Free printable pictionary cards
How to use the free pictionary cards
Firstly, you need to print out the free pictionary cards and cut them out. After that, you only need a whiteboard and a marker (blackboards and pen and paper can of course be used instead). Just be sure to have a backup marker or 2 as this activity will use quite a bit of ink!
Next, divide your class into small groups or teams. If you only have a small number of students they can play individually but for kids and ESL students in particular small groups seem to work best. Once this is done you are ready to play.
Here are the basic rules for the way I like to run the game –
One person is to come to the whiteboard and is given the marker and a words card. They have a set amount of time to draw the words on the board. Their team members are to try and guess what the word is by looking at the picture. They can shout out their guesses as the drawing is being completed. If the team guesses a word correctly they are given a point. The aim is for the team to guess as many words as possible in the allotted time and amass as many points as possible. After several rounds, all the teams’ points are added up and whoever has the most points is the winning team.
Players drawing must not write words, letters, or numbers and cannot use body language or speak. As far as the timer is concerned, 2 minutes works quite well but you can make it more or less depending on what you think is best. If a team guesses all the words on the card before time is up you can either award them a bonus point or give them another card.
Be warned that this game can get quite loud when teams are shouting out their answers! If a player doesn’t know a word or the team cannot guess it from their drawing, they can skip the word and move on to the next one on the list.
It can be a good idea to start out with some of the easy pictionary cards and progress through to more difficult ones as the game goes along. This way students can get the gist of the game and become confident with playing it at the beginning.
Further thoughts
As you can see this game is very easy to set up. You can make your own game cards on blank pieces of paper or card. By doing so you can choose the target vocabulary. It can be a fun way to do a revision of previously learned words or a fun warmer for a lesson’s theme.
