Home School Activity: States Bingo

When it comes to learning about our country, more and more middle school children can not tell you what the capital is of the state they live in. Some do not even know what side of the country a state such as Georgia or Oregon is. States Bingo is designed so that you can help your children learn more about the country they live in. After all, national geography is something that all children should know.

What you need:

White Construction Paper

Black Marker

Colored Marker

Scissors

To start with you need to create the bingo cards and the question sheet. Set the bingo cards up just like regular bingo only this time place States names inside the squares. Not every card has to have every State, just like not every bingo card has every number on it.

For the question sheet make a list of questions down the sheet that you will be asking. To change this up you can cut up the questions and place them in a bowl to draw out as you play. Make sure that you create questions that are grade level appropriate for those who are playing. You can create separate questions for each grade level so that game play can be fun for all.

Sample Questions:

1. What is the capital of New York?

2. What state is the Buckeye State?

3. What state is the Show Me State?

4. Where would you find Mount Rushmore?

Of course you will want more questions that just four questions but those give you an idea of the questions to create that will stimulate learning in your children. When you ask a question your children will use the colored marker that you gave them to make the square with the answer if it is on their card. The one that gets five across, down or diagonally will call bingo. Check the card to see that a Bingo was really earned. If a bingo was really earned then start the next round with each child getting a new card and you will use new questions.

Reward the child that called bingo with a reward that you choose in advance. This can be something like a few coveted pieces of candy or the child who bingos can get out of a household chore for the day. Just make the reward something that everyone playing will want to work toward getting.