Sound Effect Bingo

This is how you do this fun activity:

Step 1. Understand the Language of Sound
Hand out the list of sounds (see below). Give students a few minutes to look it over. One easy way to proceed is to ask students to produce the sounds described, as best as they can. What is the sound of a chair creaking, of a crowd applauding, of glass breaking, etc.?

alarm clock going off /sounding

ambulance siren blaring, sounding, wailing

audience applauding

baby crying

birds singing chirping

blowing bubbles

cat meowing

choir singing one chord

church bells ringing

clearing throat, person clears throat

creaking chair

crickets chirping

crunching chips, someone eating potato chips

footsteps crunching snow

glass smashed with a hammer hit

gong sounding

gulping water

keys jingling

lion roaring at zoo

organ playing in monastery

pigeons cooing and sparrows chirping

restaurant or cafe ambience

scissors snipping, cutting

sheep bleating

sneezing person

tree falling and crashing to forest

turning faucet on and off

typing

violin or fiddler (courtesy of e-fiddler.com)

windshield wipers

someone writing on chalkboard

Many of the above sounds were downloaded from the FreeSound archive.

Step 2. Bingo Card
Next, each student will draw a Bingo card on a piece of paper. The card is always a square. It can have 3 rows by 3 columns, or 4×4, or 5×5. I recommend 4×4 (for sixteen total squares) for intermediate groups. Here’s a sample:

Now each student will choose sounds from the list above (see Step 1). Again, the activity is adjustable; if a teacher thinks that’s too many sounds, he/she need only list and play the first 10 or 12. Each student can place any of the sounds from the list in any of the squares. Each square should have a different sound. The sounds need not be written exactly as typed; students can abbreviate.

Step 3. Listen
Play the entire list of sounds. When students hear the sound corresponding to what they have written in a square, they can mark that square with an X (a cross). Sometimes students will be unsure about sounds; that’s okay. They can be discussed and reviewed later.

Step 4. The Winner
State the goal. The first student who crosses out an entire row – whether up, down, or diagonal – yells, “Bingo!” Ask the student to read back the sound descriptions to make sure all the sounds have been played.

Step 5. Another Winner
Because we want to play more, let’s find a second winner. If the first winner’s line was ACROSS, ask for an UP/DOWN or DIAGONAL winner. The first students to complete a complete line of these will shout “Bingo!” too.

Step 6. One More Winner
Our last winner will be the first to black out his whole card. The first person to write an X over all his sounds will call out “Bingo!”

“Sound Effect Bingo 1” has the same sounds as “Sound Effect Bingo 2” but they are in a different order. That is so that you can do the activity 2 times with the same group.