There are so many fun family drawing games we would like to share with you.
What can be more easy to create some family fun with just a few art supplies? All you need is paper and some colored pens, crayons, markers, or chalk. Maybe a flashlight, stencils, or cookie cutters if doing three of the games.
These fun family drawing games would be great to play at home or on the go.
A lot of these drawing games can be played on the go while traveling. If you are stuck in a car or plane and need some fun just pull out the paper and play these art games.
Don’t forget about the dreaded waiting room when something to do can be wonderful and save your sanity. Or when you are at a sporting event or function where siblings are attending. You might have some fun ideas and new games ready to keep them occupied when they get tired of watching.
These fun drawing games are sure to become favorites of yours as well. They can spark your kids’ creativity, bring you laughter, and allow you to spend some fun quality time together all while building your family’s bond.
19 Fun Family Drawing Games
1. Blind Draw
This game involves 2 or more people, a sheet of paper, and a marker. One person will be sitting with eyes closed or blindfolded. The other person will then tell the “blind” player what to draw. They will need to use their communication skills to guide that person in drawing the object correctly.
For example: The leader may want to have the blind person draw a snowman, but he won’t tell the blind person what they will draw.
A leader will say, “Draw a medium size circle towards the bottom of the page. Next, draw a medium-sized circle above that circle. Now draw a small circle above that circle you just drew. Inside that circle make two eyes. Now make a nose and mouth. Lastly, draw a hat above the small circle.”
When the leader tells the blind person to open their eyes they can then try and guess what they were drawing and see if it looks like the item the leader was telling them to draw.
If you have multiple people playing then have them all be “blind” players and one leader. Afterward, they can all compare their drawings and see who looks more like the item told to draw.
2. Feel and Draw
This is fun to work on your sensory input and how you feel touch/pressure and interpret it using your visual thinking.
You need at least two people for this drawing game. One person will sit with his/her back to the other person. They will have a notebook with a pen/pencil in their hand.
The other person will face that person’s back. When ready that person will use their finger to draw a picture on the back of the person in front of them. The person with their back being drawn on will simultaneously draw on their paper what they feel is being drawn on their back.
When the drawing is complete players can talk about what was drawn and how the other interpreted it.
This can be done without a pen or paper. The one with their back being drawn on will just guess what the other person drew on their back with their finger.
It can also be done by using an actual piece of paper on the person’s back with a crayon. Don’t use markers as they could bleed through the paper onto the shirt. And pencils and pens could break through the paper, writing on that person’s shirt as well.
Use a crayon to draw the picture on the paper, on the back of that person. The one being drawn on will draw on their paper simultaneously. Then you can compare the two drawings.
This was a fun favorite of my siblings and me while we were growing up. The best thing about this game is that you really don’t have to have anything but your finger and their back.
3. Silly Monster or Person Drawing
This is fun to do with the whole family or can be a fun party game. The best way to play this game is to have the family sit around a table with a piece of paper and a marker each. Different colors for each person are ideal so each player can see what they contributed to each drawing.
This could also be done with a small group of people in a classroom as an icebreaker or fun activity. No one has to have artistic skills as this is meant to be silly. And can be done with kids of all ages since it doesn’t matter on the drawing skills.
Start out by making a head whether it is a silly shape or not. Then pass your paper to the left and that person draws what is called out on that paper.
Take Turns calling out a facial feature or what to draw and then trading drawings.
For example: The first person would say draw a nose and everyone draws a nose and then passes the paper to the left. The next person then may say draw ears and everyone draws the ears and passes the paper. Then the third person would say draw eyes and when completed everyone passes the paper and so on adding new features till all the features are completed.
This can be played until you run out of things to say to draw. Fun additions would be glasses, earrings, eyelashes, eyebrows, freckles, moles, hats, hair, hair clips, etc.
When finished everyone can check out the collaborative drawing of silly monsters or people. This can be fun for a big laugh and a night of giggles. This is one of our favorite family drawing games with our kids.
4. A-Z Drawing Paper Games
This is a fun game that can be done while in the car, plane, waiting room, or actually wherever you need your kids to stay busy.
Give your kids a notebook with blank paper where they have plenty of paper to write on. Set a Timer on your phone for 10 minutes or don’t set a timer and let them draw till they are tired which actually may keep them busy for more than 10 minutes. If they have fun with this game they may spend a whole hour working on it.
For each letter of the alphabet draw a picture of something that starts with that letter. As an example: A – draw an apple or alligator, B – draw a bear or bee, C – draw a carrot or cat.
You could specify by giving them a category on what they need to draw, such as animals or food. That might give you two games to play if they do all animals A-Z and then do food A-Z.
If they can’t think of one with that letter they should skip it and go back to it if they have enough time at the end. If the category they are in does not have something that starts with that letter then they skip it.
At the end talk about what everyone came up with. Talk about ones that a child may have missed so they know for next time. This can be a great learning experience also. You can expand on it more with older kids and do other categories.
5. Sunny Day Outside Shadow Drawings
This does require the sun and some chalk but can create so much fun outside. It is also a good way to have some drawing fun with only a general ability to trace.
The best place to play this is on the driveway. Make sure that you go out during the day when the sun can cast a shadow on the driveway or sidewalk.
Take some small action figures, toy cars, or any other toy that you want to trace.
One person can hold up the object and then the other traces the shadow. A piece of paper could also be used by putting that on the ground and tracing the shadow on it. After tracing you can then color it in.
Another fun thing to do is take turns drawing each other’s shadow on the sidewalk. Make different positions so you have shadows doing different things. Or you could make a line of people holding hands. Be creative and have fun.
6. Folded Paper Drawing / AKA – Exquisite Corpse Drawing
This is a fun collaborative drawing game.
Fold the paper in half. Place the paper in a horizontal position. The first player draws on the top half of the paper a face including eyes, and other features.
Then the paper is handed off to the next family member to draw the second half of the face to complete it. The only thing they can see is the lines extended from that top half a little bit.
There are many ways that you can change this up by having the paper in half vertically. You can do one side of a face and the other player does the other side.
Instead of a face, you can do an animal. One person does one half of the animal and the next player draws the remaining half. Whether you are doing the front end and tail end or turning the other way do one side of the animal and then the other side.
If you have 3 people playing instead of folding it in half fold it in thirds. The first person can do the full face and neck. Then the second person can do the middle part of the body, arms, and hands. And then the last person finishes the bottom part of the body, legs, and feet.
Refer to the picture for guidance if confused.
Some drawings can turn out with a hilarious twist and give you all some great laughs.
7. Pictionary
This is a classic drawing game. Either use an actual board game with the cards to draw or make your own cards.
For an easy way without the actual game just write down things to draw on index cards or pieces of paper and use those.
Depending on how many people you have playing you can split into groups. This is great for party games or when you have family game night. The first team will draw the item on their card and their teammates will guess what it is. Each team will take turns drawing what is on their card while their team tries to guess it before the time runs out. Then it is the next team’s turn and so on.
Setting a timer is great for this game so everyone has to draw and guess fast. When a team guesses it correctly they gain a point.
8. Drawing By Connecting Letters
This is a cute way that my dad taught my siblings and me how to draw a pig.
It is a simple way to draw a pig. This stuck in my head so anytime I needed to draw an animal in school I could easily draw this one.
Please refer to the picture as it will help you understand my directions. This may be a little confusing the first time you draw it. But, once you have drawn this a few times it will be easy.
First, draw an E on the left side of the page. Second, draw an M above the E and to the right a little. Third, draw a W down below the E and underneath the M. Fourth, draw another W to the right of that W you already drew with some space in between. Lastly, draw an S sideways or turn your paper so you draw it normally. You will draw that directly across from the E and down some from the last W that you drew.
Next, connect the letters to each end of a letter. Refer to the picture as a reference.
And there you have a pig.
I’m sure that you can create other animals with other letters so be sure to comment down below on other items you know. I’d love to hear them.
9. Read And Draw A Sentence
I think reading is very important for kids so I really like this game as it involves reading and drawing and thinking.
Create different prompts on paper so your kids can read it and then draw what they see from it.
This helps kids to use their imagination and thinking skills and helps them to be able to visualize what they read. Which can also help kids with reading comprehension and remembering what they read.
For example, the prompt maybe something like this: Sally was sitting by the pool reading when all of a sudden a big gust of wind blew her book out of her hands.
This is good for kids to think about cause and effect too.
One child might just draw a girl sitting by the pool holding a book. Another child might draw a girl sitting by the pool with a book and maybe she’s sitting on a chair and has a table with cookies and a drink. Or one may show Sally sitting by the pool and then a book in the air or in the pool.
Not only is this fun for kids at home, on the go, or in a classroom, it can be fun with small groups.
Each child gets a different sentence like above and one kid draws what they see, then another child draws the next sentence, and so on to create a book.
10. Scribble Art
This one is fun and great for kids who don’t like to draw or have artistic talent but can use their imagination. These drawings often look like tangle art so no one needs drawing talent just a good imagination.
This is an easy game to play on your own or with others. If doing it on your own just get a blank piece of paper and make a quick scribble. Make some random curvy or straight lines and doodles.
When finished, look at what you have and see if you can see anything in it. Such as an animal, or object. When you see something use a marker or crayon of a different color so you can see the object you found after tracing it.
As you can see from my example, you may have a part of something that looks like that actual animal or object but then may have a little bit of a different twist. Such as the body might be rather large or silly since you are following the scribble. Feel free to add features like eyes, nose, whiskers, etc.
This can be fun for laughs but also is really good for helping that creative side develop.
It makes me think of looking at the clouds and trying to see pictures. Some people have a more creative brain and can see things easier than others. But, I also think you can train your brain to be more creative through practice.
11. Draw The Prompt
This is a fairly simple game. This would be great for a group of kids or a family to spend some fun together.
The leader of this fun drawing game will say a drawing prompt that everyone has to draw. For example: An Elephant doing something.
So everyone needs to draw an elephant in action, like eating leaves off a tree, running to water, hugging a baby elephant, etc.
After everyone is finished you put the papers together and create a story.
Elly the Elephant is eating delicious leaves from the tree. Now that her belly is full she decided to run to the water and take a bath. After she was cool and clean she went to cuddle with her baby and take a long nap.
You can even have the kids mix up the papers and create as many different stories as you can.
Another fun way to use this game is by creating small books with the drawn pictures. When the kids read the book they can determine if it is a silly book or a serious one by making up their own stories to go along with the pictures.
12. Flashlight Shadow Drawings
This family drawing game requires a flashlight, paper, pencil, and a dark room. Tape is optional but can help keep the paper in place.
Kids love this game and can have lots of fun just making shadows.
With this drawing game, you hold up an item with the flashlight shining on it to cast its shadow on the wall. The other person then can trace that shadow on their paper. This is fun to do with action figures, toy cars, and other toys they want to use.
When doing this at different seasons or holidays you can use seasonal items.
Halloween or fall would be fun with leaves, acorns, small pumpkins, a turkey, bats, ghosts, skeletons, etc.
Winter or Christmas would be fun with a small snowman, tree, angel, Santa, or any ornament figures.
Other fun items are hearts for Valentine’s Day. Eggs, bunny, cross for Easter. A leprechaun, rainbow, bowl of gold, or 4-leaf clover for St. Patrick’s Day.
Cookie cutters are great items to use to get most of those shapes and figures.
After they have traced their shadows it’s fun for them to color in and decorate their picture more.
13. Shape Drawings
This game is great for kids learning shapes and to have some silly fun.
Kids can take turns calling out a shape. Each child draws the simple shape mentioned and then creates a person, animal, or object from that shape. The next child calls out another shape and then repeats the process.
14. Career/Job drawing
This is more fun for older kids so they have more of an understanding of what to draw.
Everyone draws a person with a uniform or whatever clothes that person may wear doing that job.
For example a doctor – you might have the person wearing scrubs with a lab jacket and a stethoscope. A firefighter – a fireman’s outfit, hat and maybe holding a hose.
See who correctly guesses the most.
15. Connect the Dot Art
This drawing game is another great one to stimulate creativity.
Either this is done by a child themselves or with others. With a blank piece of paper, you just make some dots all over the page however you want. If playing with another person you trade papers.
Next, look at the paper and see what you can connect the dots to make. You don’t have to use all the dots but it’s extra awesome if you can.
It may create some crazy drawings but it’s always fun to see what everyone comes up with. Usually, the figures will look a little like an animal, or object in your imagination. This might even turn out to be one of your favorite family drawing games.
16. Shape Finder I Spy Drawing
This drawing game is fun for an adult to draw and then give to the kids to find. It is also a great game if there is an older sibling playing with a young sibling.
This is also a great way for kids to learn all their shapes.
Start by drawing a picture on paper with many different shapes. Purposely put in several different shapes with multiples of each. This can be done by making a house, car, scenery, or whatever with those shapes added in.
When you are ready, give the paper to the child and say “ I spy triangles,” then the child uses one colored pencil to trace and color all the triangles. Next, the adult can say “I spy squares” and the child colors the squares with a different colored pencil. Then so on repeatedly till all the shapes have been called.
If you don’t want to draw the picture out then have a coloring book where you can easily use some coloring pages for this.
17. Blind contour drawing and Continuous Contour Line Drawing
These two drawing games are fun to do back to back. And can be fun for the whole family.
Put an object in the middle of the table and everyone gathers around it for a full view. It can be a leaf, flower, vase of flowers, a flower arrangement, or a picture of someone. You could even just draw the person straight across from you.
For the first drawing, you will look at the object while drawing it and not at your paper. It is similar to a blind draw except that you are looking at the object you are drawing. Start by drawing the outline of the object slowly till you have drawn the full outline.
When the timer is up, compare the drawings.
The second time you draw the object, you can look at your paper while drawing but you do a continuous contour line of the object without lifting your pen.
Now compare your two pictures and see the differences.
18. Pass The Template
This game involves templates either bought or homemade. If your child doesn’t have a great drawing talent then this game would be great for them.
Everyone draws a template from the box and uses it to trace out an item on their page. Then they pass the template to the left and repeat the process. Each child can trace their template anywhere on the page to create their masterpiece. This goes on till everyone has had a turn with each template.
After completion, everyone can see how closely their papers resemble others since all will be using the same templates but can put them however they want to on their page.
If only 1 person is doing this then they continue to draw a new template from the box to create their picture.
19. Pass The Cookie Cutters
This is the last of our family drawing games but is one that kids can really have fun with during the holidays.
For this game, you will need paper, pencil, and cookie cutters. This would be an easier game to play at home or in a classroom.
This is a fun twist on the game above. Instead of using templates, you will use cookie cutters.
Holidays are the best time to play this game as you can find many cookie cutters to use for different occasions.
Each child draws one cookie cutter and traces it on their paper. Then the children will pass the cookie cutter to the left and begin tracing the new cookie cutter on their paper.
This is fun for the kids to create fun holiday papers. For example, if played around Christmas or winter time you can use a tree, snowflakes, Santa, a penguin, a polar bear, etc.
When the kids have used all the cookie cutters or filled their paper to their liking they can then draw other things on their paper and color to finish their masterpiece.
Out of all those family drawing games you are sure to have some fun family game nights.
We hope you will enjoy having some great quality time playing family drawing games together.
If you have a child that hates to draw and gets embarrassed easily then play only the family drawing games where the drawings can be silly. When everyone draws silly you don’t have to rely on artistic talent. So, that might make it easier on that child who has no artistic talent.
In other family drawing games let that child be the leader or the timekeeper so they can be involved but don’t have to draw if they don’t want to.
If it’s just a lack of practice, look into getting some drawing books for beginners. Your child might not hate it if he/she can learn how to draw. Or at least be able to make people or animals since those are the most common to draw. As I mentioned earlier I wasn’t a good artist when I was young but with my dad’s easy pig trick, I was always able to draw a pig.
Those fun family drawing games will keep you busy on many occasions. But if you feel the need to buy some other types of games there are a lot out there.
I am planning to purchase the Pictionary Air pen game. It looks like a lot of fun.
Evidently, you have to download the Pictionary air app on your phone and someone faces the phone towards you using the in-app camera while you draw your picture in the air with the air pen.
With your phone connected to the TV, it will then broadcast the picture on the TV for all to see except the person drawing the picture, since their back is to the TV.
While the person is drawing everyone can guess what the picture is. I’ll be sure to update this with my family’s experience once we have played it.
Do you and your family have some favorite family drawing games that we didn’t mention? If so please share with us. As parents, it is great to have a collection of games at your disposal. Whether that is board games or an easy drawing game.
Now go get your art supplies and have a fun family drawing games night. Don’t forget the snacks!