Drawing tips for art & shapes
Shapes and patterns are the purest drawing prompts in the game: draw the shape, then draw it on something (stripes on a shirt, polka dots on a dress). Art supplies are outlines with a mark they make. Famous artworks are their unmistakable composition, a smile and folded hands, a swirling night sky.
Who this category suits
It is the preschool and kindergarten category, where shapes are the lesson, and a surprisingly good round for art students. There are 115 easy words, 114 medium and 81 hard, so it works as a whole-game theme rather than a single round: set the difficulty from the menu above and the pool moves with the table. 11 of the words are grown-up references that only appear with the Adults audience; the rest are safe for everyone. A round idea: Shape round: every drawing must be built only from the shape that was just guessed.
The full art & shapes list
All 310 words, grouped by difficulty. The letter after each word is its classic card category (P, O, A or D); hover to see the name.
Hard (81)
- Paint on your noseD
- The sculpture that fell overO
- Van gogh's earD
- Paint water or tea?D
- Paintbrush in the wrong cupO
- Stick figure family stickerO
- A portrait with three eyesD
- A horse or a dog?D
- The art project due tomorrowD
- Teacher's example is way betterD
- Sneezing on wet paintA
- Sitting on wet paintA
- Signature bigger than the paintingD
- Clay under your fingernailsD
- Pretending to love the drawingD
- Kid who only draws dinosaursP
- The smock on backwardsO
- The class hamster posingP
- A caricature of the teacherD
- Dog walked through the paintP
- The painting that's still wetD
- Banana taped to the wallO
- Blank canvas sold for millionsD
- The painting hung upside downO
- Is that art or trash?D
- Nose touching the paintingA
- Setting off the museum alarmA
- Pigeon on the statue's headO
- Selfie with a famous paintingA
- Frame worth more than paintingD
- Falling asleep at the museumA
- Kids running in a museumA
- "i could have made that"D
- The tiny plaque nobody readsO
- The paint chip wallO
- Choosing between fifty whitesD
- Painting yourself into a cornerD
- A fresh coat of paintD
- Starting from scratchD
- The big pictureD
- Thinking outside the boxD
- Drawing a blankD
- Blank slateD
- Work in progressD
- Rough sketchD
- The finishing touchD
- Picture perfectD
- A stroke of geniusD
- Eye of the beholderD
- Happy little treesD
- Artist's blockD
- The museP
- Perspective drawingD
- Vanishing pointD
- SymmetryD
- Negative spaceD
- Cross-hatchingD
- TessellationD
- HoundstoothD
- FrescoD
- Doodles on the meeting notesO
- A napkin sketchO
- Art thiefP
- Museum night watchmanP
- The art forgerP
- Model who won't hold stillP
- The critic who hates everythingP
- The one-color paintingO
- The sculpture nobody understandsO
- Unrecognizable self-portraitD
- Painting with your feetA
- Name in wet cementA
- Rain washing away chalk artD
- Crayon snapped mid-drawingO
- The clogged glue bottleO
- The marker that dried outO
- The pencil that's all eraserO
- The scissors that don't cutO
- One glue bottle per classD
- Classroom art up for yearsD
- Art show in the school gymD
Other categories
Animals · Food & Drink · Household Objects · Actions & Verbs · Places · People & Jobs · all 24 categories. For the rules of a round, see how to play Pictionary; for a five-word card built from any category, use the classic card generator.
Last updated September 2026. Independent list; Pictionary® is a trademark of Mattel, Inc.