Language FocusOther songs about: body, intonation/rhythm, alphabet/spelling

Letter recognition, simple spelling, English intonation and rhythm, actions (clap, pat your legs, pat your tummy, pat your head, jump).

BINGO (Play With It) Lyrics and Actions

There was a farmer had a dog. and Bingo was his name-o. [Pat your legs to the rhythm.] B-I-N-G-O [Point to the letter picture cards.] B-I-N-G-O B-I-N-G-O And Bingo was his name-o. [Pat your legs to the rhythm.] Clap! (Place the "Clap!" picture card over the "B" picture card.) There was a farmer had a dog. and Bingo was his name-o. *-I-N-G-O *-I-N-G-O *-I-N-G-O And Bingo was his name-o. (* = clap) Pat your legs! (Place the "Pat your legs!" picture card over the "I" picture card.) There was a farmer had a dog and Bingo was his name-o. *-*-N-G-O *-*-N-G-O *-*-N-G-O And Bingo was his name-o. (* = pat your legs) Pat your tummy! (Place the "Pat your tummy!" picture card over the "N" picture card.) There was a farmer had a dog and Bingo was his name-o. *-*-*-G-O *-*-*-G-O *-*-*-G-O

And Bingo was his name-o. (* = pat your tummy) Pat your head! (Place the "Pat your head!" picture card over the "G" picture card.) There was a farmer had a dog and Bingo was his name-o. *-*-*-*-O *-*-*-*-O *-*-*-*-O And Bingo was his name-o. (* = pat your head) Jump! (Place the "Jump!" picture card over the "O" picture card.) There was a farmer had a dog and Bingo was his name-o. *-*-*-*-* *-*-*-*-* *-*-*-*-* And Bingo was his name-o. (* = jump) (Remove all the action picture cards.) There was a farmer had a dog and Bingo was his name-o. B-I-N-G-O [Jump, clap, and sing the letters.] B-I-N-G-O B-I-N-G-O And Bingo was his name-o.

Preparation
Print the picture cards and use them as you sing the song. Place the B, I, N, G, and O cards at the front of the room. Before singing the song, introduce or review the letters. As you sing the song, place the appropriate picture card over the letters one by one as you progress through each verse (or print the action card on the back of each letter and flip them over). This will help students follow along with the actions in addition to developing letter recognition skills.

Classroom Benefits
"BINGO" is a popular kids' song that follows a familiar pattern. Traditionally, for each verse, you remove one letter and replace it with a hand clap. But for this version, we've made things a little more active and interesting. Listeners are asked to do different actions in each verse. For example, in the second verse, you clap instead of singing the letter B. In the third verse, you pat your legs instead of singing B and I. In the last verse, you jump instead of singing B, I, N, G, and O. You can choose to follow these directions, add your own actions instead, or just clap in each verse. This song is a great introduction to spelling, excellent for listening comprehension, and for developing rhythm.

Activity Ideas
Pause the song before each verse and select a student to come up and cover (or turn over) the next card.

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Instead of clapping, try rhythm sticks, tambourines, or any of your favorite noisemakers. Use this song with the BINGO YouTube video to discuss farm animals.

After you learn this song, you can sing it without the CD and practice spelling other words. For more information on this, see our blog post on a holiday version of BINGO.