Fun Dry Erase Games for Trim-A-Rim Whiteboards
Notes:
You might not get to the whiteboard games... If your gathering has a limited 3me dura3on and is like most Trim-­‐A-­‐Rim par3es, you might want to plan for more border crea3on 3me than game 3me. Based on the party feedback we’ve received, regardless of age and occasion, the par9cipants usually get so engaged in the many fun op9ons for crea9ng and personalizing border designs, dressing up their magnets, and collabora9ng and enjoying each others’ crea9ons, that you might decide not to interrupt their crea9ve bliss for anything beyond refreshments and restroom breaks. Yes, a cool Trim-­‐A-­‐Rim border can be made in 5 minutes, but you can also get as elaborate and adventuresome as you wish. And Trim-­‐A-­‐Rim borders are like potato chips, nobody stops at just one. Also, be prepared for the inevitable a3endee who will want to hang out at your place and con9nue making more borders un9l he or she is forcibly removed J It might help to assure them that they have everything they need to make more borders at home, and they can s9ll collaborate on our Design Studio borders with other party a3endees via the email sharing built into the program. Of course, whether or not you ever announce “OK, let’s play some whiteboard games!” is up to you and your a3endees, but we thought we’d give you a heads up about that. Prefer Simple Classics? If you and your party-­‐goers prefer quick and simple familiar games, there are several Simple Classics on the last 3 pages. 1 Fun Dry Erase Games for Trim-A-Rim Whiteboards
Team Relay Drawing Races:
This game is best suited to 5 or more people, split into 1 or more guessers and drawing teams of 2 to 3 people. With fewer than 5 a3endees, you can s9ll enjoy this game, but individual people rather than teams will draw the pictures. If you have an odd number of a3endees, there will be one guesser. If you have an even number of a3endees, there will be 2 guessers. Give each drawing team a set amount of 9me, depending on how many people are on each team and likely skill level for your a3endees’ age group. Alternate the drawers and guessers so that everyone gets a chance to do both. Have 10 or more fun picture descrip9ons already wri3en out on folded slips of paper, so that each team can pick one at random. Each picture descrip9on should include as many elements as there will be members on each drawing team. For example, if there will be 2 members per drawing team, a descrip9on might be “a monkey carrying a large cupcake”. If 3 members per drawing team, that descrip9on might be “a monkey riding on a skateboard carrying a large cupcake” oops, th is was Ca rly's 3rd border creation,
not qu ite fin ished... she's excited to get
back to it though after ga m es a nd ca ke...
it's gonna’ be AWESOME!
Use a stopwatch, egg-­‐9mer, smartphone stopwatch app, etc. to keep the 9me. Send the guesser(s) into another room while the slip selec9on and drawing are happening. You might wish to have music playing in that room to reduce their ability to hear the drawing teams talking. AYer all drawing teams have selected a slip and are ready to start, start the 9mer countdown and the drawing. The first drawer on each team draws one element on a Trim-­‐A-­‐Rim whiteboard, hands the dry erase pen to the next drawer, etc., un9l 9me is up. 2 Fun Dry Erase Games for Trim-­‐A-­‐Rim Whiteboards Team Relay Drawing Races – cont’d: When the drawing teams’ 9me is up, they must stop all drawing. The guesser(s) then come in to guess what was wri3en on each slip by looking at the drawings. If you wish to keep score/award prizes, you can give one point to each drawer whose por9on of the drawing was correctly guessed, plus a bonus point if that team’s en9re drawing was guessed correctly. The guesser gets 2 points if they guess the en9re drawing correctly. If each a3endee gets the same number of opportuni9es to play guesser, the point-­‐
scoring opportuni9es should be fair. Op#onal fun: Before erasing, take smartphone photos of everyone’s favorite (and/or funniest) drawings to share among the group, privately or via social media. If sharing outside of the party group, you might want to ask “Can you guess what this is?” Progressive Pictures: Can be enjoyed with or without scores or prizes. Can simply be fun drawings and associated stories, or awards can also be incorporated if desired. Choose a theme for each drawing/story round, or leave it completely open-­‐
ended. Using mul9ple Trim-­‐A-­‐Rims for each set of drawings will allow for more elaborate stories, without needing to erase earlier drawings for space. Each partygoer draws a picture or part of a picture, and tells a brief story about what they have drawn. The next par9cipant adds to the drawing or creates one of their own, and con9nues the story. You might wish to decide in advance (depending upon the number of a3endees and Trim-­‐A-­‐Rims available to draw on) how many 9mes to go through the rota9on of par9cipants before that story is complete. Alternate the order in which par9cipants draw and story-­‐tell, so that one par9cipant isn’t the person always star9ng or finishing each illustrated story. 3 Fun Dry Erase Games for Trim-­‐A-­‐Rim Whiteboards Progressive Pictures – cont’d:
You can increase the challenge level (and fun) by: Ø  having each drawer finish their turn by adding on to their illustra9on a random line or squiggle or other shape or mark that the next drawer must incorporate into their drawing, and/or Ø  drawing from a hat or bowl one or more folded slips of paper with random words or phrases that must appear in the next illustrated story segment, and/or Ø  requiring that each subsequent story addi9on rhyme with the previous one, and/or Ø  requiring each par9cipant to sing, rap or add one or more sound effects or dance to their story segment The host might choose to award par9cular superla9ves (“funniest drawing”, “most inspiring story”, “best use of the random word/phrase”, etc.) Op#onal fun: Before erasing, take smartphone photos of your favorite drawings and jot down some notes about the story, to share among the group, privately or via social media. If sharing outside of the party group, you might want to ask “Who thinks they can describe the story illustrated here?” 4 Fun Dry Erase Games for Trim-­‐A-­‐Rim Whiteboards Combine-A-Pic:
Each partygoer draws whatever they wish on their Trim-­‐A-­‐Rim whiteboard, within an allo3ed 9me limit. When drawing 9me is up, divide into groups of at least 3 people per team via random selec9on (i.e. slips of paper picked from a hat or bowl.) AYer retrea9ng to opposite corners of the room or separate rooms, each team has a set amount of 9me (perhaps 15 minutes) to combine all of the pictures drawn by their team-­‐members into one story, song, skit, poem, etc. The party host, siblings or others can play the judge(s), ensuring that all of the team-­‐members’ pictures were used, determining the criteria for scoring and how many points to award to each team for their performance of their combine-­‐a-­‐
pic crea9on. 5 Fun Dry Erase Games for Trim-A-Rim Whiteboards
Word Mining:
The host sits at the front of the group with a Trim-­‐A-­‐Rim on which he or she has wri3en 6 to 8 random le3ers (including at least 2 different vowels per round), but without showing the board un9l each round begins. Any of the consonants can be listed up to 2 9mes. Using a 9mer (such as a kitchen 9mer, stopwatch, smartphone stopwatch app, etc.), limit each round to a pre-­‐agreed amount of 9me. Perhaps try 2 minutes for a group of youngsters under 12, and something more challenging, such as 1 minute, for older groups. For example, the host’s board might look like this: A E F L T T N R Start each round by displaying the Trim-­‐
A-­‐Rim with the le3ers available for word use. Each contestant then writes down within the allo3ed 9me as many words on their own Trim-­‐A-­‐Rim whiteboard as they can think of, which contain only those le3ers. 6 Fun Dry Erase Games for Trim-A-Rim Whiteboards
Word Mining – cont’d:
Agree in advance which words will be accepted (perhaps only words that do not need to be capitalized and which do not require any punctua9on? only words found in a dic9onary you have available for reference?) Award 1 point for accepted words that are 4 le3ers long or shorter, 2 points for each word that is 5 or 6 le3ers long, and 3 points for each word over 6 le3ers long. (Alterna9ve scoring for older players might include first erasing or marking out all words that someone else also came up with, and then awarding points only for words that nobody else also wrote down.) Team Play with Op#onal Story Addi#on: Break into 2 or more teams prior to play. Add up the word award points by team instead of just individually. AYer each round, teams head off to corners of the room or other rooms, and in 10 minutes (or another 9me limit you choose) must come up with a story, poem, song, skit, etc. which incorporates all of the team’s words for which they scored any points. The party host can play the judge, checking off all the words as they are used, and determining the criteria for story scoring and how many story round points to award to each team. 7 Fun Dry Erase Games for
Trim-A-Rim Whiteboards
Simple
Classics
You might wish to divide into smaller groups and have game sta9ons where each game is being played. You can rotate a3endees through these games, with or without point tallies and prizes. Tic-Tac-Toe
Simply draw two ver9cal lines on your Trim-­‐A-­‐Rim whiteboard, and cross these with two horizontal lines to make the playing grid, which will resemble a large pound sign or hashtag symbol. One player uses X and one player uses O. Players take turns entering their le3er in one of the squares on the playing grid, with the goal of being the first to get 3 X’s or 3 O’s in a row, ver9cally, horizontally or diagonally. The game ends when one player wins by gegng three of his or her le3er in a row, or un9l you reach a draw (nobody wins) because all squares are full without any 3 of the same le3er in a row. 8 Simple
Classics
cont’d
Fun Dry Erase Games for
Trim-A-Rim Whiteboards
Hangman or Apple Tree
To play hangman or apple tree on a Trim-­‐
A-­‐Rim whiteboard, Player A draws the empty hangman stand or apple tree with 10 apples. Player A thinks of a word or phrase and places one dash on the whiteboard for each le3er in that word or phrase. You can discuss before-­‐hand and agree to play with or without giving some type of theme or other hint to narrow down the possible guesses. Player B then guesses a le3er that might be in that word or phrase. If that le3er is indeed in the word or phrase, player A enters it on the appropriate dash(es). If the le3er is not in the word or phrase, player A writes that le3er down in a separate area showing the incorrect le3ers already guessed, and draws another part of the hanged man (circle for head, circle for body, one leg, arm, etc.), or crosses through another apple in the tree. Player B wins if he or she can guess the secret word or phrase before the hanged man is complete (10 parts, including eyes, nose and mouth), or before all the apples are gone – otherwise, player A wins. 9 Simple
Classics
Fun Dry Erase Games for
Trim-A-Rim Whiteboards
cont’d
Dots
Dots can be played on a Trim-­‐A-­‐Rim whiteboard by first crea9ng a grid of evenly spaced dots. 4 x 4 is a good star9ng grid. The larger the grid, the longer the game will take to complete. Players take turns drawing a line (either ver9cal or horizontal, but no diagonals) to connect any two neighboring dots that have not yet been joined. Dots is easier to play if each player uses a different color dry erase marker. If you have only black markers, each player can use a different type of line (dashed, wavy, thick vs. thin.) This is helpful in avoiding disputes if you lose track of who went last and where he or she drew their last line. If your line completes a square, add your ini9al to that square and take another turn. If your line does not complete a square, then the other player gets to take his or her turn (and gets to con9nue drawing lines unless/un9l they fail to complete a square as well.) When all of the dots have been connected, count the number of squares claimed by each player. The player with the most squares containing his or her ini9al is the winner. This game can be played with 2 or more players. 10