Things to draw when bored
Every idea here needs a pencil and nothing else: no reference photo, no ruler, no special paper. The margin of a notebook is enough.
Curated by 
Willa Fern
What can I draw when I am bored?
Something with no correct answer. Boredom drawing works best when there is nothing to get wrong, which is why patterns, spirals and scribbles turned into animals beat trying to draw a realistic hand. Start with the shortest one on the list.
Things to draw when bored
- A five pointed star, no lifting
- A raindrop about to fall
- Bubbles of every size
- A spiral that fills the page
- Your hand outline turned into a bird
- Footprints of an animal you made up
- A face made only of triangles
- A ghost floating through a wall
- A scribble turned into an animal
- A cloud that looks like an animal
- A wobbly line turned into hills and a road
- A snowman melting in the sun
- A cracked egg with something peeping out
- A worm reading a book
- A fish wearing a crown
- A teapot with a grumpy face
- A monster made of one shape
- A sock monster
- A cat squeezed into a box that is too small
- Your initials turned into a creature
- A pencil drawing itself
- A snail with a spiral shell
- A pizza slice seen from the side
- A sandwich cut in half
- An alien with three eyes
- Your name in bubble letters Download PDF
- One circle turned into five different things
- A zigzag border all round the page
- A snake in one long curve Download PDF
- The monster that lives under the bed
- A robot with a square head
- Straight lines that look curved
- A street of houses with silly roofs
- A tower of animals standing on each other
Thirty four quick ideas, from four minutes to ten, sorted so the shortest come first. Bubbles of every size, a raindrop and a star drawn without lifting the pencil sit at the top. Further down are sillier jobs: a worm reading a book, a teapot with a grumpy face, the monster that lives under the bed, a tower of animals standing on each other.
Many of them start from something already on the page. Draw round your hand and turn the outline into a bird. Scribble, then find the animal hiding in it. Write your initials and give them legs. Ideas like these have no right answer, which is what makes them good for a spare ten minutes.
All of them need just a pencil and any scrap of paper; the margin of a notebook works. Two link to a printable sheet, the snake and the bubble letters, if a printer is nearby.
Want to make it a game? Open the drawing idea generator and draw whatever it shows, or cut out the drawing prompt cards and pull one from a cup. For calmer drawing with a bit more structure, try easy things to draw.