Multisensory Monday: Syllable Bingo

Who does not love a good game of Bingo? A classic game that can be altered in many ways to review material, Bingo takes few supplies and allows for endless excitement. If your students are working towards mastering the Syllable Level of Phonological Awareness, try out Syllable Bingo!

What Is a Syllable?

A syllable is a unit of pronunciation having one vowel sound, with or without surrounding consonants, forming the whole or a part of a word. ~Oxford Languages

There are a couple quick multisensory ways to determine how many syllables a word has.

• Put your hand flat on the bottom of your chin, say a word out loud and then count how many times your jaw pushed your hand down. Each time the jaw drops a bit, a syllable has been pronounced.
• Clap while pronouncing the word out loud or tap the table while saying the word. Some students may naturally be able to feel the syllables and clap/tap at the right time (in between syllables), while others may need modeling from the teacher first before they try it out.

How to Play Syllable Bingo!

The object of the game is for students to identify how many syllables a word has by listening and feeling the syllables. A chip is placed on the number on the Bingo board that reflects how many syllables were heard in the word.

• Pick a set of words that contain a total of 1-5 syllables. The length of words and ages are relative and can increase or decrease based on ability level. Here is a set of word cards to consider – pick and choose words that are appropriate for your students ability.
  • Syllable Cards
• Provide each student a Bingo board. Here is a basic one we whipped up for words containing 1-5 syllables.
  • Bingo Board
• Let the game begin! The first student to get 3-5 numbers in a row covered wins. Winning patterns can vary, such as across, diagonal, up and down, or 4 corners.

Switch it Up

Consider making your word lists holiday-themed for a fun twist to this classic game! Brainstorm holiday-themed words with students and use these words to play the game.

Older students who may have been working on syllabication for quite some time have been practicing “vowels, bridge, consonant, split” and may now begin to naturally see breaks in words. When you call off a multisyllable word, you may see your students looking up and scanning their brain for how many syllables they can visualize in the word!

I hope you enjoy time spent playing the classic game of Bingo with an academic twist!

Written by Brittney Urban

Brittney is a Dyslexia Specialist and Brainspring Tutor

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