(Print) Use this randomly generated list as your call list when playing the game. There is no need to say the BINGO column name. Place some kind of mark (like an X, a checkmark, a dot, tally mark, etc) on each cell as you announce it, to keep track. You can also cut out each item, place them in a bag and pull words from the bag.
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They rush over and check to see if we're right,
They call out a number and watch who needs help,
A card becomes full and a resident yelps.
So good-bye my friends, come back and visit me,
At first they are frightened and a tiny bit shy,
glancing around, I think they might cry.
To be old in a nursing home is not so much fun
Sitting in wheelchairs till anyone comes.
Then they approach, smile, and say "Hi!"
We smile back and answer...or try.
Along comes students full of hopes and dreams,
assigned to experience life in a nursing home, it seems.
I know we are failing, truly I do
I know what we've lost and how the years flew.
So, I hope they have learned a lesson from me,
Live life to the fullest and with your love be free!
Thanks once again for a lovely morning,
My wishes go with you, my dreams adorning...
Oops, Mabel covered a wrong number and puts up a fight.
I have lots of wisdom to share to help you be free!
Why else would they be here, where we all wait?
They are kind, patient, and caring to us,
They acted in kindness not knowing it hurt,
To realize they knew she wasn't alert...
I thank them for this gift, their sharing their lives
And hope they live life to the fullest because old age arrives.
They set up BINGO and pass us a card,
Not knowing that for some of us this game will be hard.
To the fact she had no idea what number they called.
Sooner than we wish for and life changes once more,
No longer able to do the things we dream for.
These students make me forget where I am for a time,
They laugh, they talk, they make me alive.
So if they pretend she won, I won't put up a fuss.
Remembering, mourning, reliving our fate?
"I won, I did, you know you are wrong!"
The students nod, pretend, and follow along..