The best things to draw for drawing games are concrete, everyday things with one clear shape: animals, food, toys, vehicles and places with a landmark. Easy words like cat, sun and pizza suit young children and warm-up rounds; compound words, actions and little scenes make harder rounds for older players. Below are more than 150 family-friendly drawing game words sorted by difficulty and by theme, tips for choosing and using them, and how to play Draw and Guess on one phone without writing a single card.
Every list works for any drawing-and-guessing game: on paper, on a whiteboard or on a screen. Mix and match them, or copy your favourites onto slips of paper and draw them from a bowl.
What makes a good word to draw
A good drawing game word can be recognised from a quick sketch in under a minute. Before you add a word to your list, check it against these four questions:
- Does it have one clear shape? An elephant, a house and a rocket all have an outline everyone knows. “Furniture” or “weather” don’t.
- Is there one detail that settles it? A circle could be many things; add rays and it is the sun, add slices and it is a pizza. Words with a deciding detail are the most fun to guess.
- Can you draw it without letters or numbers? Writing is against the rules in drawing games, so words like “alphabet” or “seven” don’t work.
- Do your players know it? A five-year-old knows a snail but not an hourglass. Pick words for the youngest person at the table, or play in mixed-age teams.
Draw a random word from Draw and Guess
Nature · Medium
Draw this
Forest
Easy words for drawing games
Single, simple things a young child can draw and name. Use them with kids, for a warm-up round or when the table is new to drawing games.
- Animals: Cat, Dog, Fish, Bird, Snake, Duck, Frog, Bee, Snail, Spider, Pig, Mouse
- Food: Apple, Banana, Pizza, Cake, Egg, Carrot, Ice cream, Cookie, Cherry, Lollipop
- Around the house: Ball, Book, Chair, Cup, Hat, Key, Bed, Clock, Spoon, Sock, Door, Lamp
- Outside: Sun, Moon, Star, Tree, Flower, Cloud, Rainbow, House, Car, Boat, Kite
Medium words
A bit more detail, or two parts that make one thing. Good for mixed ages and for children from about eight.
- Animals: Elephant, Giraffe, Penguin, Octopus, Turtle, Owl, Crab, Shark, Butterfly, Kangaroo
- Food: Hamburger, Sandwich, Pancakes, Popcorn, Spaghetti, Pineapple, Cupcake, Doughnut, Pretzel, Mushroom
- Objects: Umbrella, Scissors, Glasses, Toothbrush, Candle, Ladder, Backpack, Balloon, Hammer, Teapot
- Places and nature: Volcano, Waterfall, Lighthouse, Castle, Igloo, Cactus, Tornado, Island, Bridge, Tent
Hard words: actions, compound words and scenes
These need a stick figure, two drawings joined together or a whole little picture. They are great for teenagers and adults, and for kids who want a challenge.
- Actions: Juggling, Sleepwalking, Brushing teeth, Blowing bubbles, Tying shoelaces, Building a snowman, Washing dishes, Daydreaming, Sneezing, Ice skating
- Compound words: Sunflower, Treehouse, Starfish, Seahorse, Keyhole, Firefly, Dragonfly, Toothpaste, Bookworm, Snowball, Skateboard, Earthquake
- Little scenes: Traffic jam, Picnic, Birthday party, Rainy day, Camping trip, Fireworks, Sandcastle, Shooting star, Roller coaster, Hot air balloon
Sayings for a tricky round
Family-friendly sayings are the hardest words of all, because you have to draw the picture the words make. Try them with older players who already know the game:
- Raining cats and dogs
- Piece of cake
- Head in the clouds
- Needle in a haystack
- Couch potato
- Night owl
- Cold feet
- Butterflies in your stomach
- Early bird
- In hot water
Drawing game words by theme
Themed rounds make a game night feel special, and they are perfect for a birthday, a classroom topic or a holiday. None of these repeat the lists above, so you can combine them freely.
- Seasons and celebrations: Snowman, Pumpkin, Scarecrow, Mittens, Sled, Beach ball, Sunglasses, Party hat, Present, Snowflake
- At school: Pencil, Ruler, Globe, School bus, Teacher, Glue stick, Paintbrush, Calculator, Chalkboard, Lunch box
- Jobs: Doctor, Chef, Astronaut, Firefighter, Pilot, Farmer, Lifeguard, Magician, Detective, Beekeeper
- Things that go: Bus, Train, Rocket, Helicopter, Submarine, Tractor, Bicycle, Ambulance, Sailboat, Scooter
- Under the sea: Whale, Dolphin, Jellyfish, Anchor, Treasure chest, Lobster, Seaweed, Seashell, Wave, Coral reef
- Make-believe: Dragon, Robot, Unicorn, Mermaid, Wizard, Ghost, Alien, Treasure map, Pirate ship, Crown
- Sports and games: Basketball, Tennis, Skiing, Surfing, Bowling, Archery, Trampoline, Swing, Seesaw, Hopscotch
That makes 197 words in all, every one of them different.
Picking words by age
- Ages four to six: easy words only, from one or two themes they love, such as animals and food. Let them draw with a grown-up and guess on everyone else’s turns.
- Ages seven to eleven: easy and medium words mixed, plus a themed round on something they are learning at school. Compound words like sunflower are a fun puzzle at this age.
- Teens and adults: medium and hard words, with a round of sayings for a finale. A shorter timer keeps experienced players on their toes.
- Mixed ages: deal by player rather than by round, so each person gets words that suit them, and pair the youngest players with the oldest.
How to use these word lists
Make word slips. Copy words onto small pieces of paper, fold them and put them in a bowl or a hat. Use a different bowl, or a different colour of paper, for each level, so a younger player can draw from the easy pile while adults take the hard one.
Mix the levels. A round where everyone gets one easy, one medium and one hard word feels fair and keeps the pace up. If one person always gets the hard words, they stop having fun.
Let people skip once. Everyone sometimes gets a word they have no idea how to draw. One free swap per turn keeps the game moving without arguments.
Use a timer. Sixty to ninety seconds suits most groups. Give young children two minutes, and try a fast round of sixty seconds for experienced players.
Agree on close guesses. Decide before you start whether “pancake” counts for “pancakes” or “boat” for “sailboat”. A good default: plurals count, a different thing doesn’t.
Words to leave out
- Abstract ideas such as “happiness” or “time”. They have no shape, so the round turns into guessing at random.
- Brand names, characters and famous people. Not everyone knows them, and they turn the game into a quiz. Generic words keep it fair for every age.
- Words that need writing, such as numbers, letters, signs or words like “alphabet”.
- Near twins in the same game. If “boat” has already come up, leave “ship” for another night.
- Anything scary for the youngest player. A friendly ghost is fine at most tables; something truly frightening is not.
How to play Draw and Guess on one phone
If you’d rather not write any slips at all, Draw and Guess deals the words, keeps time and adds up the scores on a single phone or tablet that you pass around the group. It takes 3 to 12 players.
The artist reads the secret word while everyone else looks away.
The artist draws it on the screen: no letters, no numbers.
Everyone else calls out guesses until someone says the word.
Guessed: 2 points to the guesser and 1 to the artist.
- Enter the names of everyone playing, in the order you are sitting.
- Choose the words: Easy, Medium, Hard or Mixed, and one or more of the ten categories, from Animals and Food to Things that go and Make-believe. You can also add your own word pack of ten or more words, which stays on your device.
- Pick the drawing time (60, 90 or 120 seconds) and how many times each person draws (one, two or three).
- Pass the phone. A pass screen names the artist, everyone else looks away, and the artist taps to see the word. Each artist can skip one word per turn at no cost.
- Draw. The artist draws on the screen with eight colours, three pen sizes, an eraser and an Undo line button while everyone else calls out guesses.
- Score. When someone says the word, the artist taps Guessed! and picks who got it: the guesser scores 2 points and the artist 1. If the time runs out, nobody scores.
After everyone has drawn the chosen number of times, the highest score wins, and a rematch starts with the next artist. The built-in deck has more than 400 family-friendly words. No word comes up twice in a game, and a new game deals words you haven’t had recently first, so rematches stay fresh. For the full scoring and house variants, read the Draw and Guess rules; for drawing faster and guessing smarter, see the Draw and Guess tips.
More games for a group
If your group would rather act than draw, Charades works the same way with the phone held to your forehead. Imposter is a word game about spotting the one player who doesn’t know the secret word, and Hangman is a quieter word game for one to four players. Browse every party game for bigger groups, or see our ideas for games to play with friends and indoor games for kids.
Ready to draw? Play Draw and Guess.
