Fun Art Games to Play

Art Charades

• Using postcard reproductions of famous artwork, play art charades with an art class. Divide the class into small groups. Hand each group a paper bag that has a few postcards inside. Let each group choose a card and decide together on how best to act it out. Take turns having the groups act out their scene while the rest of the class has to guess. Award points if a group guesses the exact title of the piece and the artist who created it.

Art Bingo

• Art bingo games can be made for preschoolers to high school students depending on the material you wish to reinforce. Preschool bingo games would have boards with shapes and colors while older students could have general art vocabulary. Call out the definition and have the students find the correct term on their bingo card; for example, if you call out red, orange and yellow they should cover the "warm colors" square on their board.

Online Art Games

• Challenging and fun art games can also be played online. The website, PlanetPerplex.com has several types of art activities to practice. You can solve optical illusions, find hidden pictures and look at ambiguous and impossible art images. These can inspire your own art work. Online art games, such as the ones listed in the reference section; Tate Kids, A. Pintura and Art Detective, take you on a mysterious adventure. You learn about art and art history while trying to solve crimes.

Drawing Game

• Draw a squiggle on a piece of paper or the chalk board. Let another person change the scribble into something recognizable. If played as a classroom game, set a time limit of 30 seconds to a minute for the drawing portion and then let the class try to figure out what the object is. Award points accordingly. This can also be played with just two people on a car ride or while sitting in a waiting room.

  Another drawing game for a classroom starts by everyone, including the teacher, writing a nursery rhyme, fairy tale, TV show or movie on slips of paper; one idea per slip. The slips are collected and placed in a paper bag. Divide the class into two teams. Let one team choose a slip and work together to draw the scene. Each person on the team can draw their own, or work together to quickly make recognizable clues. The other team guesses what they are trying to portray in a set amount of time.