Spanish bingo

How to play Spanish bingo in class

Every student gets a different card. You call each item in Spanish, and students cover the match. The first to complete a row, column or diagonal can shout "¡Bingo!" Students have to understand the word they hear, so Spanish bingo practices listening, not just reading.

Non-readers play with picture cards: they hear "el perro" and find the dog. The Spanish word prints under each picture, so the card also supports early reading. Readers can play words only. For Spanish 1 and 2, try calling a clue in a Spanish sentence instead of the word, like "Es un animal que dice miau" ("It's an animal that says meow").

To call, tick each item on the call sheet. Or cut out its squares and draw them from a bowl.

Making Spanish bingo cards

Describe your game in Spanish in the form above, and the items come back in Spanish. There's no language menu: the items follow the language of your sentence. The prefilled prompt is already in Spanish (it asks for 30 simple, easy-to-draw words for an elementary class, each with its article, mixing animals, food, colors, clothes and classroom objects), so change the topic and keep the language. An English sentence asking for "Spanish words" may return English.

The AI suggests 30 items. You can rename, remove or add items, or ask for 6 more, up to 60. Each label holds 40 characters or fewer.

Read the list as you would a worksheet: articles, accents, ñ. A missing accent makes a different word, so "papa" (potato) and "papá" (dad) count as 2 separate items. Want a bilingual square? Type "el gato – cat" as the label. Cards have no separate translation line.

For number bingo, keep it words only and write the numbers out ("veinte"). The pictures are drawn without digits or letters.

A few prompts to start from:

• Bingo de la comida para Español 1 (food bingo for Spanish 1)
• Bingo de los animales de la granja (farm animal bingo)
• Bingo de la ropa y el tiempo (clothes and weather bingo)
• Bingo de los números del 1 al 30, escritos en palabras (numbers 1 to 30, written out in words)

Which grid to pick

This page starts at 4×4: 16 squares and no free space, so every square is in Spanish. On 3×3 and 5×5, the center free space prints "FREE SPACE" in English. You can turn it off. We suggest 3×3 for pre-K and kindergarten, and 5×5 from grade 3 up.

Source: our simulation: 10,000 decks per setup, 100 games each, with 30 players and a 40-item list (10 more than the default 30), with a free space on 3×3 and 5×5.