Teacher Training Day Bingo
A light-hearted icebreaker to energise staff on inset and training days.
Teacher Training Day Bingo is designed to bring some warmth and laughter to staff development days, when colleagues from different year groups or departments finally get time together. It gives staff a reason to mingle, share classroom experiences, and celebrate the small, familiar moments of school life. It is a gentle way to open a long day of training sessions on a positive note.
How to run this activity
Give each member of staff a bingo card as they arrive for the training day. Participants move around the room finding colleagues who match each square, noting their name or a brief detail next to it. Set a time limit before the first session begins, or run it during registration and breaks. Whoever completes a line first can be invited to share a favourite square with the room.
Full prompt list
- Find someone who has taught more than one year group this year
- Find someone who has a favourite whiteboard pen colour
- Find someone who has laminated something in the last month
- Find someone who has a go-to classroom management trick
- Find someone who has attended this training venue before
- Find someone who brought their own mug to the staff room
- Find someone who has a display board they are proud of
- Find someone who has covered a lesson at short notice recently
- Find someone who has a favourite educational podcast or book
- Find someone who has run a lunchtime or after-school club
- Find someone who has a funny story about a school trip
- Find someone who has changed year groups or subjects before
- Find someone who keeps spare pencils in their desk drawer
- Find someone who has a favourite staff room biscuit
- Find someone who has used a new teaching tool this term
- Find someone who walks or cycles to school
- Find someone who has a plant on their desk or windowsill
- Find someone who has taught for more than ten years
- Find someone who has a nickname among pupils
- Find someone who has organised a school event this year
- Find someone who has a favourite assembly theme
- Find someone new to the school this year
- Find someone who has a tidy marking pile right now
- Find someone who has a classroom playlist for quiet work
Customisation ideas
- Add prompts referencing your school's specific traditions or recent achievements
- Include a square for staff who have worked at the school for a notable number of years
- Adjust prompts to suit primary or secondary staff experiences
- Pair with a small stationery prize for the first person to complete a card