Travel Bingo

Parents prepared using a few different methods such as bringing coloring books or reading books but those only lasted for a short period of time. The next strategy employed was playing the game of 'I Spy'. Here a parent would say something like, 'I spy something red.' The children would then have to look around for anything red and see if they could find the right red thing that the parent (or one of the other children) had spied. This game lasted a little longer but it generally required the parent to participate which was fine for the first half hour or so but once the parent gave up, the children resumed their incessant, 'Are we there yet?' routine.

Parents had to come up with something that would entertain the children for hours and with that thought the Travel Bingo (also called Car Bingo) game was just the thing that they needed. Here the parents would create bingo game charts similar to the numbers bingo cards only, instead of numbers, they would put pictures and/or words of objects the children would need to find along the way on their trip. Once a child found the object on their Travel Bingo card they would cross it off. The first person to get all the listed object in a row called out Bingo and won a prize, something like a bag of chips or a candy bar. The first person to completely fill up their entire bingo card got a night to stay up later on a school night or they won a dollar or something like that. When that game was over they each got a new Travel Bingo card.

This tradition really caught on and soon game companies were printing up cards so that parents no longer had to if they chose not to. The car rides became pleasant for moms and dads as the children concentrated on finding objects along the way to cross off of their list and the game seemed to keep them entertained for hours. That was the best part! Now that you have taken Spanish lessons and quizzes, you can play Travel Bingo or Car Bingo using your Spanish vocabulary words. Therefore, be sure to look at each of the quiz pictures and then see if you can quickly find the Spanish word for what is on your card.