Share a Drawing (and Some Quiet)

Yesterday I tried out a new activity with Elina. It's called Share A Drawing. I had read about this in an old Parents magazine awhile ago, but never got around to trying it. The concept is simple-each person takes a turn drawing something on the same piece of paper. The idea is that you build on each other's drawings. The thing is, you can only draw one thing, basically without lifting your pen. Sometimes the other person doesn't know what you intended on drawing, but she/he has to guess based on the initial shape or mark you made on the paper.

This actually turned out to be a very fun, very quiet activity. I couldn't believe that Elina basically didn't say much for the whole 30 minutes that we were playing this game. It was awesome.

This is the picture we ended up drawing. For the most part, I tried to keep my stuff simple so that Elina could figure things out. But there were a few times when we were both confused about the other person's drawings. For example, the thing on the top left was supposed to be a sun. I drew a circle and then Elina drew a line going down so I drew another line and then she just looked at me with this confused look on her face. I thought she knew I was going to draw a sun. Turns out she thought it was going to be a butterfly. So we just tried to salvage it the best we could--as some sort of unknown flying animal.

Then on the right side, I initiated by drawing an arch because I wanted to draw a rainbow. But then Elina put this flag on top. This time I gave her a confused look and drew a second arch underneath it. Then she looked REALLY confused. So we had to start speaking. I said, "I was drawing a rainbow." She said, "Oh, I thought it was a tower so I put a flag on top." Funny, right?

This game was more fun than I thought it would be. It's a good way to put your imagination to the test. And, as an added bonus, it's a good way to get a little peace and quiet in a hectic house.