worksheets

This game is meant for both kids and adults, parents, art teachers, artists of all kinds, tired people after a long day at work who want to relax, and everyone who wants to have fun and loves drawing and painting.

I would love to see your results:-)

Your task is to make a picture using five items you pick out.

First, you make your cards. There are five groups of them:

Animals

Activities

Objects

Food and Drinks

Miscellaneous (a mixture of animals, activities, things to eat and drink, and objects).

For each group, I made 20 cards. That means 100 cards in total, which is a lot of cutting. But it is said that cutting paper has a soothing effect:-)

This game can be varied. You can use my list of items, add your own cards, or make up a completely new list.

When your cards are ready to use, you draw one card from each group. These are your items. Make a picture using all five of them.

Here are 5 important rules to follow:

Rule #1 Technique

You can use any technique you like. You may choose a pencil, watercolors, colored pencils, wax crayons, pen and ink, markers, or you can make a picture in sand using a stick. It’s up to you. It doesn’t matter whether you make your picture on a sheet of paper or a napkin. Feel free to use any surface you please. Just make sure you are allowed to draw on it. (Making doodles on walls and furniture probably isn’t a good idea).

Rule #2 Time and place

It’s not important where or when you make your picture. You can create it outdoors on a sunny day, indoors on a rainy day, in your favorite armchair, in your least favorite rickety chair, in the grass, under a cherry tree, on the beach, or at your desk. It is highly recommended not to make your picture inside a cage with a lion or in water with an alligator swimming around.

Rule #3 Silliness

The crazier your picture gets, the better. The animals don’t have to be the only ones to do the activities. Why couldn’t a tomato play tennis? Why couldn’t a paperclip wear a tiny hat? Why couldn’t a pillow eat a rice dish with chopsticks? You don’t even have to respect sizes. An elephant can be tiny and a bug huge. A button can be bigger than a watermelon. Why not? It’s your world and you are the one who makes the rules.

Rule #4 Adding other items

Your picture can be made by using only the five items you pick. But as long as you use all your five items, you can add anything else to your picture. Remember, you are the boss.

Rule #5 Have fun

This is the most important rule. Enjoy your time playing this game, unleashing your creativity, and trying out new things.

For my pictures, I have used these items:

GROUP 1 Animals: a duck, a cat, a dog, an anteater, a rabbit, a crocodile, a tiger, a swan, a mole, a fish, a seal, a flamingo, an owl, a whale, a bear, a snake, a snail, an elephant, a lion, a giraffe

GROUP 2 Activities: reading, painting, flying in a hot-air balloon, watching birds, swimming, drinking milk, playing tennis, dancing, cooking, eating with chopsticks, decorating a cake, ice skating, singing, making footprints, building a sandcastle, sleeping, dreaming, skiing, wearing a hat, running

GROUP 3 Objects: a button, a car, a scarf, a pencil, a rug, a key, a paper boat, a guitar, a paperclip, an armchair, a doll, a ring, a fork, an umbrella, a shoe, a bottle, a pillow, a ladder, a glove, a toothbrush

GROUP 4 Food and Drinks: a pineapple, an apple, a potato, a banana, an orange, a cucumber, a teabag, chocolate, spaghetti, a watermelon, a carrot, ice cream, a lemon, a plum, cherries, candy, rice, beans, coffee, grapes

GROUP 5 Miscellaneous: a dinosaur, a dragon, a ball of thread, a slug, a lamp, a sock, a tomato, a beetle, a dragonfly, a butterfly, making soap bubbles, grass, a tree, a mountain, a jar, a starfish, jumping, a snowman, a cookie, a flower

I have played three rounds of this game. This is what I got:

1.

• A FLAMINGO
• DECORATING A CAKE
• A PLUM
• A BUTTON
• A DRAGONFLY

2.

• A WHALE
• FLYING IN A HOT-AIR BALLOON
• BEANS
• A RUG
• A BEETLE

3.

• A FISH
• SWIMMING
• A LEMON
• A KEY
• A SNOWMAN