Friendship Bingo
Practice and reinforce friendship-building skills in your own class.
Ages 5-10 / 20
min Activity
Objectives
- Play a game to learn more about classmates, identify shared qualities, and appreciate unique identities
- Build confidence in conversational skills and practice approaching others with curiosity, kindness, and respect
Supporting Research
Research shows that active and compassionate listening facilitates positive social interactions and fosters deeper understanding between participants, leading to a desire for future interactions and forming the foundation for friendship. During this activity, educators should encourage students to practice kindness and collaboration as they take turns speaking and listening, use eye-contact and body language to show interest, and ask clarifying questions about what others share.
To learn more about these skills, and how they promote students’ healthy growth and the development of empathy, please check out our Empathy Framework.
Materials
Activity Partners
No items found.
Instructions
- Begin this activity by watching the video below.
- After watching the video, ask students the following questions:
• Think of a close friend that you have - how did you meet them? Why did you become friends? What helped your friendship grow?
• Based on your own experiences, what are some other tips that you would add to this video?
• How can we show someone that we are interested in becoming their friend? (e.g., by asking questions about their interests and listening carefully to them)
• What body language demonstrates that we are listening carefully and compassionately to someone?
- Distribute a copy of the “Friendship Bingo” card to each student. To play the game, students should walk around the classroom, introduce themselves to each other, and ask questions about the different prompts. If they meet someone who matches one of the boxes, they can ask that person to sign their name in the box. Once students fill out five boxes in a row, they can shout “Bingo!” and win the game!
- During the game, encourage students to ask follow-up questions to learn more about each other. For example, if someone shares that they have a pet, students might ask about a funny habit that their pet has! To make the game more challenging, invite students to play a “cover-all” version in which they need to fill out every square on their card to win the game.
- After finishing the game, guide students through a reflection by asking the following questions:
• What is something that you share in common with another classmate? What is something interesting that you learned about someone?
• As you played the game, how did a classmate show you they were truly listening to you? What did they do? How did this make you feel?
• How did you feel when you approached someone who you didn’t know very well? How do you think they felt?
• Why do you think we played this game? Did you learn any tips for how to make a new friend in the future?
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