Fun with Pen & Paper

You don't need a lot of fancy toys to have big fun. Here are three activities for you and your little ones and all you need is a crayon and a sheet of paper (or more for more fun!) These are also great if you have to take your kids to work and they need something to do!


Copy Cat - Give each person a sheet of paper and a crayon. The first person draws a shape. Everyone else then has to copy that shape on their own sheet. The next person adds to the drawing, everyone then copies that on their sheet. Continue until everyone has had a turn or keep going until everyone decides that the picture is complete. Notice how similar yet different everyone's picture is.

There once was a Girl... - Again give each person a sheet of paper and access to crayons. Everyone then has to draw the following sentence: There once was a girl, who lived in a house, under a tree, next to a river.  (You can say the whole sentence at once or one piece at a time). Again compare and contrast how different their girls, houses, trees, and rivers are.  You can try these other sentences:
There once was a boy wearing a hat who lived on a farm with lots of animals.
There once was a frog, who lived on a rock next to a lake with lots of birds.
There once was a puppy who was digging a hole next to some flowers in the backyard.
Or Make up your own!

Three Piece Suit - Give each person a piece of paper and a crayon. Fold the paper into three sections. On your piece of paper draw a head and shoulders in the top section making sure the shoulder lines go just slightly over the fold. Decorate it how ever you'd like 2 eyes, 1 eye, 6 eyes! no mouth, curly hair whatever you'd like. It could be a potato head, a lions head anything goes! When you're done fold your paper so that the next section shows but not the head. Switch with another person. Now everyone draws the torso of whatever character they'd like: it doesn't  have to be the same one you drew before, again anything goes. No arms, six arms, fur, a dress, a bow-tie. Again draw all the way to the hips making sure the lines go just slightly over the fold. Fold the page again and switch: now everyone draws legs and feet being as creative as they want.  When everyone is done unfold the pages and see what kind of Creations you've come up with!