‘I Spy’ Worship Bingo Cards

Thanks to Ashley Simpson of Building Faith for sharing this Great Idea in a recent blog post.

Simpson writes that this idea sprang out of several months of considering how to revamp worship bags for the congregation’s children.

A first step was the bags themselves: they had been using old monochromatic bags with the church’s logo on them. They decided to revamp these by replacing them with ‘leftover canvas bags from Vacation Bible School and asked [their]… youth group to decorate them’.

They added Illustrated Ministry’s weekly worship bulletins, which coincide with the weekly lectionary readings the children will hear in worship.

Then the idea presented itself: using only images, Simpson created a ‘Bingo Card’, which she describes as follows: ‘Each space has a picture of a different item with its name so that a young person can identify the item and use its proper name. Some items are easy to spot or name, like “Bulletin” or “Cross,” but others, like “Tabernacle” and “Paschal Candle,” are more difficult and help children build their church vocabulary.’

Making a variety of cards – with different images and different lay-outs – and laminating them, ensures that they can be used week after week.

Simpson includes an ‘I Spy Bingo Card’ template and encourages branching out with the idea to use it for and during other events, writing: ‘This resource can work well for others events, too. I even created one for our church kitchen to promote learning about sustainability. This version of the Bingo Card was originally meant for a diocesan-wide event to learn more about care of creation. Now we use it to draw attention to what kind of products we use in our space: Are we using paper or Styrofoam plates and cups? Where is our recycling bin?

There can be many different uses for the Bingo Card. Have fun!’

Agreed: mix it up, change it around, and you’ve got an intergenerationally engaging tool for all sorts of gatherings!

Read Simpson’s full post here.