Pictionary Junior

Pictionary Junior - Draw objects by category

Pictionary Junior has been one of my favorite games since I started telehealth. And the best part for you is that you probably don't even need to buy the game. The game is meant to be played with teams, but can work 1:1 in therapy too. This version is for kids and there is also an adult version of Pictionary.

Pictionary has been around for a long time, and if you haven't ever played it, it is a drawing game. One person draws a picture, the rest of the players try to guess what it is. So even though you don't have to be a great artist, you do have to feel that you draw good enough to want to try. As a matter of fact, with only one minute to draw, drawing gets real basic. The more unnecessary details you add, the more time you may waste.

Pictionary Junior includes a game board, fun pencil pawns, a die, a timer, Pictionary cards, drawing paper and pencils. The game board has 47 spaces from start to finish. The timer runs for 1 minute. The pencil pawns are so cute that I will have to figure out how else to use them. The die is a standard die (1-6). 

The picture cards are blue on one side (easier to draw) and green on the other (more difficult to draw). There is a category at the top and five items listed under it. These are the items that will be drawn. Each item is printed in a box of a different color. Here are examples:

Green - Harder to draw.                               Blue - Easier to draw.

Zoom has a sharable white board. You can give remote access to other participants and they can control the writing pencil, line thickness, colors, etc. I work with one person who has an Apple tablet and she uses an Apple pen to draw. I would love that, but my tablets are too old at this point to be compatible with a pen.

If you're working on eye-hand coordination, spatial skills, pre-writing shapes and symbols, etc. it can be a fun way to get real handy with a mouse. I have used this with a variety of kids at different levels, not sure how they would do drawing with a mouse, and they have all enjoyed playing and draw well enough for the objects to be recognizable. For kids who can't draw from memory, I just pick a card and draw an image for them to copy. Draw one or two lines at a time and work your way up to drawing an entire object and then letting them draw it. If they can't or don't want to draw with a mouse, I ask them to use a white board and dry erase marker on their end. 

For telehealth we don't bother with the board, pawns and die. We just take turns drawing. Set a timer for 2 minutes and try to draw all five items on your card. You can either keep track of the number of correct guesses and declare a winner at the end, or just draw for fun. Kids haven't even been interested in keeping score. Before playing, drop some of the cards off at the individual's homes.

You could also skip this game and use the Zoom white board with Back Seat Drawing Junior if your kids need something to look at while they draw. I have also had kids copy my Zoom drawing on their own dry erase board while I draw on the ZOOM white board. (Click here to see my opinion on dry erase boards.)
 
I use only the cards when playing on ZOOM, and this is where I think you could make up your own game. Throw out a topic and take turns drawing something you feel falls into that category.

Object:
Sketch your way from start to finish. First person (team to get to the finish square first wins the game.

Set up:
Place the board in the middle of the players. Give each player or team a piece of paper, pencil and pawn. Each team's pawn is placed on the start square of its color. The color of the pawn will also tell players which of the five color-coded items on a card they will be drawing. Shuffle the picture cards. Choose one person from each team to be the first Picturists (people to draw).

Play:
Both teams play at the same time. The two Picturists throw the die and the one with the highest number starts the game. Pick the top card and read the category out loud. Check the board and see the color square that both players are sitting on. Look for that color on the card and that is the item you will be drawing. Secretly show the card to the other Picturist. Turn over the timer and both Picturists will be drawing this item for their team to guess. The first person to yell out the correct answer wins the card for their team. The Picturist throws the die and the winning team moves their pawn that many spaces forward. Another card is drawn, a new Picturist is chosen for each team and both teams play again. If no one guesses the item before the timer runs out, a new card is chosen, new Picturists are chosen, but the die is not thrown and no one moves forward on the board. Keep playing until one team has advanced to the finish square and wins the game. 

Try this:

• Work on visual closure. You draw an object. See how soon they can guess what you are drawing without seeing the whole object.
• Skip the game board. Set a timer for 2 minutes and see how many you can draw before the timer runs out of time.
• Skip buying the game, just give a category and take turns drawing something from the category, with the observer guessing as often as they want as the person drawing draws.

In the box: Game board, 144 word cards (10 items listed on each card) 2 pawns, die, timer, pad of paper, 2 small pencils

If you are interested in purchasing this game or just want more information, click on the image below.