15. Picture consequences

This game is suitable for younger children and is very similar to consequences in terms of theory. The players all have a piece of paper, a pen and pencil and preferably something to lean on. Like a book. The paper is normally A4. For younger children, it may be worth folding the paper into four sections with clear folds. The paper should be folded down so that there are three parallel folds running across the width of the paper. These will be horizontal if you hold the paper in portrait format, it appear as four sections, separated by the folds.

Folds can help younger children so they know how big or small the drawings need to be. To make it even easier you can draw two parallel vertical join lines that pass through the first two folds. These should be separated by about 2cm for the top (the neck), 3cm for the second  fold (the body). Then four lines which distinguish the legs for the final fold which should be about 1cm apart. All these lines should be more or less centered.  Doing folds and lines can make the game quite prescriptive so older children may prefer a free version of the game.

The game works like this: all players draw a head of any description in the top section of the paper with a two neck lines sticking out of the bottom. The papers are then folded over so only the neck lines are sticking out. The head that each player has drawn should be folded out of sight.

The papers are then rotated so each player gives theirs to the player on their left (assuming you are sitting in a circle or an approximation of a circle). The next player then adds a torso with arms (if they wish, it could be wings, tentacles or nothing). Some  abdomen lines are drawn to stick out at the bottom as before. The papers are then folded over so only the these lines are sticking out. The torso/body that each player has drawn should be folded out of sight.

The papers are then rotated again so each player gives theirs to the player on their left (again assuming you are sitting in a circle or an approximation of a circle). The next player then adds some legs by extending the lines that are visible. the legs extend into lines are drawn to stick out at the bottom as before. The papers are then folded over so only the these lines are sticking out. The legs that each player has drawn should be folded out of sight.

Finally, papers are then rotated one last time. The next player then adds some feet  by extending the lines that are visible that poke out from the previous person’s drawing. The papers are then folded over for the last time and swapped again. The pay off of the game is that each player in turn unfolds their paper and hopefully the resulting drawings will prove amusing. You can repeat until boredom sets in-normally a couple of rounds will suffice in our family.