Homemade Bingo Game for Toddlers

Finding Artwork

• Toddlers love to look at pictures, and learning to recognize them is part of their learning process. For a toddler bingo game, all you need is a card with five rows and five columns of pictures, for 25 pictures total. Of course, the pictures will need to be arranged differently on each homemade card.

  To make the cards, use an image editor package like Photoshop or a similar program that will let you import images, resize them so they're all the same size, and arrange them on a document.

  You can get your images from a variety of sources. Consider taking the photos yourself, in which case the toddlers can spot familiar objects. Use photos of their own toys, pets and of people they know. Or you can get your images online in the form of copyright-free photographs or clip art images. With clip art, you can make special holiday bingo cards, as there are numerous images for every holiday.

  Once you've arranged the images in a five-by-five formation, print the card on card stock for durability. Rearrange the images--adding in a few different ones, if you like--and print again and again for different cards.

Making the Chits

• To make the drawing chits, arrange the images with more space between them and print them on card stock. Cut these images out, then cover them with clear contact paper or glue them onto cardboard, as you'll want these playing pieces to be particularly sturdy. They'll be shaken up in a hat or bowl for play. Simply draw one out and call out the picture.

Marking the Cards

• Because you can print cards anytime you want, you can opt to mark your bingo cards one of two ways.

  Bingo games generally come with plastic markers for placing over the cards, so you can reuse the cards. For toddlers, you should make the images as large as you can on the cards. Then, you might be able to use something like building blocks as the markers. While you could use other objects, like poker chips or even quarters, you want to make sure that whatever you use, your toddler won't put it in his mouth.

  Alternatively, for one use only, you can mark the card with a crayon. When the image is called out, simply color over the image with the crayon. (Older children could use a highlighter, just like those used in bingo parlors.) While the card will only have one use, you can always print more cards.