Drawing prompts
Twelve cards to a page, cut along the dashed lines. Each card names something to draw and one condition to draw it under, which is what turns a subject into an exercise.
Curated by 
Willa Fern
What is a drawing prompt?
A drawing prompt is a subject plus a constraint. The constraint is the useful half: drawing a cat is open ended, but drawing a cat without lifting your pencil is a problem with an edge, and problems with edges are what actually build skill.
The sheet holds twelve cards in a grid of three across and four down, each with a dashed border to cut along. Every card joins a subject and a twist, for example an elephant with a curled trunk using only straight lines, or a pair of glasses folded twice the normal size. The prompts are picked from the same subjects and twists as the drawing idea generator.
Printing the sheet on card stock, around 160 to 200 g/m², makes the cards last longer, and a pair of scissors is all you need to cut them out. Fold each card in half and drop them in a cup or envelope. Children pull one, draw it on a separate sheet and then put it back.
The cards work well as a warm up at the start of an art lesson, as a fast finisher task or in a rainy day box at home. Two children can draw the same card and compare. For a longer list of ideas without the twists, see things to draw.
The Spanish sheet carries its own Spanish prompts, so a bilingual class can print one of each.