Winter Reading Bingo

Looking for a literacy based challenge for your family this winter? Stop by Decorah Public Library, or visit our website, to pickup a winter reading BINGO card.

Decorah Public Library is offering two BINGO challenges: an “Early Literacy” bingo card designed for children 0-5 and a “Read Diverse Books” BINGO card recommended for children, tweens, teens, elementary school age and older.

“It’s easy to get in a rut during the winter,” says Children’s and Young Adult Librarian Rachael Button. “We wanted to design a BINGO challenge that would engage our patrons in literacy-based activities.”

For older children the squares range from “read a book that’s been published in the last two years” to “check-out a book that teaches you how to do or make something.”

Button notes that books read for the “Reading Games” tournament can be used for BINGO squares as long as the book read fits the description on the square, “The point is to reward and celebrate reading and to get readers to explore books that they might not otherwise check-out. I believe those goals align well with the vision of Reading Games and I suspect that some of the Reading Games book selection would correspond well with our BINGO squares.”

For the Early Literacy Bingo, Button took cues from the librarians at Carmel Clay Public Library in Indiana who designed a BINGO card inspired by the “Every Child Ready to Read” early literacy Program.

“The prompts are grounded in reading, writing, singing, science, and play,” Button says. For example, one square says “read a nonfiction book about an animal. Using lots of adjectives, talk about the pictures.” Another square invites families to “talk about your child’s favorite things and make a book about them.”

Participants should finish as many BINGO squares as they can between February 1 and April 10th. To get a prize, participants must complete 5 activities in a row (across, vertically, or diagonally) from one of the BINGO cards. Children under 5 may win up to 3 prizes. Older children and teens can get a prize for their first BINGO and a raffle ticket for every additional BINGO.

This program is free and open to the public. BINGO cards are available at Decorah Public Library or online. Questions can be directed to Rachael Button at 563-382-3717.