Human Bingo!
The greatest hurdle to participation in the early days of a course can be comfort level with classmates. Want a cool way to ‘break the ice’? Try Human Bingo!
Purpose
The purpose is to get students on their feet and interacting with other students… as many different ones as possible. The card is typically populated with fun, mostly surface activities or characteristics that could apply to people in the classroom. Examples would be:
- “Have bungee jumped”,
- “Plays intramural sports at NWTC”,
- “Has been to both Disney World AND Disneyland”
- “Favorite football team is NOT the Packers”
Execution
Like most ice-breaker activities, Human Bingo is pretty simple to execute. Simply take the sample card and change it however you would like. Add statements that are specific to the course you are teaching, or the Green Bay area, or college students. You can ask them to get bingo, or to fill all squares. You may opt for a free space or no free space in the middle. Does a postage stamp or four corners count? That could be up to you or you could leave that to your students.
You can ask them to get bingo, or to fill all squares.
I have found they have a lot of fun with this and get to know some similarities they have with others in the group… no matter how small.
