Resource
Cooperative Drawing Challenge
Create one drawing through turn-taking, checking and shared decisions. Includes a two-page A4 printable, specific educator guidance, adaptations and a cut-off quick-reference card.
Ready for a real OSHC session
Preview both printable pages
Download 2-page practical printableCheck the preview, printing notes and licence before use.
When this resource is useful
A shared page makes collaboration visible while avoiding a contest for the best individual drawing.
What children do
Agree on the scene, then each person adds one useful detail before passing the page.
Materials and preparation
Materials: Printed pages and pencils; use only the optional ordinary materials named on the page.
Allow about 2 minutes to print and place the resource. The activity itself usually takes 25 minutes and can pause when the group needs to transition.
Run the activity
Use groups of two to four and one pencil per turn. Children may be idea caller, drawer, materials helper or observer.
The child-facing prompts are:
- Choose a setting together.
- Person 1 adds the largest shape.
- Person 2 adds a path or connection.
- Person 3 adds a character or user.
- Person 4 adds a problem to solve.
- Ask what the picture needs next.
- Revise one confusing detail.
- Add a title only after the scene is clear.
Adapt participation
Simpler way to join: Use two roles and verbal planning before marks are added.
More challenge: Repeat with a rule that no existing line may be erased.
Children may draw, dictate, point, work beside a peer, observe or join later. Start, Explore and Extend labels describe task routes, not children.
Extend the idea
- Turn the drawing into a map.
- Create a second panel showing what changes.
Safety and privacy
Agree whether drawing over another person’s marks is allowed before starting.
Learning opportunities
Look for collaboration, communication, fair participation and shared problem-solving. Record what children choose, explain, test or revise rather than treating completion as proof of learning.
Checking an open-ended response
There is no single required answer. A useful response follows the printed condition and can be explained, demonstrated or revised by the child.
Printing notes
Print at actual size on A4 paper. Page one is child-facing. Page two contains educator guidance and a dashed cut-off reference card that can be kept with the activity or laminated.
