting blizzards and snowstorms, and how people have fun in the snow!
- The Biggest Snowman Ever by Steven Kroll is a fun story about how Clayton and Desmond join forces to build the biggest snowman ever for the town’s contest.
- Ten Sparkly Snowflakes by Tiger Tales. A cut math book that used woodland animals to show children how the number of snowflakes decreases from 10 to 1 with each turn of the page.
- Animals in Winter by Henrietta Bancroft. This book is a little advanced for preschoolers, but it can help you introduce your kids to basic science ideas during discussions about the seasons and animals.
Pin It For Later
If you are in a rush and don’t have time to read the post and download the printable, but want to save it for later, pin this to your Math or Spring board on Pinterest so it’s available when you need it.
Don’t forget to grab your FREE Winter Bingo printable! Just click on the bottom below to download both versions in one file.
Be happy, safe, and creative. I wish you well.
Love,
P.S. If you would like to see an article about how to make something specific, please let me know, and I will try my best to write it for you.
