/ / Mr. Funny Guy and the Evil Dr. Dorito (Pick and Draw review & giveaway)

Mr. Funny Guy and the Evil Dr. Dorito (Pick and Draw review & giveaway)

Answers in Genesis
This is Mr. Funny Guy . . .
He is the hero of our story.
This is the evil Dr. Dorito.  He, of course, is the villain.
What story am I talking about?
The one that Big Sis and Lil Sis wrote together.
How did it happen that Big Sis, who generally likes to work on her own on these types of creative endeavors, and Lil Sis, who has speech challenges due to autism, came to work together on a project like this?
 
Through PICK AND DRAW, a cartoon drawing card game.

As I’ve written before, talking is a challenge for Lil Sis (4), who is on the autism spectrum.  Art, on the other hand, is one of her most favorite things to do.  You might say it’s a big part of her language since she is a visual learner and we have often used pictures to help in our communication.  Art is used as a therapy tool in so many different ways, so I’m glad to encourage this for her.  Big Sis (10) also loves to create with art just for the fun of it and Baby Girl (2) likes to do whatever her sisters are doing.

When I first read about the card game Pick and Draw, I knew it would be a great shared activity for my girls.  Thanks to a review opportunity, I got to see this in action!  It’s deceptively simple, yet endlessly entertaining.  Anyone who is old enough  to scribble with a pencil or crayon can join in, making it a great family game.  There aren’t a bunch of complicated rules to follow and the game can be modified based on skill level.  Within 5 minutes of opening the cards, we were drawing together.  No frustration — just fun!

The instructions are included in easy to follow steps on cards contained in the deck.

Each player draws one card from each pile for face, nose, eyes, mouth, and hair.  Then you draw your unique character, one simple step at a time.  Another variation is to all draw using the same cards just to see how each character looks a little bit different based on the artist, even though you’ve used the same components.  Players are encouraged to add details like eyelashes, hats, glasses, or whatever you think might give your character some personality.  My girls named each one they drew, hence Mr. Funny Guy and the evil Dr. Dorito.  They then made up little stories to go along with the character and talked about what they thought each one was like.  It’s true that Big Sis did most of the talking, but Lil Sis did chime in with the naming process and deciding that her Mr. Funny Guy was a superhero!  Not only did she draw the face, she added all the details of his body/arms/legs on her own.  It really got her giggling and she had a good time.  It warmed my heart to see all three of my girls participating together and having so much fun.  Though I’m no artist, I even got in on the act and drew several characters.  The girls have been asking to play Pick and Draw everyday since we first opened the box.

Big Sis getting ready to draw a card from each pile.
Big Sis working on her first creation.
Drawing the mouth.
The finished product, which she named Eddie.
Lil Sis and Baby Girl working together on a drawing.
Another great thing for preschool and/or special needs learning is the fact that the faces have different expressions just based on the shape of their eyes and mouths.  Since reading social cues can be difficult with autism, helping Lil Sis to understand the subtle emotions of a bored face, a sleepy face, a sinister face, etc. is great practice for her!  She was able to identify smiles to indicate happy moods and “scary” eyes to indicate anger.  Baby Girl also could point out which eyes or mouth matched emotions that I named off for her.  I was very pleased with this additional aspect of the game.
More faces that we drew and named.
The cards Big Sis used to draw the Evil Dr. Dorito.

As Big Sis was drawing, she noticed that the eyes on this card looked like a “bad guy” so she decided to make him the villain of the story since Lil Sis had already drawn a superhero.  She even gave him an evil laugh as she and Lil Sis pretended together.  More fun, more great interaction for Lil Sis’ social and pretend play skills.  Big Sis has even decided to use some of them in cartoons that she is drawing to go along with her stories.

More of the Pick and Draw cards.

As seems to be inevitable in a house with a two-year-old, the cards got knocked over at one point.  As they slid to the floor, I realized another way to use them for learning.  I let Lil Sis sort and arrange them into faces, complete with hair.  I asked Baby Girl to find each part as I named them off, then we re-sorted the cards into piles.  Both of them had fun while working on essential skills.

Pick and Draw comes in a sturdy plastic case for storage.

Pick and Draw was created by artist Rich Davis, who wanted to encourage kids to use their God-given talents and help them to learn while having fun.  He has a passion for art and making it accessible to kids.  It’s a great confidence booster when he makes it so simple to follow along and actually create these neat characters.  I appreciate the fact that he is bold about his faith in Jesus and even includes a card in the Pick and Draw deck with the Gospel message.

It’s not everyday that I can find something that combines so many of our learning needs and interests into one tiny package, but that is exactly what I’ve discovered with Pick and Draw.  I highly recommend it for encouraging reluctant writers, a fun art time activity, and aiding in special needs skills.  It would be great for rainy days this summer or to take along on vacations, too.

You can learn more about Rich Davis and his children’s books here or on his blog.

You can find Pick and Draw on Facebook and the website.  You can even try an example online to see what it’s like.  It may be purchased for $10.

Learn to draw cartoons the fun way!

Here is your chance to win your own Pick and Draw game!  Rich Davis has generously offered to give away a set of Pick and Draw cards to one of my blog readers.  All you have to do is enter through the Rafflecopter form.  If you have any questions or problems with it, please let me know.  Contest ends Saturday, May 19th at midnight.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclaimer:  I received a free deck of Pick and Draw cards for the purpose of review.  No other compensation was given for my honest opinion.  Because I genuinely like Pick and Draw and believe my readers will, too, I became an affiliate.  My link is included, for which I will receive a small commission if you choose to make a purchase.  Thank you!

Sara
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28 Comments

  7. It turned out to be a collaborative effort – everyone crowded around to pick something. (we need this game!) We named her Grandma Baskem 🙂

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  9. Your link for Pick and Draw facebook page in your rafflecopter form is not working. I just did a quick search on facebook and found them that way.

    Reply

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