ESL Action Verbs and Phrases Bingo Card Generator
Print free ESL Action Verbs and Phrases bingo cards from 46 entries such as Open the door, Walk the dog and Paint a picture. Each 5x5 card with a free center holds 24 of them, so every card in a set is different; with 30 players the first line usually comes after about 13 calls, roughly 2 minutes at 10 seconds a call.
| B | I | N | G | O |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Put on a coat | Nod your head | Climb a tree | Shake hands | Kick a ball |
Cook dinner | Knock on the door | Clap your hands | Turn on the light | Take off your hat |
Tie your shoes | Fly a kite | FREE | Pick up a pencil | Push a cart |
Brush your teeth | Draw a circle | Sing a song | Sweep the floor | Comb your hair |
Pull a wagon | Feed the cat | Take a photo | Write a letter | Wash the dishes |
Free: up to 30 different cards per set. Pro: up to 1,000.
Free sets stop at 30 different cards. Your 30 cards are ready to print or download now.
Pro ($19 one-time) opens soon: up to 1,000 different cards per set and 2 or 4 cards on a PDF page. No payment is taken now.
Edit words (46)
Cards update as you type. Long entries shrink to fit their square; a very long single word is split over two lines with a hyphen (up to 40 characters each). The PDF uses a built-in font: emoji and non-Latin scripts print best with Print cards.
Caller sheet
Every call in a shuffled order. Tick each one as you read it out; the same share link always gives the same order.
Updated
About ESL Action Verbs and Phrases bingo
ESL Action Verbs and Phrases Bingo pairs each verb with a natural object, so learners hear whole chunks like “Fly a kite”, “Tie your shoes”, “Turn off the TV” and “Shrug your shoulders” instead of bare words. Every square can be acted out, which makes it a good total physical response game for young learners, and the verb and noun pairs help older beginners sound natural.
46 entries make up this ESL Action Verbs and Phrases set. With 24 per card, any single one, Drink some water for example, appears on about 52% of the cards, so in a room of 30 players around 16 of them have it.
The caller reads the 46 entries from a shuffled caller sheet and players mark them; the first complete line (row, column or diagonal) wins.
All 46 ESL Action Verbs and Phrases bingo words
Every entry from Bake a cake to Write a letter, grouped by first letter. Edit them in the generator above: drop Walk the dog if it does not suit your group, or add your own.
- B: Bake a cake 🎂, Blow bubbles 🫧, Bounce a ball, Brush your teeth 🪥, Build a sandcastle
- C: Carry a box, Clap your hands 👏, Climb a tree, Close the window, Comb your hair, Cook dinner, Cut the paper
- D: Draw a circle, Drink some water
- F: Feed the cat, Fly a kite 🪁
- J: Jump rope
- K: Kick a ball ⚽, Knock on the door
- M: Make the bed
- N: Nod your head
- O: Open the door
- P: Paint a picture 🎨, Pick up a pencil, Play the drums 🥁, Pull a wagon, Push a cart, Put on a coat
- R: Read a book 📖, Ride a bike 🚲, Ring the bell 🔔
- S: Shake hands 🤝, Shrug your shoulders, Sing a song 🎤, Stamp your feet, Sweep the floor
- T: Take a photo 📷, Take off your hat, Tie your shoes, Turn off the TV, Turn on the light 💡
- W: Walk the dog 🐕, Wash the dishes, Wash your hands 🧼, Water the plants, Write a letter ✉️
ESL Action Verbs and Phrases bingo at a glance
| Entries | 46 words and phrases |
|---|---|
| Card | 5x5 card with a free center: 24 of the 46 |
| How it is played | A caller reads the shuffled caller sheet |
| Different cards possible | about 4.90 × 10³⁶ (order matters) |
| Different selections | 7,890,371,113,950 sets of 24 entries |
| Shortest entry | Jump rope (9 characters) |
| Longest entry | Shrug your shoulders (20 characters) |
| Multi-word entries | 46 of 46, such as Ride a bike and Fly a kite |
| Picture squares | 18 of 46 entries have a symbol, e.g. 🚲 Ride a bike, 🪁 Fly a kite, ⚽ Kick a ball |
| Good for | ESL lessons, kids, classrooms and preschoolers |
| Category | Language arts & ESL (61 themes) |
How long ESL Action Verbs and Phrases bingo lasts
Simulated over 150 shuffled games on cards 1-60 of this set: the median first line arrives on call 13 with 30 players and on call 16 with 10, while a blackout takes 42 calls, roughly 7 minutes at 10 seconds a call.
| Players | First line | Line, 80% range | Blackout | Blackout, 80% range |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 players | 16 calls | 11-20 | 43 calls | 41-44 |
| 30 players | 13 calls | 9-17 | 42 calls | 40-43 |
| 60 players | 12 calls | 9-15 | 41 calls | 39-42 |
| 1 card (exact average) | - | - | 45.1 calls | of 46 |
How to host ESL Action Verbs and Phrases bingo
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Print the ESL Action Verbs and Phrases cards
Give each player one card; a free set prints up to 30, no two alike. Card 1 above starts with Put on a coat, Nod your head, Climb a tree, Shake hands and Kick a ball.
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Print the caller sheet
All 46 entries appear on it in shuffled order, opening with Bounce a ball, Build a sandcastle, Wash your hands, Walk the dog and Turn off the TV; tick each one as you read it out.
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Act out each phrase silently, such as tying a shoe or blowing bubbles, and let the class call out the full phrase before anyone marks the square.
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Ask players to change the phrase into the past tense when they mark it, such as “I flew a kite” or “I rode a bike”, to practice irregular forms.
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Pair opposite phrases on your caller sheet, like “Turn on the light” and “Turn off the TV” or “Put on a coat” and “Take off your hat”.
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Call until someone shouts bingo
With 30 cards, expect the first line near call 13 (Comb your hair in this set's order) and a blackout near call 42; check the winner's squares against your ticked list.
ESL Action Verbs and Phrases bingo variations
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ESL Action Verbs and Phrases variation
Mime-relay bingo: one player draws a call from the caller sheet and acts it out without speaking, and the first classmate to say the full phrase, such as “Walk the dog”, becomes the next actor.
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Blackout round
Card 1 needs all 24 squares, Put on a coat to Wash the dishes; on average one card fills after 45.1 of the 46 calls (98% of the deck).
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Picture bingo for pre-readers
Use 3x3 cards with the 18 entries that have a symbol, such as Ride a bike, Fly a kite and Kick a ball.
First 15 calls of this ESL Action Verbs and Phrases set
Seed "esl-action-verbs" gives this order, the same one the caller sheet prints. With these calls, card 26 of the first 30 completes the O column (Walk the dog, Brush your teeth, Sing a song, Bounce a ball and Climb a tree) on call 8, and card 3 is the first full card on call 39.
| Call | Entry | Cards marked (of 30) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bounce a ball | 14 of 30 |
| 2 | Build a sandcastle | 15 of 30 |
| 3 | Wash your hands 🧼 | 15 of 30 |
| 4 | Walk the dog 🐕 | 18 of 30 |
| 5 | Turn off the TV | 15 of 30 |
| 6 | Brush your teeth 🪥 | 18 of 30 |
| 7 | Sing a song 🎤 | 15 of 30 |
| 8 | Climb a tree | 20 of 30 |
| 9 | Pick up a pencil | 15 of 30 |
| 10 | Play the drums 🥁 | 13 of 30 |
| 11 | Drink some water | 18 of 30 |
| 12 | Take a photo 📷 | 14 of 30 |
| 13 | Comb your hair | 18 of 30 |
| 14 | Make the bed | 15 of 30 |
| 15 | Close the window | 14 of 30 |
Themes like ESL Action Verbs and Phrases bingo
Ranked by category, occasion and audience; none of them repeats an entry from this list, so pasting two into the Edit words box gives a longer game.
Frequently asked questions
How many words are on the ESL Action Verbs and Phrases bingo list?
46, from Bake a cake to Write a letter. A 5x5 card with a free center uses 24 of them, so each card leaves out 22. The shortest entry is Jump rope (9 characters) and the longest is Shrug your shoulders (20).
Are all ESL Action Verbs and Phrases bingo cards the same?
No. Card 1 and card 2 of this set share 13 of their 24 squares, and every card is checked so none of the 30 in a free set repeats. About 4.90 × 10³⁶ different arrangements are possible from the 46 entries (7,890,371,113,950 different selections of 24).
How many ESL Action Verbs and Phrases bingo cards per person?
Usually one. Extra cards speed the game up only a little: on this list a first line took a median 13 calls with 30 cards in play, 12 with 60 (30 players on two cards each) and 16 with just 10. Two cards suit adults who want a faster game; young children do best with one. A free set of 30 covers 15 players on two cards each.
How long does ESL Action Verbs and Phrases bingo take?
An ESL Action Verbs and Phrases game with 30 players usually reaches its first line after 13 calls (9-17 in 80% of simulated games), about 2 minutes at one call every 10 seconds. A blackout takes about 42; with 10 players the first line needs about 16.
Can I print ESL Action Verbs and Phrases bingo cards for free?
Yes. All 46 entries are loaded above, so choose a card count up to 30 and press Print cards, or Download PDF to print later at one card per sheet (30 sheets for a full set). The shuffled caller sheet prints separately; nothing is uploaded or stored on a server.
How do I make my own ESL Action Verbs and Phrases bingo cards?
Start from this list: the 46 entries are already in the generator, so delete Paint a picture or any other entry, type your own one per line and the cards update as you type. Keep at least 24 entries for 5x5 cards (16 for 4x4); the share link reprints exactly the same set.
Is there a picture version of ESL Action Verbs and Phrases bingo?
18 of the 46 entries have a picture symbol (🚲 Ride a bike, 🪁 Fly a kite, ⚽ Kick a ball, 🪥 Brush your teeth). Print 3x3 cards with symbol entries such as Wash your hands and Turn on the light for children who cannot read yet; symbols show on screen and in browser printing.
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