Fraction bingo cards
Each card shows fractions in simplest form. You call an equal fraction, “six eighths”, the class simplifies it, and whoever has 3/4 covers it. Or switch to Shaded bar and show a bar with 3 of 4 parts shaded instead. Every fraction is called once, and every student gets a different card.
Your cards
Press Generate cards to see them here.
How to run fraction bingo in class
Print one card per student and the caller sheet for yourself; in the PDF the caller sheet comes after the cards. In Equal fraction mode, read the first call aloud, for example “ten twelfths”, and write 10/12 on the board so nobody mishears it. Students simplify it by dividing the top and the bottom by the same number: 10 ÷ 2 = 5 and 12 ÷ 2 = 6, so anyone with 5/6 covers that square. Every call is a true equal fraction that is not already in simplest form (the top and bottom are both multiplied by 2 or more, and the bottom never goes above 24), so there is always a step to do. The fraction it equals is printed in small grey type at the end of each line of your caller sheet, so you can check a shout of BINGO quickly.
In Shaded bar mode the caller sheet draws each call as a bar cut into equal parts with some shaded. Sketch it on the board or hold up the matching calling card; a bar of 8 parts with 3 shaded is covered by whoever has 3/8. This suits students who are still connecting the symbol to a part of a whole. Bars with 10 or 12 thin parts are hard to count from the back of a room, so for bar mode a largest denominator of 6 or 8 works better. Switching between the two modes keeps the same set number and the same cards, so you can play a round of bars and then a round of equal fractions with the cards already on the desks.
The first student with a full row, column or diagonal calls BINGO and reads the covered fractions back to you. Each fraction appears on the caller sheet once, and no two fractions on a card are equal to each other (2/4 never sits beside 1/2, because every card fraction is already in simplest form), so a call can only ever cover one square.
Which denominators for which class
As a rough guide only (your own curriculum decides): in the US Common Core, grade 3 works with denominators 2, 3, 4, 6 and 8 and compares equal fractions on a number line, and grade 4 adds 5, 10 and 12. The setting is a largest denominator, so every denominator from 2 up to it is used: 8 also brings in fifths and sevenths. You cannot leave out a single denominator, so say so to the class if sevenths are new. Denominators up to 5 give 9 fractions, up to 6 give 11, up to 8 give 21 and up to 12 give 45. A card needs 8 at 3x3 with a free space, 16 at 4x4 and 24 at 5x5 with a free space, so 3x3 works from 5 upwards, 4x4 from 7, and 5x5 from 9. A size the range cannot fill is refused with the numbers, never quietly shrunk.
Small ranges also limit how many DIFFERENT cards exist: denominators up to 5 on a 3x3 card with a free space allow only 9 distinct cards, and up to 7 on 4x4 only 17, so for a class of 30 use 6 or more at 3x3 and 8 or more at 4x4. The page tells you if you ask for more cards than the range can make.
Printing
Four cards per page on Letter or A4 is the default for 4x4 cards: the fractions still print large and bold, and 30 students need 8 sheets. Choose two per page for 5x5 cards or for younger students. Press Download PDF to keep the set: the set number on each card and on the caller sheet makes exactly the same cards again from this page. Everything is made in your browser and nothing is uploaded. For whole-number games, use multiplication bingo or addition bingo.