Children Learning Gluten Foods with the Help of Bingo

It is bad enough when an adult gets diagnosed with the digestive disorder called Celiac disease. If you yourself are diagnosed it can take some time getting in the routine of knowing what foods you can and cannot have, but when a child gets diagnosed the problem is then multiplied. We have all been a child before; all you want to do is eat as much junk food when you want. A child has not got the patience of taking note which foods they are and are not allowed. Making the whole process into a game however will make the learning processes that much easier.

Playing the Gluten Free Bingo Game

Most of us have played online bingo through the best bingo sites and the good news for you is the same principles can be applied to the following learning process. The idea is to create blank bingo cards either by printing the blank copy bellow of or by drawing 5x5 grids.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The aim of the game is to write foods that contain gluten in the Squares. E.g.

 

B	I	N	G	O
Muffins	Durham	Scones	Biscuits	Rye Bread
Bread	All Bran	Malted Drinks	Cookies	Sponge Puddings
Pastry	Yorkshire Pudding	Couscous	Muesli	Semolina
Cakes	Crisp Breads	Pretzels	Breadcrumbs	Pumpernickel

 

You would then read out foods that contain Gluten and as the child scans their card he/she has to mark of the Gluten foods if they have them. You would then reward the child for covering the whole bingo card.

The aim of the game is for the foods to be imprinted into the child’s brain. As the child scans the card looking for the food, other foods will be repeated by the child without them knowing. It is after repetition that we remember better.

Remember to make the game fun

We all know how distracted children can get and how fast things can turn boring. The whole idea of gluten bingo is to try and keep your child entertained while learning. This is done best by rewarding the child with sweet (gluten-free of course) when a game is complete. This will encourage your child to want to play the bingo game more.

If you have Celiac disease

The same game can be applied if you yourself have Celiac disease but your child doesn't. Making your child aware of what you have will not only make your child realise what you are going through but it will be a bonding experience bringing you and your child closer together.

Alternative gluten bingo

Make bingo cards with non-gluten foods. This way the child learns what foods they can have, not what they can't. The best idea would be to mix up a fee gluten free games and a few gluten games. Make sure your child understand which version they are playing.

How about creating a bingo card that has both gluten and non-gluten foods. The child then has two pens and has to mark each kind a different color. This is a more advance version of the game but would be more effective in older children.