Space bingo for kids: twenty-two picture cards to print, with rocket, Earth and full moon and crescent 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.
Space 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 space 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: “Burns fuel to push off the ground” is the rocket, and “A spaceship from stories” is the flying saucer. The first child to cover a full row, column or diagonal calls bingo and reads the covered pictures back to check.
Space 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. This pack has 22 pictures, fewer than the 24 a 5 by 5 card needs, so keep to 3 by 3 and 4 by 4 cards; a blackout on a 4 by 4 card covers 16 of them.
All 22 pictures in the space bingo pack
These are the 22 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🚀 | rocket | Machine | Burns fuel to push off the ground |
| 🌍 | Earth | Planet | The only planet known to have life |
| 🌕 | full moon | Moon phase | The whole lit side faces Earth |
| 🌙 | crescent moon | Moon phase | A thin, curved sliver of light |
| ⭐ | star | Star | A ball of hot gas that makes its own light |
| 🌟 | glowing star | Star | Stars twinkle because air bends their light |
| ☀️ | sun | Star | The star at the center of our solar system |
| 🪐 | Saturn | Planet | Has bright rings of ice and rock |
| ☄️ | comet | Small body | A ball of ice and dust with a glowing tail |
| 🌌 | Milky Way | Galaxy | The galaxy that holds our solar system |
| 👽 | alien | Make-believe | A character from stories about life elsewhere |
| 🛸 | flying saucer | Make-believe | A spaceship from stories |
| 🛰️ | satellite | Machine | Orbits the Earth and sends back signals and pictures |
| 🧑🚀 | astronaut | Person | Travels and works in space |
| 🔭 | telescope | Tool | Makes faraway things look closer |
| 🌠 | shooting star | Small body | A tiny bit of rock burning up in the air |
| 🌑 | new moon | Moon phase | The side facing Earth is dark |
| 🌗 | half moon | Moon phase | Half of the face is lit |
| 🌞 | smiling sun | Star | Gives us light and warmth |
| 🌎 | globe | Planet | Earth seen from space, showing the Americas |
| 🪨 | rock | Small body | Asteroids and meteorites are space rocks |
| 🌒 | crescent | Moon phase | The moon growing from new toward full |
The 22 pictures fall into these groups:
| Group | Number | Which ones |
|---|---|---|
| Moon phase | 5 | full moon, crescent moon, new moon, half moon and crescent |
| Star | 4 | star, glowing star, sun and smiling sun |
| Planet | 3 | Earth, Saturn and globe |
| Small body | 3 | comet, shooting star and rock |
| Machine | 2 | rocket and satellite |
| Make-believe | 2 | alien and flying saucer |
| Galaxy | 1 | Milky Way |
| Person | 1 | astronaut |
| Tool | 1 | telescope |
Wikipedia’s Solar System article describes the Sun and everything that moves around it.
Space theme preschool: a countdown bingo game
Make space bingo feel like a mission. Before the game starts, count down from ten and shout “blast off”. Call one picture for each step, and let children cover the matching picture on their card as “mission control”. When someone finishes a line, announce “mission complete” and ask the winner to name one fact about a picture in the line. The 22 pictures cover the Sun, the Moon, the planets and the people and machines that explore space.
Planets bingo for kids: a mini solar system lesson
Planets bingo for kids is a gentle way to meet Earth, Saturn and the Sun before the eight planets are learned by name. Call the pictures slowly, point out which are planets, which are stars and which are machines, and let children say one thing they know. It turns solar system bingo into a first science lesson, and astronaut bingo into a story about what people do in space.
How many different space bingo cards are there?
Cards are built from this pack’s 22 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 | 12,893,126,400 | 319,770 |
| 4 × 4 | 16 | no free space | 1,561,112,121,913,344,000 | 74,613 |
| 5 × 5 | 24 | free star in the middle | needs 24 or more pictures | |
Play space 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.
Space bingo, solar system bingo and astronaut bingo learning ideas
Space bingo is popular for space theme preschool units and for science weeks, and it introduces words such as astronaut, comet and telescope. Try these ways to turn the game into a lesson:
- Countdown start: count down from ten before you reveal the first picture, like a rocket launch.
- Moon phases: sort the new, crescent, half and full moon pictures and put them in order.
- Real or pretend? sort the pictures into real things (Saturn, comet and satellite) and story things (alien and flying saucer).
- Planet facts: share one fact about Earth and about Saturn after each call.
- Night sky walk: go outside on a clear evening and look for the Moon and the stars.
- Astronaut role play: let children act as mission control and call the pictures.
Space bingo: frequently asked questions
Which pictures are in the space bingo pack?
There are 22: rocket, Earth, full moon, crescent moon, star, glowing star, sun, Saturn, comet, Milky Way, alien, flying saucer, satellite, astronaut, telescope, shooting star, new moon, half moon, smiling sun, globe, rock and crescent.
Which group has the most pictures in space bingo?
Moon phase is the biggest group with 5 of the 22 pictures: full moon, crescent moon, new moon, half moon, crescent. The next biggest is Star, with 4.
Which pictures are easy to mix up?
Full moon, half moon, crescent moon, crescent and new moon are five pictures of the same object, and star, glowing star and shooting star, sun and smiling sun, and Earth and globe are the other groups that look alike. 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 space bingo pack support?
A 3 by 3 card uses 8 of the 22 pictures and a 4 by 4 card uses 16. A 5 by 5 card needs 24, which is more than this pack has, so choose one of the two smaller sizes.
Pictures: Twemoji by X Corp, licensed CC BY 4.0.