Reading bingo for kids: a free card with every prompt written out

Reading bingo is a 5 by 5 card of kinds of books: read a book that fits a square, write its title in it, and five in a row is a Bingo. Peabody's card has twenty-four prompts and a free centre, all written out below, and it comes two ways: a card to print for the pencil, and Book Bingo, where each square stamps on a phone or tablet when the book is logged. Both are free, like the rest of Peabody through the end of 2026.

The 25 squares

Most bingo cards online are a picture, which means you cannot read the prompts until you have downloaded them. Here they are, row by row:

The prompts are mine, written to the labels Peabody's own library already uses, so that every square has at least three free stories that fit it. That rule is checked in the code: if the library ever lost the stories for a square, the square would fail before it reached a child.

Why these squares

A bingo card works when it nudges a child towards a book they would not have picked, without making any square a chore. So:

• Kinds, not titles. "A fable" can be a three-page Aesop or a longer one; a reader at any level can fill it.
• No square that needs a shop. Nothing says "a new release" or "a book with a gold sticker".
• Three squares anyone can fill: the free centre, "a book read aloud to someone" (to a little brother, a grandparent, the dog) and "a book from somewhere else", the library or a shelf at home.
• A balance of true and made-up. True books, science and long ago sit beside fairy tales, magic and myths.

How the card on the device works

On Book Bingo, a child taps a square first, and Peabody shows the stories that fit it, nearest the reader's level first. One more tap reads the story in the library and stamps the square. A book from one of Peabody's kids' lists, a series book, or a book from somewhere else (a grown-up types its title after a two-second hold) can fill a square too: the child decides it fits.

Five in a row lights the line and the card is ready to print. All twenty-five earns the certificate, and only then. Nothing is typed by a child, nothing needs an account, and the card is kept on the device, under an animal face rather than a name, so brothers and sisters can each have their own.

For a class or a club

Print one card per child from the bingo card page: the prompts are on it, with room to write each title in its square. A class can share one big card on the wall, with a square each week, or run a race to the first line with no prize beyond the line itself. The leaders' page has the sign-up sheet and the class log.

Questions parents ask

Does every square need a different book?

Yes, one book per square. A book can fit several squares (a funny fable about a pet), so the choice of where to put it is part of the game.

Can a picture book count for a 10-year-old?

On the card, yes. If you want the card to stretch an older reader, agree a rule together, such as "a book with chapters", and write it at the top.

Is there a prize?

The line and the certificate. I left prizes out on purpose: a prize rewards the fastest, shortest books, and a finish line everyone can reach rewards finishing.