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Let's Play Bingo!

| Oregon

Oregon SNAP-ED (Food Hero) is helping families build healthy habits outside of school through bingo! They have had successful bingo projects, first with the Spring Break Bingo (SBB) and then Bingo at Home.

Introduced as a pilot program in 2017, the project has been updated each year to best serve Oregon families. Through this fun school-led campaign, Food Hero is fostering healthy behavior changes.

The SBB project promotes 25 activities encouraging healthy eating, physical activity, and less screen time. The cards had both English and Spanish options.

In 2020, Food Hero adapted the SBB project to help families during the COVID-19 pandemic. Called Bingo at Home, the activities were modified to align with CDC social-distancing guidelines. For example, Share fruit with a friend” was changed to Eat two different colors of fruit in one day.” As families continue to spend more time at home, Food Hero is continuing to develop new programs, projects, and materials to meet the needs of target audiences.

Sample Bingo Cards

In 2018, Food Hero gave cutting boards (pictured below) as prizes. Students who completed five or more activities and returned their cards to their teacher received a prize.

Food Hero cutting boards
Oregon Bingo Success Story

In 2019, students from 56 schools in 20 Oregon counties took home bingo cards. They returned 1504 cards: 45% percent reported completing their bingo card with a sibling and 26% reported completing their card alone. The activities the students most commonly reported completing was as follows:

 

  • 1384 students ate breakfast
  • 1316 students had dinner with their family
  • 1143 students chose a fruit or vegetable for a snack
  • 1075 students walked with family for at least 15 minutes
  • 962 students ate 1 cup of vegetables
  • 782 students helped plan one meal
  • 774 students helped cook a meal
  • 756 students shared a fruit with a friend
  • 606 students went grocery shopping and picked out a new fruit or vegetable to try
  • 582 students made a smoothie with a fruit or vegetable
  • 301 parents/students visited Foodhero.org together
     

For additional information and the Spring Break Bingo and Bingo at Home projects, including peer-reviewed research, please visit https://foodhero.org/bingo.  You may also contact Food.Hero@oregonstate.edu for more information.

 

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