Martin Luther King Jr. Day Bingo Cards (free printable, 30 cards)
Thirty-six words from the life and work of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the civil rights movement, on unique cards, to play as a review after a read-aloud or a lesson.
36 items · a 5 × 5 card with a free space needs 24 or more. More items make the cards differ.For review bingo, type answer | clue (“56 | 7 × 8”): the card shows the answer, the caller reads the clue. Two columns pasted from a spreadsheet work too. Start a line with an emoji (“🐶 dog”) for a picture square.
Showing 4 of 31 pages. (Print always prints every page.)
To save a PDF, choose Print, then “Save as PDF” as the printer. Only the sheets print.
30 different cards. No two are the same. The card number and set number on every card let the caller check a winner (press C while calling).
About this set
Martin Luther King Jr. was born in Atlanta on January 15, 1929, became a Baptist minister, and led the nonviolent movement for civil rights. This list follows what most classes read: the Montgomery bus boycott that began after Rosa Parks was arrested in 1955, the March on Washington in 1963 and the “I Have a Dream” speech at the Lincoln Memorial, the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964, and Coretta Scott King, who carried the work on. It also includes the values students are asked to think about (equality, justice, courage, nonviolence, service). The holiday is observed on the third Monday of January, and many schools call it a day on, not a day off.
Grades: 2nd to 8th grade. Best in: January.
The words on the cards
Martin Luther King Jr. · Dr. King · I Have a Dream · Civil rights · Equality · Justice · Freedom · Peace · Nonviolence · Courage · Dream · Boycott · Montgomery · Rosa Parks · Bus · Segregation · March · March on Washington · Lincoln Memorial · Nobel Peace Prize · Coretta Scott King · Atlanta · Minister · Church · Speech · Fairness · Unity · Love · Hope · Community · Service · Third Monday in January · January 15 · Leader · Change · Respect
How to play, and five ideas
Read first, play second: read a picture biography aloud, then use bingo to check who remembers the key people, places and events.
Say why: when a student covers a square, they must say one sentence about why that word matters to Dr. King’s work.
Timeline: call the events (boycott, march, speech, Nobel Peace Prize) and then have the class put them in order on the board.
Service link: end with the “service” square, and have each table pick one small act of service for the week.
Vocabulary focus: for grades 2 and 3, make 3 × 3 cards from the words peace, justice, equality, courage, freedom, unity, kindness, dream and fairness.
On the third Monday of January in the United States. It became a federal holiday in 1983 and was first observed in 1986.
Is the content age appropriate?
The words are chosen for classroom reading: they cover his work, the events students read about and the values he spoke of. Nothing in the list describes violence. Teachers can remove or add any word before printing.
Can I change the words?
Yes. The 36 words are in the box above the cards. Delete, add or edit any line and the cards are rebuilt at once. Nothing is saved on our servers.
How do I call the game?
Press “Call the game”. Each press of the space bar tumbles the ball cage and pops out the next item in very large type, with the list of items already called beside it. Press C and type a card number to check a winner, P to change the win pattern, V to have each call read aloud, and F to fill the projector.
How do I save the cards as a PDF?
Press Print and choose “Save as PDF” as the printer. Each page can also be saved as a PNG picture from under its preview.
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