Freeform Pictionary Challenge
The room fills with excitement as teams huddle together, trying to guess wild drawings before the timer runs out. Artists, guessers, and creative thinkers alike, welcome to the Freeform Pictionary Challenge!
Pre-Lesson Preparation
This lesson works by combining teamwork, creativity, and technology into one fast-paced game experience. This activity was designed to last between 45 minutes to an hour depending on your group size and how many rounds you would like to play.
Supplies you will need include;
1-2 iPads with the Freeform app installed
A TV or projector
An HDMI to Lightning OR USB-C adapter depending on your iPad
model
Scissors
Paper
Pencils
A bowl or hat
Apple Pencil (optional but recommended)
This activity works especially well in larger groups and can easily be adjusted for different age levels by changing the complexity of the drawing prompts.
Ice Breaker – Picture This!
Before we begin, let’s warm up our imagination skills. I am going to say an object, animal, or activity and you will have 10 seconds to think about the FASTEST way you could draw it. For example:
A dog
A pizza
A skateboard
A palm tree
A fish
After each one, ask a few volunteers to explain HOW they would draw it quickly. This helps participants start thinking about simplifying drawings into recognizable shapes which is important for Pictionary.
Crafting Time – Creating the Prompt Bowl
It is time to create the prompts for our game. Each participant will receive a pencil and several small pieces of paper. On each slip of paper, write one thing that someone could draw during the game. Everyone should create 5 different ideas. Try to make your prompts easy enough to recognize, appropriate for all audiences, fun and creative, not too niche or overly complicated. Examples might include;
Volcano
Banana
Basketball
Dragon
Bicycle
Robot
Ice Cream
Superhero
Once you finish writing your prompts, carefully cut them apart into individual slips and place them into the bowl or hat. Now our game pieces are officially ready!
Freeform Setup
Before beginning gameplay connect the iPad to the TV or projector using the HDMI adapter. Open the Freeform app and create a blank board. If you have a second iPad available, it can be used by staff to keep score and run the timer. On the blank board, setup a scoreboard with the team names, space to write the scores, and designate a blank space to draw.
Pictionary Rules
Split the members in the room into 2-4 large groups and have each group come up with a team name and team color. One member from each group will be selected by the staff to come up during their team’s turn. The staff member will start a timer for 1 minute. Once the timer starts, the participant will pull a slip of paper from the bowl and begin drawing it on the Freeform board. Only the group whose team member is drawing should be guessing. Once the drawing is guessed correctly, the participant places that paper to the side, pulls another prompt, and continues drawing. This cycle continues until the timer ends.
At the end of the turn, the participant gives all correctly guessed slips to the staff member and the staff records how many points their team earned. Then a member from another group is selected to come up and draw for their team. Encourage positive reactions like cheering and clapping for teammates.
Gameplay
Continue rotating through teams until everyone has had an opportunity to draw or until your activity time ends. Encourage participants to;
Think quickly
Use simple shapes
Avoid talking while drawing
Work together as a team
If your participants are struggling, remind them that Pictionary is not about making perfect art. Fast and recognizable drawings are often the best strategy.
Clean-Up
Please help return pencils, scraps of paper, scissors, and any other materials back to their proper place. We also need to disconnect the
iPad and clean the activity area within the next 3 minutes so the next group can enjoy the space too.
Reflection
For our reflection we will use the exit ticket method. Participants can answer verbally:
Did we have fun?
What was the funniest drawing or guess from today?
What strategies helped teams guess correctly?
Was it easier or harder to draw digitally than on paper?
What would make the game even better next time?
Did anyone discover they were better at drawing or guessing
than they expected?
Below is a sample of a clean setup you can make in Freeform as well as a link to a PDF version of this setup you can import into Freeform from your files.
Attach up to 5 files which will be available for other members to download.