Nativity Bingo Printable: 40 Christmas Bingo Cards with KJV Scripture Clues

Forty different bingo cards make up this Christmas game, each a five by five grid of illustrated Nativity terms around a FREE center, from Mary, Joseph and the manger to Zacharias, turtledoves and frankincense. The caller draws from forty calling cards, and every round can be played two ways: show the picture and say the word for young children, or read a short riddle with its KJV reference for older players.

Two ways to call the game

In picture and word mode the caller holds up a calling card, players see the figure, hear the word and mark the matching square, which works even for children who cannot read yet. In Bible clue mode the caller reads the riddle on the card instead and lets the room guess before revealing the answer and its reference. The Mary card, for example, asks which woman was told she would conceive and bring forth Jesus, with Luke 1:31 underneath, and the Joseph card asks who was called son of David and told not to fear taking his wife, from Matthew 1:20. Clue mode suits older children, teens and adults, and a mixed group can switch modes from one round to the next.

Forty terms from Scripture and tradition

The forty terms include the people of the first chapters of Luke and Matthew, among them Mary, Joseph, Elisabeth, Zacharias and Gabriel, together with places such as Bethlehem, Jerusalem, the Temple and Egypt, and objects from the story like swaddling clothes, the manger, gold, frankincense and myrrh. Thirty of them are tied to a Bible passage, and every reference is taken from the King James Version, with each clue written for this game as a short riddle drawn from that passage. The other ten are familiar Nativity details that come from Christmas tradition, and their calling cards are labeled Tradition. That labeling turns the game into a gentle lesson in which parts of the Christmas picture come from the Gospels and which ones were added over the centuries.

How the forty cards differ

Each card uses 24 of the 40 terms, and no two cards are alike. Every term appears on between 20 and 28 cards, and the central figures of the story, Baby Jesus, Manger, Angel, Stable, Emmanuel, Mary, Joseph and Star, each appear on 28. That spread keeps the rounds moving without making any one card a sure winner. The host guide lists several winning patterns. Five in a row gives short rounds that suit young children or a busy party, while Full Card uses almost the whole deck, so several players often finish on the same call. For that case the guide includes a simple tie rule, and a cut-apart winner card is ready for whoever comes out on top.

Printing and playing

You receive four PDFs: color and black and white, each in A4 and US Letter. Every file has 48 pages, with one bingo card per page, the calling cards sized 85 by 55 mm for cutting apart, an alphabetical Caller Checklist of all forty terms, the host guide and a thank you page. Print in portrait orientation at 100 percent or actual size with fit, shrink and automatic cropping turned off, on white matte paper or cardstock that your printer supports, and test one page first. Markers, paper and cutting tools are not included. The decorative Nativity artwork was created with AI assistance. The PDFs are not editable and are licensed for personal use and personal gifts, so please do not resell or share them.

What is included

Frequently asked questions

Are the clues quoted from the King James Bible?

The references are. Every Bible-based calling card names a King James Version passage, and the clue on it is a short riddle written for the game from that passage. Some riddles echo KJV phrasing, such as conceive and bring forth for Mary, but they are written as questions to guess, not as verse quotations.

How many people can play at once?

Up to forty players can each have a different card, since the set contains forty unique grids. Smaller groups simply use fewer cards. The calling cards and the Caller Checklist stay the same whatever the group size, and the checklist lets the caller confirm a winner's card quickly.

Why do several players finish together in Full Card?

Full Card needs all 24 terms on a card, and by the time that happens most of the forty calling cards have been drawn, so several cards often complete on the same call. The host guide includes a simple tie rule for that. For a single clear winner per round, play five in a row instead.

What can players use to mark their cards?

Markers are not part of the download, so use whatever is at hand: buttons, dried beans, small candies, bingo daubers or a pencil if the cards are printed for one game only. Cards printed on cardstock last for repeated games when players use loose markers instead of writing on them.

Which edition should I print?

Choose the paper size first, US Letter in North America and A4 almost everywhere else. Then pick the color edition for the full illustrations or the black and white edition to save ink, for example when printing forty cards at home. All four files contain the same cards, terms and clues.