School Travel Bingo Cards

photo http://ednamaguire.org/

It’s our last Teacher Resource Monday of the summer! Happy first day of school to all those starting back to school today! It’s going to be a great year… we can feel it!

Today’s resource is school travel bingo cards! Playing school travel bingo is a great way to pump up excitement, educate about your destination, or pass time while driving to your destination. Download a set specifically for Washington DC, New York City, or Chicago. Each set includes 55 bingo cards; enough for everyone on a motor coach.

Here are several fun ways that you can use these school travel bingo cards before, during, or after the trip.

Before:

1. Information Meeting: Introduce your destination and trip itinerary to parents in a fun and interactive way! At your first trip meeting, distribute the school travel bingo cards to parents and students. To call the next bingo spot, show a picture of the site by using an accompanying bingo photo presentation. Everyone will be paying attention now! The pictures also give students and parents an idea of what they will be seeing on their trip. It will build excitement and anticipation, as well as calm nerves.

2. Fundraising: Are you hosting a fundraising event such as a walk-a-thon, auction, or pancake breakfast? Add a round of school travel bingo for a fun event addition (Breakfast and Bingo anyone?). Charge a fee per card per round to play and offer a portion of money to the winner. Bank the rest for fundraising.

Image: clker.com

3. In the classroom: Playing bingo with your students can build excitement and knowledge about your destination. You can keep it simple with straightforward bingo or combine it with a small research task. Provide a list of destination sites that are included on the bingo cards to students. Have each student find a photo and few fun facts about the site. When the site is called the student can share their picture and facts with the class.

During:

4. En route to destination: Bingo is great for long bus rides. Break up any tedium with a round of bingo!

5. Through the city: Mix it up by playing bingo as you are driving through the city! Call out the sites as you see them in person. This is great to play on the morning drive into the city if you are staying for multiple days.

6. Traffic buster: Stuck in traffic? Play school travel bingo!

After:

7. En route home: The excitement of the trip often makes the ride to your destination seem shorter than the ride home. It may be best to save bingo for the ride home.

8. Fun quiz!: After the trip, show students pictures of the destination sites without saying what they are. Check their answers when they call “Bingo”! This is a fun way to see what they remember most!