A classic drawing game that inspires creative thinking! I have been using this worksheet in the classroom for years.... Sometimes I use it as a warm up OR if an art project is finished early. This worksheet also makes a great lesson for subs too. All you need are pencils (crayons if you want to embellish the drawings.)
How many circles can you change into objects?
Circle Challenge completed by Emily Gould.
My finished example is for a reference. I do not show students my finished worksheet until after they finish. It's nice to see what they think of and it's nice to see how their creative minds work!
Download your copy of The Circle Challenge here...
Emily Gould completes the Circle Challenge on video!
"The Circle Challenge”
The goal of The Circle Challenge is to push people to test their creativity. Sometimes I call the Circle Challenge a test. Students feel more of a push when something is called a test. There are different ways to give this “test”. Pass it out as a worksheet with unlimited time OR use a timer and give students only a few minutes to complete it! You say, “I’m going to give you (three minutes). I want you to turn the circles on this page into objects (examples: sun, soccer ball, doughnut, pizza...) I’m interested in QUANTITY I want you to change as many of these circles as you can into recognizable objects in the three minutes that you have...Ready. Set. GO! At the end of the three minutes students put down their pencils. Then ask, “So who completed more than 5 circles? (Hopefully everyone) 10? Keep your hands up for 15? 20? Did anyone finish ALL 25? Did anyone use my examples? Did anyone use a variation on a theme? (example Emoji faces; happy, surprised, sad...)”
I was interested in quantity because one of the things we tend to do as adults is edit things; we stop ourselves and self edit our ideas, and, in some cases, our desire to be original is a form of editing. That editing is not necessarily playful. The ability to just go for it and explore is something that children do very well, and it’s a form of play! It’s also interesting to see who has the most variety in their ideas instead of variations or different versions of a theme. Decide your rules before the game. For Example, do designs have to strictly adhere to the circle only? (or can you draw outside of the circle like the eclipse?) See who has the most designs? Did anyone combine more than one circle in a design? (example a pair of glasses or a long caterpillar) Who has designs that no one else thought of? Which designs were the most common? Use your creativity to enhance this creative exercise.
However you play The Circle Challenge...I hope you and your students enjoy this classic creative exercise!