Fill Up Your Paper!

These activities are games that help to extend the number and variety of what a child might think of to draw. The goal is to expand the the young artist's graphic (and verbal) vocabulary.

These games are drawing challenges that are met by filling up the paper with certain types of drawings. They are not necessarily group games, although it can work very well for more two or more young artists to work on a drawing challenge together so they can help one another come up with new ideas. 

Click here for a printable version of these Fill Up Your Paper games.

How Many Kinds Can You Draw? 

For this game you will need a large piece of paper (use what you have), colored pencils, crayons, and/or markers. Decide upon a theme, and ask, “How many different kinds of (_______) can you draw?” Encourage verbal idea-finding first, and join in with your own ideas. What are the possibilities for this theme? For example: kinds of people might include: Boys, girls, babies, old people, outer space people, astronauts, deep-sea divers, clowns, taxi drivers, fire fighters, kings and queens, dwarfs, fairies, soldiers, artists, wrestlers, models, teachers, football players, cowboys, and on and on.

Time to draw! Fill up the paper with all different kinds of (________) and then think of some more! 

Options: An adult can name the category, or the child can decide what kinds of (_______) (s)he will draw. Variations might be monsters, or space aliens, or animals, or super heroes, or birds, or vehicles, or bugs, or shoes, or sweets, or flowers or anything else! 

The SHAPES of Things

This game will help the artist recognize the basic shape of an ordinary object. For example, a pizza, slice, an ice cream cone, and a birthday hat all start with the shape of a triangle. Players will turn a page-full of one specific shape into as many different familiar objects as possible. 

You'll need pencils, Sharpies, or markers (fine point) and white copy paper or a drawing handout  to play this game.  First, fill up a piece of paper with a basic shape (using a homemade template for tracing) such as circles, or  squares, or triangles until your paper is full. Or simply print out our downloadable handouts by clicking on one of the shapes above. Now turn each shape into a different object. The artist can add new edges to create three dimensions and can add other shapes to complete each drawing - such as adding ice cream to the top of a cone. Be sure each drawing starts with or incorporates the given shape in some way.

Think Small

This drawing game is all about drawing the small, overlooked things in our lives. You will gather up lots of little objects – things lurking at the bottom of toy boxes, drawers, purses, and tool boxes. Artists will then observe each one closely, studying shapes, patterns, and form. 


Choose an object to draw, lay it on the table in front of you, and create a line drawing of it. (Placing the object on a white sheet of paper can help you see it more clearly.) Draw with markers or Sharpies to eliminate erasing. Just draw the object while trying to include as much detail as possible. Then choose another object, place it in front of you, and draw again. 

Fill up your paper with these mini-drawings. Don’t worry about drawing in scale or making mistakes. Just observe and keep drawing!

This drawing exercise is great for kids, teens, and adults. Everyone can improve their observation and drawing skills by thinking (and drawing) small!

Next up: Draw & Paint a Bunny!