What’s That Drawing?

Learning Objectives

Students will:

• Play a game to guess a vocabulary word using only picture clues.
• Draw picture clues for a vocabulary word, focusing on the most essential components of the word.
• Discuss ideas and observations about the game.

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Materials

For each group:

• Whiteboard markers or regular markers
• Slips of blank paper (see Preparation section)

For the leader:

• Whiteboard or anchor chart
• Hat or bucket
• Timer
• Paper
• Scissors

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Preparation

• Read and familiarize yourself with the entire activity.
• Cut paper into pieces large enough for students to write words on them. Cut at least two pieces per student.
• Set up a whiteboard or anchor chart where the whole group can see it. Write "Team 1" and "Team 2" near the bottom of the board or chart. This is where students will tally the score.

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Activity Steps

1. Ask: "Has anyone ever played the game Pictionary?" Encourage students to share their experiences with the game.
2. Tell students that today, they will work together in teams to play a version of the game.
3. Give each student two slips of blank paper. Have them write a word on each slip of paper. You may want to have them focus on a topic, such as famous people, movie titles, two-word nouns, or science words.
4. When students have finished writing, have them fold their slips of paper in half and put them in the bucket or hat.
5. Have students work in two teams.
6. Select one student to be the artist. This person comes to the whiteboard, selects a slip of paper, and looks at it for 10 seconds.
7. Then set the timer for 1 minute. The student begins drawing, while his or her team members try to guess the word. Explain that artists cannot draw letters, numbers, or symbols. Additionally, they cannot say anything unless someone guesses correctly.
8. If the team guesses the word before 1 minute is up, this team is awarded 1 point. The artist makes a tally mark beneath their team name.
9. Select an artist from the other team for round 2 and repeat steps 6-8.
10. Continue to alternate teams until everyone has had a chance to draw.
11. Tally the final score and declare a winner.
12. Reconvene the whole group and discuss the game with these questions:
    
    • What worked well about this game?
    • What would you do differently if you were to play this game again?
    • What type of words were the most difficult to draw? Which were the most difficult to guess? Why do you think this is so?
    • Could you play this game with younger students? If so, how would you have to change the game to make it easier for them to play?
    • How can you get better at playing this game?

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Variations

1. Have teams of 3 or 4 students each sit at a table and write words on slips of paper. Collect the slips and put them in a bucket. Have 1 artist from each team select a word slip from the bucket. Have artists on each team start drawing at the same time. Give groups 1 minute to draw. The team that guesses correctly first gets the point.
2. Speed Rounds: Play just as you play the game above, except artists select 3 slips of paper. Each team guesses as many words as possible in 1 minute.

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