Free Summer Reading Bingo Printable For Kids

A summer reading bingo printable has been a staple in our house for years, equal parts motivation and fun during long school breaks.

Instead of nagging about reading time, we turn it into a low-key challenge with prizes and bragging rights.

It’s simple, flexible for all ages, and actually makes reading feel like a game. If you’re looking for a way to keep books in the mix over summer without a full-blown curriculum, this printable is a great place to start.

Free summer reading bingo challenge for kids with a colorful book-themed grid, featuring fun prompts like “read outside” and “read in your pajamas.”

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Table of Contents

How We Use This Summer Reading Game

We’ve always leaned into turning everyday things into games, and this summer reading bingo printable is no exception. It’s a simple way to make reading feel less like an assignment and more like a challenge, especially with a few prizes thrown in.

Here’s how it works in our house:

5 in a Row – Classic bingo rules. Once he completes any straight line, he gets to pick out a new book from Amazon.
All the Edge Squares – This one’s tougher. If he finishes every space along the border, he earns a book plus a $10 Amazon voucher.
Full Board – All 25 boxes? That’s the big prize: a book of his choice and a $25 voucher.

Honestly, it’s just a clever excuse to add more books to our shelves, but when he’s motivated and actually excited to read, that’s a win for everyone.

You’ll find the printable near the bottom of this post. It’s free for personal, library, or classroom use. And if you want to keep the momentum going, it pairs really well with our summer reading comprehension worksheets.

A boy with glasses sits on a red couch reading the book Grandpa’s Great Escape by David Walliams. The book cover is teal and illustrated with a cartoonish scene of a grandpa and child flying a vintage green airplane over a whimsical landscape.

What’s Inside the Summer Book Bingo

This book bingo sheet includes 25 different reading prompts, some quick and easy, others more creative or challenging.

We’ve used it as a loose structure over the years, picking a few boxes at a time or aiming for five in a row, depending on how busy summer gets.

Some prompts are straightforward, like “read for 20 minutes” or “pick a book with a blue cover.”

A summer reading challenge book bingo sheet on a clipboard sits next to a copy of How to Train Your Dragon by Cressida Cowell. The bingo sheet features colorful text and prompts like "Read a book outside" and "Read a book with an animal on the cover." The red book cover displays a dragon flying across a map design.

Others encourage kids to branch out: try a nonfiction title, visit the library, or read under a tree. The idea is to make reading feel more like an adventure than a checklist.

If your child is younger or just starting out, feel free to swap in simpler tasks. For older or more enthusiastic readers, you might set a goal to complete the whole board. You can even adjust rewards based on how many squares they finish.

However you use it, the goal stays the same, make reading feel fun and something they want to come back to.

A colorful “Book Bingo” summer reading challenge sheet is clipped to a blue clipboard with a pink pen resting diagonally across it. The bingo grid includes creative reading prompts like “Read a joke book,” “Read a book written by someone famous for something else,” and “Read in your pajamas,” encouraging kids to explore different types of reading.

Book Ideas for Your Summer Reading

If you’re stuck on a few of the bingo prompts, here are some of the books my son has enjoyed that fit the different squares.

We’ve used these titles ourselves over the years, great for keeping things moving when motivation dips.

Books Turned Into Movies

These are always fun because you can follow up with a movie night (and maybe even a compare and contrast activity):

A young person wearing glasses and a black shirt sits on a gray couch, reading the book Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling. The cover features a blue-toned illustration of Harry casting a spell, and the reader appears focused and engaged.

Quick Picks for Other Prompts

Animal on the Cover – When You Trap a Tiger, Wings of Fire, The Tiger Who Came to Tea
Historical Event – Separate is Never Equal, History Smashers
Number in the Title – Walk Two Moons, I am Number Four
Set in Another Country – When Life Gives You Mangoes, The Water Princess
Set in the Future – I, Robot, The City of Ember, The Ear, the Eye and the Arm
Poetry – I’m Just No Good at Rhyming, Where the Sidewalk Ends
Sports – The Boy Who Never Gave Up, Weird But True Sports
Books with only 1 Word in the Title – Matilda, Slime, Holes, Slider

A summer reading challenge "Book Bingo" sheet is clipped to a blue clipboard, featuring colorful categories like "Read a book with a number in the title" and "Read in your pajamas." Next to it is the book Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules by Jeff Kinney, with its blue illustrated cover showing two cartoon characters and labeled as an international bestseller.

You can also pair this with our free summer reading log printable if your child wants to track all their books in one place.

Need book ideas for little ones?
Check out our favorite summer books for preschoolers, short, fun, and perfect for reading aloud on sunny afternoons.

Why Summer Reading Bingo Actually Works

The biggest win? It keeps reading from falling off the radar during summer.

Instead of nagging about screen time, I just point to the bingo card. It’s low-pressure, but still helps keep literacy skills from sliding over the break.

It also gets the whole family involved, whether it’s reading aloud together, helping pick out a library book, or just talking about what’s been read over dinner. And because the prompts are varied, it naturally builds vocabulary, comprehension, and confidence along the way.

Best of all, it helps kids see reading as something fun and rewarding, not just schoolwork.

A boy wearing glasses and a black T-shirt sits on a black leather couch reading the book I Funny: A Middle School Story by James Patterson. The book cover is bright orange and yellow, featuring a cartoon face with a fake nose, glasses, and mustache.

More Free Summer Printables

If your kids enjoy the summer reading bingo printable, you’ll probably like these too, easy, screen-free ways to keep learning (and fun) going all season long:

Beach scavenger hunt – Great for vacation days or just a walk by the water
Printable summer bingo – Another fun twist on the classic game
Summer bucket list for teens – Perfect if you’ve got older kids at home
Car trip bingo – Easy to bring along for road trips
Camping scavenger hunt – Ideal for outdoor adventures
Zoo scavenger hunt – Works well before or during your next zoo visit
Summer writing prompts – Light creative writing ideas that pair nicely with the bingo

You can also grab our free summer reading log printables if your child wants to track everything they’ve read in one place.

Image with a title "Summer Reading Challenge" showcasing multiple reading challenges and bingo cards for different school levels, including High School, Middle School, Elementary School, and Early Childhood. The reading challenges are color-coded and offer various activities to encourage summer reading, while the bingo cards feature tasks such as "Read a book" to track progress.

ENJOY A SUMMER OF FUN WITH OUR READING CHALLENGE!

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Last Updated on 20 May 2025 by Clare Brown