Heads-bodies-and-legs
What strange creatures will you come up with? This game never fails to surprise and usually delight - do send us your results if you'd like to - we'd love to see them.
This game can be played with any number of people - I’ll explain how to play it with 2 people, then how you can adapt it to any number, including just one!
You will need:
- a sheet of A4 paper cut in half, lengthways, so that you have 2 long rectangles
- a drawing implement of some kind
- something to rest on
Don’t look at what each other is drawing!
Each person draws a head, of any kind at all, at the top of their piece of paper
Human? Animal? Robot? Machine? - or any invented type of head.
You could give it a hairdo, a hat, jewellery - anything you like.
Allow perhaps five minutes to draw, and leave two lines coming down from your head to show where the neck is, then fold your paper over so that only the 2 lines are showing
Swop papers. No peeping!
Now, starting with the 2 lines your partner left for the neck, draw a body.
Any kind of body at all, from the neck to the tops of the legs - animal, monster,
hairy, furry, fat, thin, mechanical and so on and on ….
This time leave four lines coming down from your drawing, to show where the legs start, fold over so that your drawing is hidden, and swap again.
No peeping!!
Now draw the legs – using the 4 lines as a starting place.
Be as imaginative as you like – the examples shown here will give you some idea. Now swop again, count to three, and open!
Variations
If there are more than 2 of you, have a long piece of paper each, and pass it along to your neighbour once you’ve drawn one of your parts and folded it over - up to any number can play this way.
If you are alone, you could make several starts - heads on 3 or 4 bits of paper, fold them over, muddle them up and then do the bodies without knowing which head they are attaching to, similarly with the legs, then open to see what kind of creatures you have created!