One child can see the picture. The other has to draw it from words alone. No pointing and no showing, so the language has to carry all of it — which is why this is the fastest way to make prepositions matter. Run it on the whiteboard or print the sheet.
A barrier game puts a barrier between two children so that one can see something the other cannot. In Describe & Draw, one child sees a picture and has to describe it well enough for their partner to draw it — no pointing, no showing, nothing but language.
Because it removes every shortcut. Face to face a child can point, gesture or just show you, and the words never have to do the work. With a barrier, a vague description produces a wrong drawing immediately, and the child can see exactly which words let them down.
Pair the children back to back, or with a book stood up between them. One describes the scene on the board, the other draws. Swap after two minutes so both do both jobs, then let them compare drawings — comparing is the best bit and it is where the language gets discussed.
Prepositions above all — next to, above, underneath, in the corner, between — plus size and colour adjectives and the sequencing words a child needs to give instructions in order. It is one of the few activities where a child fails without prepositions, so they learn them.
Reception to Year 6 (US grades K–6). Younger children do best with three or four items in the scene; older children can handle six and can be pushed to describe position relative to other items rather than to the page.
From the classroom
The comparison at the end is the lesson, not the drawing. Children want to declare a winner, and the useful question is the opposite one: which bit went wrong, and what would have fixed it? Almost always the answer is a preposition that was never said. Write the ones that came up on the board as they happen. Two practical things: tell the drawer they may ask questions, because a silent drawer learns much less than one who asks is it above or next to?; and rule that nobody rubs anything out, or the pair spends four minutes perfecting a cat. Board dividers work, but a propped-up reading book is quicker and every child already has one.
Yes. Generate a scene on any topic you type — the park, the classroom, a jungle, the seaside — so the vocabulary matches what you are teaching. Or use a ready-made scene from the bank.
Yes. Print an A4 sheet with the picture and space for the partner to draw, which lets pairs work away from the whiteboard at their tables while you work with a group.
It is one of the more honest ways to. Sit with one pair while the rest of the class works, and you can hear exactly which prepositions a child has, whether they check that they have been understood, and what they do when the first description does not work. That is more than a presentation tells you.
No. You can open any of these, set it up and see exactly what you would be running before anyone asks you for anything. Starting an activity uses a free trial token, and a Sage Pro subscription lifts the limit. Nothing here is behind an email wall.
| Use it for | How | How long |
|---|---|---|
| Teaching prepositions | Four items, swap roles, compare | 15 minutes |
| Speaking assessment | Listen to one pair while the class works | 5 minutes a pair |
| Beginners in English | Three items, model the sentence first | 10 minutes |
| Instruction writing | Describe, then write the instructions down | 20 minutes |
Free, and no sign-up to look around.
the describing game · Pairs Matching · Story Builder — or see all nine in ESL & Oracy.
Written by a practising primary school teacher, who built Sage Teachers to use in their own classroom. Every activity here is free to try with no sign-up.