I mentioned this game before as it is one we’ve used quite a lot over the years. Because it’s so simple to play and requires hardly any preparation, it has become a back-up safety net for when we’ve got some spare time. However like anything, it can become boring if overused!

Suitable for: most ages and abilities.
Preparation time: Little to none
Safety First: There are no real safety concerns with this game.
Equipment needed:

• Plenty of paper for drawing on
• Various pens and pencils for each team
• A list of words for the teams to draw (could be made up on the spot if necessary)

Speed Pictionary is based on the board game, but has been adapted so that it can be played anywhere without the board.

Split up the young people into teams (they don’t have to be equal) sitting down around the pens and paper. To start the game, the first word on the list is given to a representative from each team simultaneously who then have to run back to their teams and draw out the word for the others to guess.

As you would expect, the drawer is not allowed to make any sound and cannot draw letters or numbers. The team must keep guessing until they get the right word at which point someone else from the team must run up to the leader and get the next word. The game continues in this fashion until a team completes the list, winning the game.

In order to make the game as fair as possible we get the leader with the list of words to stand in the middle of all the teams so no-one has to run further than another. Also we encourage the teams to take it in turns to send the next person up rather than whoever guesses it. This means that everyone will get a go.