How to Make a Homemade Custom Nature Bingo Card for Hiking With Kids

Throw out your old bingo cards and make your own custom design.

Bingo is a game that has been around for decades. Traditionally, the game is played by giving each player a bingo card and some playing chips. Someone draws a letter and number combination, then calls it out to the players. Once you have a row filled, you yell the word "bingo." If you are looking for a new way to play that is eco-friendly and perfect for hiking trips, consider making your own bingo cards. You can recycle scrap paper to create plantable seed cards. Plant the cards when you are done to grow beautiful flowers along the hiking trail.

Things You'll Need

• Scrap paper
• Pan
• Skimmer
• Blender
• Picture frame
• Mesh
• Stapler
• Flower seeds
• Flower petals
• Piece of fabric
• Newspaper
• Marker
• Ruler

Instructions

1. Gather up scrap paper from around the house. Rip it up into tiny pieces and let it soak in a pan of tap water overnight. Skim the paper out in the morning and dump it into a blender. Blend the paper until you create a thick, liquid substance. This is paper pulp.

2. Spread the pulp onto the mold. To make the mold, staple a piece of mesh covering to a small picture frame. Be sure to pull the mesh tightly across to remove sagging and wrinkles. Spoon the pulp onto the mold and spread evenly. Allow the water to drip through the mesh.

3. Sprinkle flower seeds and flower petals onto the paper pulp. The flower seeds will sprout once you bury the paper and the flower petals are for decoration. Carefully turn the mold over onto a piece of soft fabric, pulp side down.

4. Remove the mold carefully. This should leave the paper on the fabric. Allow it set for about an hour, then place it on a piece of newspaper so it can finish drying. You can stack sheets on top on one another; just be sure to place a piece of newspaper in between each sheet.

5. Use a marker or pen to create your bingo card. You can write the traditional "bingo" at the top of each card, or you can use a different word. Since it's for a hiking trip, try "hike," "woods," "trees" or "river." Make sure each card has the same word. Use a ruler to create squares on the card underneath your word. Fill in the squares with random numbers. Be sure your numbers match the ones you'll be drawing when the game begins.

6. Take your bingo cards with you on hiking trips. Use rocks as your playing chips. When you are done playing, you can either save the cards for next time, or bury them in the soil so flowers will sprout.

References

• DNR: Make Your Own Paper