Each player needs some paper or card and a couple of coloured pencils or crayons. A black pen each is useful but not essential. If you are using paper, it is good to have a book each to rest on.
First, everyone draws a few dots, between six and two dots, and a couple of squiggly lines on the cards. These can be in any part of the card or paper. Circles are fine, but this is not supposed to be a drawing. The aim is to draw just a few random dots and squiggles. After a few seconds, someone should call time. Then, cards are passed around in a clockwise direction, similar to Consequences, but no folding. Leave a space at the bottom of the paper or card. Do not show the card to the other players at any point during this game, until the end.
In the second round, the players must try and draw something using only the dots and squiggles as a guide. This must utilise the original marks to create some kind of figurative picture, in other words a representation of something, things, beings or other ‘scene’. The resulting picture is figurative as opposed to just a pattern. Often this may have to involve aliens, mutant animals etc. as the squiggles may determine only very approximate figures. Leave a space at the bottom of the paper or card.
After a few more minutes to complete this task, the cards are again passed around clockwise to a new player. This round is optional and is just to colour in the previous person’s drawing. Give each person a minute or so to complete the colouring. Then the cards are passed around again.
In the final round, each player thinks of a suitable caption to the drawing. It is good to try and simply describe what is happening in the drawing. Younger and dyslexic children may need some help writing out their captions so can whisper the idea to an adult. What do you think the drawing is of?
Again the cards are passed in a clockwise direction. To finish, everyone reads out the caption to the others and shows their picture.
You will sometimes find the resulting captions very funny. Or very mildly funny as below.