New Year’s Bingo for Preschoolers

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This FREE New Year’s Bingo will keep your preschoolers entertained and focused so they can yell BINGO and win while developing essential skills.

New Year’s Bingo

This bingo printable includes two different versions with five pages each, one for younger learners and another for more advanced learners. Each card of the simpler version consists of nine pictures. The advanced version also includes 24 pictures on each card. I also included 40 picture cards to show the children which pictures they should mark on their bingo cards. You can get it at the end of this post.

You can use this game as a large group activity, but it is also perfect to use it with other New Year’s and Winter printables to create different stations the children can rotate through.

If your preschoolers have been exposed to other bingo games, they can work independently. However, new students or children unfamiliar with these types of games will need your guidance.

That is why I created two different sets. You will decide which kiddos to group according to their level. It is vital to remember that you want them to feel successful, not frustrated. Otherwise, that experience will result in a negative one, and you won’t be able to accomplish what you are trying to.

New Year’s Bingo Advanced Version Cards

New Year’s Bingo Simpler Version Cards

New Year’s Bingo Picture Cards

Benefits of this Bingo Game

Like any other bingo game, the New Year’s Bingo is not just fun but educational. Some of the most important benefits are:

Concentration and Memory Development – when 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 use some of their senses when they hear and see the card you are showing and touch, feel, and manipulate objects.

Eye and Hand Coordination – placing the bingo chip in the appropriate square when they see the picture.

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 it with the one in their cards.

How to Prepare for the New Year’s Bingo

The process is straightforward. You don’t need a lot of materials, just the following ones:

FREE New Year’s 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 them. I strongly suggest you do that to protect the cards from wear and tear and have them available for your students to play repeatedly.

Store them in a Ziploc bag for next year when New Year’s is over.

Playing the New Year’s 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 any other container where the cards are not visible.

Then, the teacher or child takes a random card out and shows it to the children, and whoever has that picture on his/her bingo card should place a chip on top of it.

The child who fills up an entire row (horizontal, vertical, or diagonal) and yells Bingo!!!, wins. If the child is distracted and doesn’t shout Bingo! before another one does, then he or she loses.

To extend the game, the winner can be the first to complete their whole card.

I like that this game could be played not only in the classroom or at home but also by preschoolers and older children, such as kindergarteners and elementary children. Why not? It is such a matter of having fun.

Extension Activities

The individual cards are so cute and pretty that you can use them for many other learning activities, 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 name of the letter that the picture starts with.

Language Development – Select one of the cards during circle time and invite your preschoolers to talk about the picture in the card.

Literacy – During large or small group activity, invite your preschoolers to create a story using the picture in one of the cards while you take dictation to make a class book. Once the story is finished, type the individual paragraphs and paste them on 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, 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 to all the preschoolers.

Artwork – Place tempera paint and crayons in the art center and invite each preschooler to select a card and use it as an 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.

New Year’s Storybooks

Don’t forget to read New Year ’s-related books to your preschoolers. Below are some good ones 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.

The Night Before New Year’s by Natasha Wing tells the story of a family determined to stay up until midnight on New Year’s Eve and stocked up on sparkly streamers, festive party hats, card games, and cupcakes.

Happy New Year, Spot! by Eric Hill. Spot is a cute dog who isn’t old enough to stay up until midnight but finds a way to celebrate the New Year early with his family.

Squirrel’s New Year’s Resolution by Pat Miller is about a little squirrel who knows New Year’s Day is excellent for making resolutions but doesn’t know what this means. She visits the forest to learn about it and helps her friends get started on theirs.

We All Celebrate the New Year by Hannah Swift is a picture book about cat breeds and traditions worldwide.

Happy New Year! by Clara Coleman explores how New Year’s is celebrated in different cultures worldwide. It features colorful illustrations, accessible text, and relatable characters that make it easy for children to learn about holidays that may be unfamiliar to them.

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 it to your Math or New Year’s board on Pinterest to have it available when needed.