Bug bingo for kids: twenty-four picture cards to print, with bee, ladybug and butterfly and bird on bright cards for preschool, kindergarten and parties. Print up to 200 different cards with calling cards to cut out, or play online, where each picture is read aloud. Free, with no sign-up.
Bug bingo: printable cards and online game
Below are a 4 by 4 card with words, a 3 by 3 picture-only card, the calling cards and the online game.
How to play bug bingo
Give each child a card, draw a calling card and say the word, and children cover that picture if it is on their card. For a harder game, give the clue instead and let them work out the word: “Pollinates flowers” is the bee, and “Turns to face the sun” is the sunflower. The first child to cover a full row, column or diagonal calls bingo and reads the covered pictures back to check.
Bug bingo win patterns to try
One line, four corners, two lines and blackout all work with this pack, and the picture bingo for kids page has the table of patterns. A blackout on a 5 by 5 card covers 24 of this pack’s 24 pictures, so that game lasts until almost the whole pack has been called.
All 24 pictures in the bug bingo pack
These are the 24 pictures that can appear on a card. The word column is what the game says aloud and prints under each picture, and the last column gives a clue to talk about.
| Picture | Word | Group | Clue to talk about |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐝 | bee | Insect | Pollinates flowers |
| 🐞 | ladybug | Insect | Eats aphids |
| 🦋 | butterfly | Insect | Drinks nectar |
| 🐛 | caterpillar | Insect | Eats leaves, then becomes a butterfly |
| 🐜 | ant | Insect | Carries food to the nest |
| 🦗 | cricket | Insect | Chirps at night |
| 🕷️ | spider | Arachnid | Catches insects in a web |
| 🕸️ | spider web | Arachnid home | A silk trap for flies |
| 🐌 | snail | Mollusc | Moves slowly and leaves a trail |
| 🪲 | beetle | Insect | Has a hard shell-like back |
| 🪱 | worm | Worm | Loosens the soil |
| 🌸 | blossom | Plant | A flower that becomes fruit |
| 🌻 | sunflower | Plant | Turns to face the sun |
| 🌷 | tulip | Plant | A spring flower from a bulb |
| 🌹 | rose | Plant | Has thorns and a sweet smell |
| 🌳 | tree | Plant | Gives shade and homes for animals |
| 🍁 | leaf | Plant | Makes food from sunlight |
| 🌵 | cactus | Plant | Stores water in its stem |
| 🍄 | mushroom | Fungus | A fungus that grows in damp places |
| 🌱 | seedling | Plant | A baby plant |
| 🐿️ | squirrel | Mammal | Buries nuts |
| 🦔 | hedgehog | Mammal | Curls into a prickly ball |
| 🐸 | frog | Amphibian | Eats insects and hops |
| 🐦 | bird | Bird | Sings and eats worms and seeds |
The 24 pictures fall into these groups:
| Group | Number | Which ones |
|---|---|---|
| Plant | 8 | blossom, sunflower, tulip, rose, tree, leaf, cactus and seedling |
| Insect | 7 | bee, ladybug, butterfly, caterpillar, ant, cricket and beetle |
| Mammal | 2 | squirrel and hedgehog |
| Arachnid | 1 | spider |
| Arachnid home | 1 | spider web |
| Mollusc | 1 | snail |
| Worm | 1 | worm |
| Fungus | 1 | mushroom |
| Amphibian | 1 | frog |
| Bird | 1 | bird |
Wikipedia’s pollinator article explains how bees and butterflies carry pollen from flower to flower.
Spring bingo: a nature lesson starter
Spring bingo is a lovely way to start a nature unit: print the garden bingo cards, take them outside and see how many of the 24 pictures you can find in the school garden or the park. Back inside, play the game and talk about the signs of spring.
How many different bug bingo cards are there?
Cards are built from this pack’s 24 pictures in random order. The table shows how many different cards that makes:
| Card size | Pictures | Free space | Different layouts | Different sets of pictures |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 × 3 | 8 | free star in the middle | 29,654,190,720 | 735,471 |
| 4 × 4 | 16 | no free space | 15,388,105,201,717,248,000 | 735,471 |
| 5 × 5 | 24 | free star in the middle | 620,448,401,733,239,439,360,000 | 1 |
Play bug bingo online
Press Create game on a tablet or phone and share the link: each picture is read aloud and children tap it on their own card. The guide to playing bingo online with friends covers hosting.
Bug bingo, insect bingo and garden bingo: learning ideas
Bug bingo, also called garden or minibeast bingo, supports science vocabulary and observation, and it is an easy way to start a spring nature lesson. Try these ways to turn the game into a lesson:
- Bug hunt: play bug bingo in the garden and cover each picture when you find the real thing.
- Six legs or eight? sort the pictures into insects (six legs) and spiders (eight legs).
- Life cycle: use the caterpillar and butterfly pictures to talk about how one becomes the other.
- Garden helpers: ask which bugs help plants (bees, ladybugs, worms) and which eat them.
- Minibeast sounds: buzz like a bee or chirp like a cricket when you call.
- Magnifying glass: look closely at a real leaf, snail or ant and compare it with its picture.
Bug bingo: frequently asked questions
Which pictures are in the bug bingo pack?
There are 24: bee, ladybug, butterfly, caterpillar, ant, cricket, spider, spider web, snail, beetle, worm, blossom, sunflower, tulip, rose, tree, leaf, cactus, mushroom, seedling, squirrel, hedgehog, frog and bird.
Which group has the most pictures in bug bingo?
Plant is the biggest group with 8 of the 24 pictures: blossom, sunflower, tulip, rose, tree, leaf, cactus, seedling. The next biggest is Insect, with 7.
Which pictures are easy to mix up?
Bee and beetle, ant and cricket, spider and spider web, worm and caterpillar, and blossom, tulip and rose are the pairs to separate before the game. Talk through the differences before the first game, then use the clue column to check that everyone has the right word.
Which card sizes does the bug bingo pack support?
A 3 by 3 card uses 8 of the 24 pictures, a 4 by 4 card uses 16 and a 5 by 5 card uses 24, so every card is a different mix.
Pictures: Twemoji by X Corp, licensed CC BY 4.0.