Hello Kitty Bingo

Hello Kitty Big Roll Bingo

Hello Kitty Bingo has been around a long time. This version caught my eye because there are three dice, instead of the standard two, and two levels of play. The game is played like regular bingo - get five in a row to win, horizontally, vertically, or diagonally. Instead of the standard bingo balls, three large dice will tell you the spot to cover. The dice are large and chunky, I had to cup both hands together to shake them and actually have them move around. One die would be a handful for a smaller child.

To start the game, give each individual a card and some chips to cover the spaces as they are called. The word BINGO is printed across the top of each card, but instead of numbers in the spaces below, there are pictures of Hello Kitty characters, flowers, and a gumball machine. Everyone starts by placing a chip on their FREE SPACE - the center square. The two levels of play are 1) throw two dice, 2) throw three dice.

• A two dice game:
• Throw the letter die and the picture die. The letter will tell you the column to look at and the picture die will tell you the character you are looking for. If you find the character, place a bingo chip on it. Keep going, players taking turns throwing the dice, until someone gets five in a row and yells BINGO!
  
  
• A three dice game:
• Throw all three dice - the letter die, the picture die, and the instruction die. Instructions include the following:
  • Take token - take a token off the card of any player
  • Give token - give a token to any player to place on their card
  • Move left - follow the directions on the picture and letter dice and then place your chip one square to the left.

The instruction die only has printing on three sides (three blank sides). Seems like a great opportunity to add your own special twist to the game.

Try this:

• Practice recognizing a win before you play. I place markers on a card, embedding a win in one direction, and ask the individual to find the win. Do this over and over until they can see the wins before actually playing a game. I have found this helpful.
• Go for a win in one direction at a time if the individual cannot watch three directions at once. Start with a horizontal win. Introduce and play each direction separately until it is learned before playing all three directions simultaneously.
• Let one person do all of the dice throwing. Ask another individual to place three or four bingo chips in the dominant hand and move them to the fingertips, one at a time, for placement. These chips are rather small. If this proves difficult, use your own larger bingo chips.
• Put one die in the left cupped hand and one in the right cupped hand. Shake them both at the same time without dropping. Can you move the hands in different directions at the same time, such as rotating and up and down?
• Add more directional instructions on the instruction die.
• Place a piece of paper near the board that shows the different ways to win. I make a box with twenty five squares, like the board, and then use a yellow highlighter to fill in a vertical win. Then make another box and use a highlighter to fill in a horizontal win. Do the same for diagonal. The individual can look at these examples as they play to help them remember what they are looking for.
• Work on visual discrimination, visual closure, eye-hand coordination, spatial relations, figure ground, manual dexterity, in-hand manipulation, executive functioning skills, socialization skills, process skills, play and leisure exploration and participation
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• In the box: 6 bingo cards, 3 oversized dice, 60 tokens
  Ages 4+, 2-6 players