Free Printable Colors and Shapes Bingo Cards for Preschool

Colors and shapes are among the first words preschoolers learn, and they’re everywhere: the red stop sign, the round clock, the triangle on the playground. Colors and shapes bingo turns those daily observations into a game. It works for circle time, small groups or a rainy-day activity at home, and it grows with kids from simple colors to 3D shapes like cylinders and cones.

How do you play colors and shapes bingo?

The teacher calls a color or shape; children find it and cover it.

1. Print one card per child from the generator at the top of this page.
2. Prep step for pre-readers: have each child color the color words with the matching crayon and draw a tiny shape next to each shape word. This turns the word card into a picture card they can read.
3. Call a word while holding up an object: a red block, a toy ball for “Sphere”, a paper triangle.
4. Children find and cover the matching square with a counter or pom-pom.
5. The first child with a complete row, column or diagonal shouts “Bingo!”

The center square is free.

How many colors and shapes bingo cards do I need?

One per child plus a couple of extras. Preschool classes are small, so 12 to 20 cards is typical. Each card from the generator mixes the 36 words differently. Laminate the colored-in cards so they last all year.

Ways to play at different levels

• Colors only (age 3). Call only the 14 colors. Kids who have colored their cards will match easily.
• Flat shapes (age 4). Add circle, square, triangle, rectangle, oval, star and heart. Hold up cutouts as you call.
• Solid shapes (age 5 to 6). Kindergartners learning 3D shapes can match real objects: a block (cube), a party hat (cone), a can (cylinder), a ball (sphere).
• Riddle round. “I have three sides and three corners.” “I’m the color of a banana.” Kids figure out the answer before covering.
• Scavenger hunt bingo. Kids walk around the room and cover a square when they find something that matches.

Tips for teachers and parents

• Use real objects. Young children learn shapes faster when they can hold them.
• Say the attribute. “Hexagon, six sides, like a honeycomb.” Short descriptions build math vocabulary.
• Keep it cooperative. At age 3 or 4, let everyone keep playing until they all get a line.
• Watch for color-blindness. If a child struggles to tell red from green, focus on shape rounds and let them use word matching.

Our guide to bingo for kids in the classroom has more on adapting games for preschool groups.

Teach patterns with bingo patterns

Bingo patterns are shapes too. After a straight-line game, try four corners (a square!) or the letter X and talk about what shape the covered squares make.

Prize ideas

Shape stickers, colorful pom-poms, a new crayon, a sticker chart star or being the “color helper” for the day. More ideas are in our bingo prize ideas guide. For more preschool fun, try our animal bingo cards.