Free Printable Getting to Know You Bingo Game Card

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It’s August!  That means it’s back to school season.  As you prepare for the first day of school, you probably want some fun getting to know you activities. Today I have a cool printable Getting to Know You Bingo board for you.  This is a perfect icebreaker bingo game for the beginning of the school year, or to use as a party game, family reunions or other group activities. Read on to learn more about it & how to use it. 

See Also: 50 Icebreaker Getting to Know You Activities for Kids

About Getting to Know You Bingo:

Bingo is a fun classic game that everyone loves. The Getting to Know You Bingo sheet is a fun twist on the classic bingo game. It is a simple ice breaker activity for all ages!  This game is a great way to help new people find common ground in a fun way.  Use it in the first week of school, or a new semester. It could be great for teamwork activities at work or on distance learning. 

How to Play Getting to Know You Bingo:

Begin by printing the game board out on colored or white paper. You can print two per page if you’d like. You’ll do this within you printer settings when you send it to the printer.  Pass the printed bingo cards out to the kids and make sure they have a pen or a pencil to write with. 

The bingo card is a 5×5 grid with 25 squares. Each square has fun facts and new things to discover about the other people in the room. The board has one free space. It’ll help kids find common interests and make new friends. They will develop social skills in the process, too. And this game encourages participation by everyone in the room. You can even offer small prizes for the winners. 

Some of the fun icebreaker bingo questions include:

• someone who speaks another language
• someone who likes to cook
• someone who has the same favorite color 
• someone who played a musical instrument
• someone who has lived in another state
• Has a birthday that month
• Has run a race or marathon
• Has unique pets
• and more! 

As kids learn facts about their classmates in the room, they write that person’s name on the card until they get 5 in a row or a blackout bingo, meaning they complete the entire board.  You can decide which way to play based on the amount of time you have. Encourage them to discuss the answers and get to know people a little, not just run off. 

I hope you’ll add this fun game to your lesson plan at the start of the school year.  

Download Getting to Know You Bingo NOW!

 This is a free PDF file.  Signing up will add you to my weekly email list as well. It’s full of lots of great teaching ideas and activities for kids.

Now, Just for fun, I want to tell you little bit about the history of the game of bingo.  I bet you will learn something new! 

History of Bingo

Bingo’s beginnings can be traced back to a lottery game in 16th-century Italy called “Lo Gioco del Lotto d’Italia”.  It was a popular game among the Italian people and involved drawing numbers and marking them on cards. It was a form of gambling, with players betting on the outcomes.

Early in the 18th century, it spread to France, and was known as “Le Lotto.” The French players used cards with a grid of numbers, and the game became very popular. By the late 18th century, the game had made its way to Germany, where it was used as an educational tool to teach children math and spelling. The German version of the game was known as “Bingo” and was played with a similar number-drawing format but included educational elements.

How it Became the Modern Bingo

The modern version of Bingo began in the early 20th century. The game was brought to the United States by a business man named Edwin S. Lowe. While traveling in the 1920s, Lowe saw a similar game in a carnival setting, known as “Beano.” where players used beans to mark numbers on their cards. 

During one game of Beano, a player accidentally shouted “Bingo!” instead of “Beano!” when they won. The new name caught on, and Lowe decided to rebrand the game as Bingo. He also made improvements to the game by designing new cards and increasing the number of possible combinations, which made the game more challenging and exciting.

Bingo became a sensation in the United States. The game was embraced by communities and organizations as a fundraising tool, and it quickly became a staple in American culture. It is used in community groups, schools and religious organizations to bring people together for a fun activity. It’s used for fundraising, education and entertainment. Bingo really is a great game with so many versatile uses!

I hope you have fun using these getting to know you, icebreaker bingo cards!  I have a few different Bingo Cards on my site as well: 

Printable Addition Bingo Game

I’m Bored Bingo- Educational Things to Do When Bored

Printable Halloween Bingo Game

Lunch Time Bingo

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