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Pen and Paper Games: 15 for Kids and Grown-Ups

By Chaz Bagri6 November 20269 min read

A child's hand draws with an orange pencil in an open notebook.

Try 15 pen and paper games for kids and grown-ups, with simple rules, no-spelling options and games to pause at restaurants or on trains.

Which game fits your child today?

The easiest pen and paper games to start with are noughts and crosses, dots and boxes and squiggle swap. Choose hangman or consequences when everyone wants a word game. Below are 15 options for children and grown-ups, including drawing games that need no spelling and small-table games you can pause when dinner arrives.

Put out scrap paper and pencils, or a notebook for travelling. For children aged 3 to 8, choose by interest and how much reading they want to do. A grown-up can draw the grids, and you can start anywhere.

No reading or spelling, Start with: Squiggle swap, picture consequences, draw and guess
A shared page and clear turns, Start with: Noughts and crosses, dots and boxes
Words and silly stories, Start with: Hangman, written consequences, categories
A puzzle to tackle alone, Start with: A prepared maze, word search or word ladder

Keep pen lids, small rubbers and sharpeners out of young children's reach. The Child Accident Prevention Trust warns that small objects can cause choking.

Which of these 15 games will you try?

The first 10 games use pictures, marks or spoken instructions. The last five bring in letters and words. The rules below include suggested grid sizes and worked examples where useful. Skip scoring whenever you prefer.

1. Noughts and crosses

2 players. No spelling. Draw a 3 by 3 grid. Take turns putting your mark, X or O, in an empty space. The first player to make a line of three across, down or diagonally wins, following NRICH's rules.

If the grid fills without a line, it's a draw. Start the next round with the other player going first.

2. Dots and boxes

2 players. No spelling. Start small: draw 3 rows of 3 dots. Take turns joining neighbouring dots horizontally or vertically. Complete the fourth side of a box, put your initial inside and take another turn, as in the NSPCC's instructions.

Most boxes wins when the grid is full. Use a personal symbol instead of an initial if your child prefers.

3. Squiggle swap

1 or more players. No spelling. Draw a curl or zigzag and challenge the next person to turn it into something: perhaps a snail, a boot or a dragon. Take turns supplying the starting mark.

For an open-ended version, simply keep adding lines together, like Starcatchers' shared drawing activity. Playing alone? Draw several squiggles first, then transform each one.

4. Picture consequences

2 or more players. No spelling. Fold a sheet into four sections. Draw a head, fold it out of sight and pass it on, leaving neck lines showing. The next players add a body, legs and feet, hiding each part but leaving joining lines.

Unfold the creature together. The University of Exeter explains this picture version; with two players, pass the sheet back and forth.

5. Draw and guess

2 or more players. No spelling. Secretly choose an everyday object and draw it while the others guess. Start with something recognisable, such as an apple or an umbrella, then swap the drawing job when someone gets it.

This is an object-based variation on Scouts' drawing-and-guessing game. Leave out the timer, and agree that letters and spoken hints aren't allowed.

6. Spot the difference

2 players, or solo after setup. No spelling. Draw a simple house, then copy it beside the first one with three deliberate changes. For example, remove the chimney, add a window and change the door's shape.

Ask your child to circle the changes. Swap jobs next time. Agree that wobbly lines don't count as differences, only the changes the artist intended.

7. Maze swap

2 players, or solo after setup. No spelling. Draw a start and finish, then build a winding corridor between them using two lines. Add side passages that end at a wall. Check that the main route stays open.

Swap sheets and find the way through without crossing a wall. Make wide corridors for a first try; add more junctions when someone asks for a harder puzzle.

8. Secret treasure grid

2 players. Use letters or pictures. Draw matching 4 by 4 grids. Label columns A to D and rows 1 to 4. Hide a star in a square on your sheet; your partner calls squares, such as B3, until they find it.

It's a simpler take on NRICH's treasure hunt, without distance clues. Swap the column letters for animal pictures if needed, then swap roles.

9. Draw my instructions

2 players. No spelling. Make a simple drawing and keep it hidden. Describe the shapes while your partner draws: for example, a square with a triangle above it and a circle inside. Compare pictures, then swap jobs.

Scouts uses the same describe-and-draw idea. Let your child give the instructions too, and allow questions such as whether a shape should be big or small.

10. Memory sketch

2 players, or solo. No spelling. Draw three simple things, such as a cup, a sock and a leaf. Let your partner study them, cover the picture with another sheet, then ask them to draw what they remember.

This adapts Drawing Room's look, cover and draw activity using pictures instead of household objects. For a solo challenge, draw a familiar room from memory, then check it.

11. Hangman, with a flower

2 or more players. Letter guessing. Choose a familiar word and draw a blank for each letter. Fill every matching space after a correct guess. For this flower version, draw a centre first and add a petal for each wrong guess; agree on six petals before starting.

Guess the word before the flower is finished. Coram Beanstalk also suggests alternatives to the traditional picture.

12. Written consequences

2 or more players. Writing, or an adult writes. Take turns adding these story parts: who, met whom, where, what the first person said, what the other replied, and what happened next. Fold each answer out of sight before passing the paper.

Read the whole story aloud at the end. These are the classic consequences rules. A child can whisper their contribution to a grown-up who writes it.

13. Categories

2 or more players. Words. Make columns for animals, food and things at home. Pick a letter and find an answer for each: for M, try mouse, mango and mug. Give a point for each correct answer nobody else has used.

The British Council describes this categories game. Skip the race for mixed ages, and let a child say or draw an answer while someone else writes.

14. Word ladders

1 or more players. Confident spelling. Change one letter at a time to turn a starting word into a finishing word. Every step must be a real word of the same length.

Try CAT, COT, DOT, DOG. Then solve another together. Choose endpoints you already know can connect, so nobody gets an impossible challenge.

15. Make a word search

1 player after setup, or swap with a partner. Letter matching. Draw a 5 by 5 grid. Write CAT, DOG and SUN across separate rows, one letter per square, then fill the empty squares with letters.

List the hidden words beside the grid for your child to find and circle. Keep them reading left to right initially. For a no-letter variation, hide matching shapes among other shapes.

What works while you wait for food or a train stop?

Choose games you can pause without losing anyone's place. At a small table, keep the whole game on a shared sheet; on a longer journey, save a prepared puzzle for when your child wants to carry on without taking turns. These are suggested combinations, so stop whenever you need to.

Restaurant: start with noughts and crosses, then turn the spare space into squiggle pictures. When food arrives, close the notebook. Keep the unfinished pictures for the wait for pudding.
Train: start a small dots-and-boxes grid, then swap mazes. Mark whose turn comes next before packing up. Our train journey games offer other ways to use the journey.
Mixed ages at home: draw a picture-consequences creature together, then use it as the character in written consequences. Let someone dictate while someone else writes.

For driving days, keep our car journey activity ideas alongside the notebook.

If your child wants to turn a drawing game into movement at home, explore Yogi-Me's mats with poses to follow. Each has 15 numbered poses laser-engraved into the surface, for ages 3 to 8.

What if they'd rather scribble than play?

Let them scribble, choose a different game or leave the paper alone. If they dislike being watched, draw on your own sheet beside them and leave an invitation open. They can also be the person who chooses what you draw, without picking up a pencil themselves.

The National Literacy Trust suggests sitting alongside children and inviting them to talk about their drawings, rather than guessing what the pictures show. Try asking what happens next in the picture.

If winning causes arguments, make a shared creature or solve a maze together. Drop spelling corrections during the story games unless your child asks. The notebook can wait until another day.

Frequently asked questions

What are good pen and paper games for two players?

Noughts and crosses, dots and boxes, hangman and squiggle swap all work with two players. Choose a drawing game if either player doesn't want to spell. For a longer challenge, try a word ladder together or make mazes for each other, taking turns as designer and solver.

Which paper games can children play without reading or spelling?

Try picture consequences, squiggle swap, draw and guess, or spot the difference. You can draw the starting marks and let your child add the next part. For a word game, let them say their ideas while you write. Choose by what they enjoy, rather than treating the list as a test.

What pen and paper games can you play alone?

A homemade word search, a maze or a squiggle challenge can all be played alone once the page is ready. If you enjoy spelling, try a word ladder too. A child who needs help reading the instructions can have you demonstrate first, then carry on with the puzzle.

What are good pen and paper games for adults?

Try dots and boxes for a tactical contest, written consequences for a group, or categories and word ladders if you enjoy words. To make a family round more even, give the adults a harder category or a longer word. Agree the rules before starting so everyone knows what counts.

Sources

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