Who doesn’t love a game of bingo?  This idea was inspired by my daughter’s board game bird bingo.  We love playing it as a family.  It got me thinking about playing bingo on a nature walk or looking out your window.

Nature BINGO!

• pen or pencil
• notepaper
• printable bingo template (you can find plenty online or here is one to try)

Games are not just fun to play they are fun to make, so, when you head out for your walk today, note down many of the different natural things you see.  You might see bees, flies, woodlice, butterflies, ladybirds, worms, grass, dandelions, nettle, oak trees, birch trees, lime trees, forget-me-nots, the neighbour’s cat, a pigeon, a cloud, a stone etc.  All of those leaves you identified with us will help here as will all of the wildflowers we identified.  Remember that minibeast hunt we went on?  That will also help.  You will need to choose at least 24 things.  Maybe you can take a picture of each thing on your walk to help you remember if you do not yet know how to write?

When you get home you can write the names or draw a picture of 24 of the things you spotted on your walk, or, if you have a printer,  you can print them in a small enough size to put on your BINGO chart.  Choose one to put into each empty box of your bingo sheet.  If you are cutting them out make sure you paste them down.  Also if you are making more than one bingo sheet so you can play with others make sure each one is in a different order.

Here is one I found that bitz & giggles made up if you just want to get straight to playing but you will all be using the same sheet if you go this route.  Also, making it personal to what you can see makes it more engaging and possibly a little easier as you may not have any frogs on your walking route or in your garden.  😉

Now, when all the cards are ready, you can wait patiently until your walk tomorrow.  Tomorrow take your bingo sheets with you on your walk and something to mark them with.  See how many of the items on your card you can spot along the way.  Can you find a whole row?  Or Column?  Who will be the first to make an ‘X’ across their card?  Who will be the first to find them all?

Keep in touch by showing us your BINGO sheets.  What is it you see on your walks or in your garden?  We would love to know.  Post your photos on our Facebook, twitter and/or instagram.

Happy observing, creating and playing!

April