Wow, I got a few people asking for art games, so I thought I might
post these here. These games are a lot of fun. I use these mainly
with grades 6-8, but I imagine you could use these with any grade
level.
Game #1 -- I Have/You Have
Xerox a bunch of squares (2" X 2", one for each kid in your biggest
class -- some kids in smaller classes will have more than one) with
the words "I HAVE _____ , YOU HAVE _____________" on them. Starting
with the first card, leave the first "I have" blank. Fill in the
first "YOU HAVE" with a definition. For instance, the first "YOU
HAVE" will be "red, blue, and yellow." On the next card, write the
vocabulary word for the "I HAVE" and put another definition on the
"YOU HAVE" line. Keep going until you have all the cards filled out,
then put the vocabulary word for the last card on the first "YOU HAVE"
Here's how to play:
Pass the cards out. Everyone must have at least one card to play. In
smaller classes, some kids will have two cards.
Designate a starter (I like to pick a really shy kid for this, because
there's no pressure in being the starter.) The starter reads his or
her card. "I HAVE -- Impressionist artists. YOU HAVE an artist who
makes optical illusions." All the kids will look at their cards, and
whoever has the card that says "OP ARTIST" will jump up and say "I
HAVE op artists! YOU HAVE artists who reduce images to geometric
shapes" and so forth and so on until they get back to the starter.
Sometimes more than one kid will get up at a time, and in that case,
you can have the class vote for the best answer.
This is a really good way to study vocabulary, and the kids really
learn their definitions!
_______________
A REALLY BIG ART GAME
This is best if you have a big classroom or a big area where you can
put tape on the floor and it not get messed up.
First, laminate 5 sheets each of 8 1/2" X 11" construction paper of
different colors. Then, make cards for each color you laminated, with
a different subject. For instance, in my deck, Red cards are Elements
of Art, yellow cards are Principles of Design, green cards are Art
History, blue cards are Famous Artists, and Purple cards are about
local art and architecture. You can put any questions you want the
kids to study on the cards. The number of cards differs for the size
of the class that's playing it. A huge class is going to need a lot
of cards for each color. It's good to change them often, just so the
game doesn't get boring.
Now, find two nice, square cardboard boxes (you can make them
yourself, or you can buy readymade 8" cube boxes at the post office)
and make them into dice.
Now comes the fun part. Using a LOT of masking tape, make a large
game board in the school gym, cafeteria, multipurpose room, hallway,
or around the perimeter of your classroom if it's big enough. You
need to have enough room to make squares using all your laminated
sheets and have a few empty squares, too.
How to play:
It's pretty much like any board game, except the kids are the playing pieces.
Divide the kids up into teams. Have one kid in each team be the
playing piece, and the rest of each team work together to answer the
questions. You can have the playing pieces pick a number to see who
goes first. Team one will roll the dice, and their representative
will walk that many squares. They have to answer the question on the
card to move ahead.
You can vary the game any number of ways:
If a team gets a question wrong, a team that isn't as far ahead can
answer the question to trade squares, if that won't result in fights.
Or, with a smaller class, each student could walk the board and answer
their own questions without a team. You can custom-fit the game to
your class any way you want to.
My kids BEG to play this game. They love it, and they also know that
they have to really behave if they're going to play, because our
"board' is in the hallway and if it gets noisy enough to disturb other
classes, we have no choice but to go back into the classroom.
