Snack Bingo

A long time ago I worked in after-school care and one of the games we played was Smarty Bingo. For those of you who are not familiar with Smarties they are candy coated chocolate buttons. It was a fun game where the children used Smarties to mark their Bingo sheets instead of the more typical plastic marker. At the end of the game the children got to eat the Smarties they used and the winner got a bonus handful of Smarties for winning. While it was a fun twist on a favorite game , I am not one who is comfortable giving kids sweets as part of a game and so Smarty Bingo has not been played in this household. 

What do we play instead? Snack Bingo, of course! (wasn't going to throw the baby out with the bath water, just make it a little more healthy!)

Instead of Smarties we use...

• Cherry tomatoes
• Pieces of fruits like apple, banana, pear and pineapple
• Mixed nuts, usually almonds
• Grapes and sultanas
• Cubes of cheese and cold meats like cabana
• slices of carrots and cucumbers 

As stated before the game is played like any regular game of bingo but we use food for markers. For our Bingo cards I just went over to Sparklebox on the Internet and searched Bingo cards. Just remember, because you are putting food on the cards you need to laminate them so you can wipe them clean.

Best part of this game is that before you know it the kids have had half an hour of fun, possibly learnt their numbers, colours, letters etc. and their bellies are full! What more could you ask for? It's portable and easy to take on a picnic.

 As you can see from the photo here, today's session was a success! 

Anyway I hope this has given you something to try around snack time. Maybe even encourage the children to try some new food? I also hope you are getting some awesome weather wherever you are in the world. We are just loving this sunny spring weather, think most snack times will be spent outside like this until this German weather throws us storms and rain at us again! It tends to do that!

From us here, happy playing!