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Leader Guide

Drawing the Unseen Activity

Materials:
  • Drawing implements
  • Paper
  • Items to be drawn. Make sure the children cannot see these items in advance. Suggestions: stapler, paper clip, salt shaker, lamp, bookbag or lunchbox, robot, rubber chicken, etc. Use whatever you have. Use easy to draw items, but throw a few silly items in for laughs.

Drawing the Unseen

In this activity, a person explains how to draw some unseen item without telling what the item is. Therefore, it can be done with as few as two people—one as the Explainer, and one as the Artist. With some creativity, you can use it for a number of different purposes:

1. Demonstration—A pair of volunteers is brought in front of the group.

  1. One is the Explainer, the other is the Artist.
  2. Use a screen to keep the Artist from seeing the object being explained while not obscuring it from the audience.
  3. Use a whiteboard, chalkboard, flipchart, or something similar for the Artist to draw on and have the audience see it.

2. Whole Group Activity—One person (this could be the leader) is the Explainer to the group.

  1. Each group member is the Artist.
  2. Requires paper and a drawing implement for each person in the entire group.

3. Small-Group Activity—Multiple groups do this activity concurrently in one or both of the following ways.

  1. Pairs: Students form pairs consisting of an Explainer and an Artist sitting back-to-back.
  2. Single Explainer: Done as the Whole Group Activity described above, with one Explainer and the entire small group as Artists.

NOTES:

  • The fun in this activity is in comparing the picture drawn to an item that was explained but not named.
  • You can simplify the activity (especially for younger groups) by describing groups of shapes without naming them. (Ex: “Draw a shape with three straight sides, pointing up. Now, touching that top point, draw a shape with four straight sides, all the same length…”)
  • Plan to do more than one iteration of this activity. It stays fun!
  • Participants learn that effectively explaining the item is just as difficult (or more so) as drawing it.
Wrap-Up:

Be sure to sign those drawings! You’ll want to keep those for a long time, I’m sure. Raise your hand if you thought it was easy being the Artist and drawing what you were told. Look for hands. Raise your hand if you thought it was hard. Look for hands. Did I see some hands raised for both of those? The leader may also repeat the same questions about being Explainer and describing an unseen object.