Don't let the morbid name scare you. It started as a Surrealist game in the 1920s and is similar to a Victorian-era parlor game called Consequences. Exquisite corpse is a great get-to-know-you activity for middle and high school students. It lets kids practice drawing skills too-- even if they feel like they aren't good at art. This one even gets my high school kids laughing like crazy.

Skills & Key concepts: Drawing, collaboration, imagination, character design, anatomy.
Time Required: About 10-15 minutes.

I have used this in graphic design classes when introducing our photography unit, but you could do this in any class.

How to Play:
After showing the short video below, I give students 10 minutes to pair up and find as many "faces" as they can made of inanimate objects. I tell them they may have to rotate their camera, zoom in, or crop areas to get the best effect. I let students roam the classroom, go outside if the weather is nice, and even the hallways, cafeteria, and gym if allowed. Students record their finds with a smartphone, classroom camera, or iPad. Students can upload photos to a google classroom post. After time is up, the team with the most (or funniest) pareidolia photos wins!
​
​Check out this article for more info:
https://futurism.com/pareidolia-why-we-see-what-isnt-there

Have I told you how much I love sculpey? It doesn't dry out in the air, I can leave it in a box for ages, far more forgiving than genuine clay, and it's awesome for kids who just need to fidget!

How to Play:
Sculpey Pictionary is fairly easy to understand. I give each group of kids a 2-minute timer (like the ones to the right) and a ball of Sculpey about the size of a small apple. I cut up strips of paper with different words and put them in a bucket for each group of kids. Students take turns drawing a word and they have to sculpt it using the Sculpey in under two minutes. If one of their group members guesses correctly, the sculptor (and the student that guessed it right) gets a point! We play several rounds and then the player with the most points from each group wins (usually some candy or pencils from my "prize" box).

Skills & Key concepts: Sculpting, clay, 3-D design, vocabulary
​
Time Required: I typically do this for a full 50 minute class hour but you could probably do it in 20-30 minutes with smaller groups.

Super simple. Super fun. All you need are some straws, heavier paper, India ink, newspapers, possibly markers, and some brushes/calligraphy pens.

How to Play:
1. Give students a few drops of India ink (or even watered down paint) on a thicker paper such as mixed media, watercolor, or tagboard paper. 90# or more works best. Put newspaper or scrap paper underneath to catch any ink drips.
2. Next, give students a plastic straw. I cut the straw in half to save on over-using the plastic. You could also use paper straws instead!
3. Now let students blow the drops of ink all over their paper by blowing through the straw. Students are not allowed to use their hands or brushes-- only their straw! I give students about 5 minutes to do this.
4. When students are done, instruct them to think about what they could make out of these ink blowings. OR to make it more challenging, I pair students up randomly to exchange their papers. Then they have to think about what they could make out of someone else's ink blowing.
5. Students then proceed to use India ink with brushes, markers and/or calligraphy pens to turn their ink blowing into something more recognizable or interesting. I often allow abstract patterns and shapes too.
​6. When all students are done, we hang them up in the hallway for a quick gallery walk/critique.

This is a great way for kids to take a brain break and develop some creativity!

This game is online based, but it's kind of addicting so I had to include it.
This game was created by Tate and is available along with other art-related games on their website.
Visit here: https://www.tate.org.uk/kids/games-quizzes/street-art to check it out! I like that they provide examples of work that kids around the world have created on their website. You can see some examples to the right!

Skills & Key concepts: Street art, digital art, expressionism, computer literacy

Time Required: This ranges from a 5-minute activity to even longer for more complex works.

Unfortunately I have not found the original source for this game since there are so many versions out there!

However, this game is super fun and not difficult to do with a variety of ages and abilities. I have created a blank PDF table (download it at the left or use the link below!) with the dice and different facial features. I have students draw ideas for head shape, left eye shape, eyebrows, etc. They can also write the ideas in words too.

Next, we roll the dice! I like the big foam dice found at the Dollar Tree in packs of two. They are quiet! However, you can also use an online-based dice roller such as https://freeonlinedice.com/. 

There are lots of teachers out there who have created different versions of these games. A quick search on Teachers Pay Teachers will reveal many options! However, I find that letting kids choose the "parts" makes it even more fun! You could even let kids work together to create all of the parts and collaborate. Feel free to download the dice drawing template I created below. It is free!

I came up with the idea of creating my own artist playing cards a while back and it has definitely been a work in progress. After a few weeks of designing the cards and turning the pages into a .pdf, my hard work is finished! I chose 13 different master artists and their artworks for the deck. I also designed a back logo design so that when the pages are printed, they look like real playing cards. I have thought of numerous ways to use the cards such as playing go fish, memory, sorting students, classroom management, assessment, and more.

All 52 cards and information can be found at my Teachers Pay Teachers store. The entire file costs $5 and you can print as much as you'd like. These cards would make an excellent activity for early finishers or for a last-minute sub activity. I LOVE using them to manage the art classroom while also exposing students to a variety of different artworks. The styles and periods presented in this deck of cards includes: Renaissance, Baroque, Cubism, Impressionism, Pop Art, Abstract, Realism, Fauvism, Modernism, Abstract Expressionism, and Surrealism. As you can see, these cards touch on many facets of art history as well!