Looking for a fun zoom virtual activity for your family or for your catechism class? Look no further as Virtual Christmas Zoom Bingo is here. This activity will work. Special thanks to an Excel wizard, Mr, Hosey, who has shared publicly an awesome flexible Bingo generator template. The template allows an end user to generate bingo boards in bulk and to run a live game with a leader board. The template that he created with visual basic coding is very versatile. It includes ways to create different layouts of boards and different ways to get a “bingo”.
I am excited to let you know that I have taken the time to prep his template for your Christmas use. Otherwise, it would take quite awhile for you to sort through all the customizable options that make his template so versatile. I’ve set-up a traditional version for your use. By traditional version, I mean I have inputted a list of (5) groups of 15 Christmas words for creating the standard 5 x 5 cards with a free space in the middle. To stream-line your prep, I have also generated 20 Bingo cards for your quick use.
List of Words for Zoom Christmas Bingo
Below are the Christmas words that the cards and Bingo game draws use. Note that columns “B” and “I” are all words related to Jesus’ birth.
B
(People & Places of Jesus’ birth)
- Jesus
- Mary
- Joseph
- Angel Gabriel
- Angel
- Shepherds
- Three Kings
- King Herod
- Drummer boy
- Star of Bethlehem
- Stable
- Inn keeper
- Bethlehem
- Inn
- Creche
I
(Nativity Stable)
- Cow
- Donkey
- Sheep
- Manger
- Straw
- Hay
- Nativity Scene
- Shepherd’s staff
- Bible
- Gold
- Frankincense
- Myrrh
- Epiphany
- Dream
- Census
N
(Dec & Food)
- Advent
- December
- St. Nicholas
- Church
- Love
- Joy
- Hope
- Family
- Christmas Carols
- Cutout Cookies
- Gingerbread
- Candy Canes
- Egg nog
- Chestnuts
- Fudge
G
(Decor)
- Gifts
- Fir Tree
- Wreath
- Candles
- Bells
- Mistletoe
- Stockings
- Garland
- Tinsel
- Holly
- Stars
- Poinsettias
- Ribbons
- Ornaments
- Partridge
O
(Misc.)
- Fireplace
- Chimney
- Snowmen
- Snowflake
- Snow
- Nice
- Naughty
- North Pole
- Scrooge
- Santa
- Elves
- Rudolph
- Sleigh
- Reindeer
- Generosity
Step 1: Assign and Distribute Cards to your Players
The hard part is creating the Bingo cards, right? No worries here. I generated 20 cards for you using the free Bingo generator. Simply assign a specific card number to your participants . You can either directly share the pdf link below or just send a link to this page with the their assigned card number.
Add instructions in your email that for playing the game they must either:
- (Non-tech savvy) Print their board or sketch it out on a sheet of paper and then use a regular highlighter or pen during the game. For each game, they should use a different color or marking system.
- (Tech savvy) Download their card and then open it with Adobe Acrobat Reader and use the built-in highlighter in Adobe Reader. If some users already have installed a Chrome annotation extension, then that is a perfect alternative to Adobe Reader. Either way these digital tools make it easy to clear the annotations when the game is reset!
Zoom Christmas Bingo Cards:
Assign one or more of these cards numbered 101 to 120 to your players. The cards are also located on separate sheets in the Excel template.
Step 2: Prep the Excel template and Practice Running a Game
As the facilitator, you must need to do a few preparation steps. By thoroughly prepping Mr. Hosey template, I have made these steps very easy for you.
- Download the Christmas Bingo Excel template.
- Open the template up in Excel.
- “Enable Content” using the Security prompt that is seen in the yellow band as the file opens (see Figure 1). The macros need to be enabled. They are essential to playing the game. The file will open on the “Christmas” sheet. This is a template sheet that is dynamically used to create the Bingo cards. Make no changes on this sheet. The individual cards for the Christmas game are located on the sheets labeled 101 to 120. (These sheets were used to create the pdf cards posted above.) Make no changes on these sheets either as they are also dynamically created
- Input your list of player names on the “List” sheet in column M (see Figure 2). In the template only 3 players have been entered and they are generically called Player, 1, Player 2, Player 3, etc.
- Practice doing a few practice games times to make yourself familiar with running a game:
- Go to the “Christmas” sheet and click on the “Start Program” button (see Figure 3).
- In the operating panel that appears, click on “Play Bingo (Draw Clues)” button.
- It is very helpful to turn the checkbox on “Only Include Boards with a Player Name” (See Figure 4).
- Do a few practice games using the green “Draw (Press Enter)” button until you are comfortable with the options and the leaderboard.
Step 3: Facilitate the Virtual Bingo Game
- When all your participants are ready with their cards, share your screen in Zoom.
- Click on the green “Draw (Press Enter)” button.
- Slowly and clearly read the letter and the item (for example “B Mary”)
- Keep calling draws until someone (or several) get a traditional BINGO. Their player name should say Bingo next to it.. Verify the win(s) by having them read the winning set back to you. Announce their prize.
- Continue to have play more games by having everyone reset their cards and by clicking on the red “Clear Boards-Reset Drawing” button
If you have any technical difficulty, please refer to the documentation in the Excel template and the video posted Mr. Hosey at http://www.mrhosey.com/bingo.
More Virtual Game ideas
If you are looking for more faith-based Virtual ideas for Christmas, see these posts: