The Big Book of Pick and Draw Activities

I received this product free of charge for review/giveaway purposes. All opinions expressed in this post are my own and I was not required to post a positive review of the product.

We have been using and loving our Pick and Draw game for quite awhile now! {Check out my initial Pick and Draw review!} In fact, we enjoy it so much that we put our own little spin on it and came up with Pick and Draw Bingo! So, there is no surprise that I was super interested in Pick and Draw creator, Rich Davis’ new book! The Big Book of Pick and Draw Activities is a compilation of activities and ideas for enhancing learning through the use of the Pick and Draw game cards!

The PAD activities included within the book address many common core state standards. What I love is that the various activities disguise writing, speaking, and listening skills with fun drawing activities! My kids have had so much fun with the activities that they didn’t even realize that they were actually learning!

Activities From the Book:

One of our favorite activities from the book has been the “Using Pick and Draw to Write Stories in an Hour” activity.

What I loved most about this activity was that it helped my kids steadily progress through the prewriting process. One of my sons tends to drag out this process so much so that writing becomes burdensome for him. Through a series of instructions at a fairly quick pace, my kids used the Pick and Draw cards to create their character, name their character, establish the characters family, determine the character’s fears/dislikes and what the character enjoys doing.

They each established a problem facing their character and how the problem was solved. The kids each had a blast orally telling their stories! Once the timed oral storytelling was complete, the kids got busy writing! Encouraged to write for the entire allotted time, the kids moved through the prewriting process with excitement! I love how my kids “owned” their characters and were so enthusiastic about writing their stories!

Here is the character that one of my sons (the one who sometimes struggles with prewriting) created:

One of my sons wrote a fun story about Mason Collar Mcleaves and how he tries to overcome his fear of flies, water, and caves to defeat the giant fly, Flamin the Fly, who lives near the water in a cave. Outwitting the fly, Mason is able to defeat Flamin with a fly swatter and bug spray!

My kids ALL had tons of fun creating, sharing, and writing their stories! I loved hearing each of them share their stories with such pride and excitement!

My 5 year olds even got in on the action! They loved creating their characters and telling their stories! They dictated a summary of their stories to me so that I could record it on paper for them, which they absolutely loved!

This is just ONE of the MANY activities found in The Big Book of Pick and Draw Activities that can be used to enhance learning! In fact, there are 15+ different learning activities utilizing the Pick and Draw game cards!

Other Uses for Pick and Draw:

While many of the activities are academic in nature, I appreciate that Rich also includes ways to use the Pick and Draw game for grief counseling. He shares how to utilize the game with autistic children. He even provides a way to share the Gospel using the cards! Take a peek:

Naturally, I was super excited when Rich asked me to be part of his book by including the PAD Bingo game that we created together! Be sure to check it out!

In the meantime, you can get more information about Rich’s Pick and Draw game and book via the links below: