Space Chicken is an idea I have been playing with lately. It is a set of cards designed to give its user a variety prompts that can be used towards drawing practice, playing games, and more. Explained here is a few of the ways I have intended for its use, but you of course might find some other ways to use it.
Drawing Practice: The idea here is pretty simple: shuffle the cards, pull a card out of the deck, and draw something that meets the prompt. It can get more interesting and challenging by pulling multiple cards at a time and trying to draw something that matches all prompts.
(Photo on left: prompts - found in the desert, and has double consonants = jack rabbit)
(Photo on right: prompts - cute, starts with "s", animal = seal)
Game for 2: With a friend, loved one, enemy, or stranger, pull cards out of the deck and see who can draw something that matches the prompt first. Keep score as you feel necessary. In my experience it is best to not keep track and just try to play off of each other’s work.
Game for 3 or more: This can be played similarly to the 2 player version, but you can choose to have a rotating judge. The judge can award points based on who correctly draws something that matches the prompts first, who has the most unique idea for an answer, and/or who has the best drawn answer. Timed rounds can be helpful or even add an interesting twist, but are not always entirely necessary.
Gaming Online: This might be a way to play with others that are not so nearby. You can still have a rotating judge and award the points in much the same way. You could also open up the response types to more than drawing. Photography and found images may also play out nicely. If you have players actively responding you can play the rounds quicker, but you could also extend the rounds to being a day long and let the prompts serve as things to look out for in your day to day life.
*This is the one I have tested the least so I would be most interested in seeing how it plays out for others. Feedback is welcome.
Listed below here are the descriptive prompts I have come up with. So far I have been working with repurposing old decks of cards so there are a total of 54 prompts (regular 52 deck + 2 jokers). With this I have tried to break down the prompts into 4 different kinds of descriptions, one for each suit. I do foresee the possibility of using more cards or to have some type of expansion decks, but for now the 54 cards do offer a lot of possibility. Plus I like the idea of reusing strange decks of cards that I find at thrift stores.
Function/Status
Found on a farm
Sold in stores
Seen at night
Used for Play
Found in the desert
Is expensive
From outer space
Found in a school
You own this
You would like to see
Is usually outside
Found in most homes
From sports
Word Properties
Has a silent letter
Begins and ends with a vowel
Uses a ch, sh, th, or ph
Spelled with 4 letters
Starts with “S”
Uses a double vowel
Said with 2 syllables
Ends with a “t”
Has double consonants
Uses a “w”
Begins and ends with the same letter
Rhymes with “pat”
Has a long “o” sound
Noun Categories
Toy
Person
Vehicle
Clothing
Tool
Bug
Electronic Device
Food
Plant
Body part
Place
Furniture
animal
Adjectives
Cute
Gross
Warm
Soft
Loud
Round
Small
Weird
Sharp
Cold
Tall
Sweet
Fast
*Jokers:
Draw the opposite
Draw with your other hand