Second grade students played a drawing game by working together to each create part of a monster. 

Supplies:

• 12″ x 18″ construction paper
• Pencil
• Markers
• Colored pencils

It is always fun to shake up an art project by doing it on large paper. I’ve done variations of the exquisite corpse game before. This time I used bigger sheets of paper and challenged my students to draw a monster.

It helped to have a drawing prompt that encouraged weird, crazy images. Since students were switching their paper with classmates, it minimized any drawing insecurities that they might have.

I started by demonstrating how to fold a paper into thirds. I emphasized that it was okay if the sections were not the same size – in fact, it would make the monster even more interesting if it had a really big head and tiny feet!

Students drew a head on the paper that they wrote their name on. This was the monster that they would get back at the end of class to outline, color and take home. Before we played the game, we had a quick conversation about respecting each other’s art by not drawing or erasing in someone else’s section.

They switched papers with someone at their table and drew the body and arms. Then, they traded with someone from a different table to draw the legs and feet. It was so much fun to see how creative they got with their monsters!

At the end of class, they got back their original drawing and started tracing the pencil lines with fine tip markers. During our next class period, they finished outlining and colored in their artwork. I loved that this project encouraged my students to think creatively and also make artwork as a team!