Most people don’t get excited about math. It’s a subject nearly everyone was required to sit through at school, and plenty of people never warmed up to it, even years after they left the classroom. So why does math matter so much, and why does it keep showing up no matter how much someone tries to avoid it?
From cooking and grocery shopping to tax returns and paychecks, math shows up everywhere in everyday life, whether or not anyone stops to notice it. That’s exactly why it helps to teach kids the subject while they’re still young, before the habit of avoiding numbers has a chance to set in.
Thanks to games like bingo math, it doesn’t have to be a subject kids dread. Playing a few rounds of bingo math gets kids interested in numbers instead of tuning them out, which makes math homework easier on parents and gives teachers one less headache when it comes to holding a class’s attention.
So how does bingo math work for kids? The classroom version is simple but genuinely fun. It typically covers addition and subtraction for younger kids, and multiplication and division for older ones.
The game uses regular bingo cards, except instead of a plain number on each square, there’s a math problem, something like 4 x 3 = or 12 – 7 =. The caller reads out an answer, and each player scans their own board of problems to spot the one that matches, the same way a normal bingo game plays out with numbers instead of equations.
Plenty of schools have picked up on how well math bingo works for showing kids that the subject can be interesting rather than a chore. Some schools have gone as far as running bingo math clubs and entering competitions against other schools.
Making the cards yourself is straightforward. A basic version uses a 3×3 grid with nine problems, or you can go bigger with a 5×5 grid and twenty-five problems. Several bingo math websites will even generate the cards for you.
None of this is limited to kids, either. Adults can have just as much fun playing bingo math with their children, and it’s a good way to spend a family evening together while reinforcing the basics of math without it feeling like homework. Also worth a read is our article GoPro HD Hero2.