Play

Seven screen-free games to play on a doodle board

A drawing board with an erase button is a game console for people who have not learned to read yet. These are the games we see families invent most often.

For the car

Guess my drawing: one child draws, the other has three guesses, press erase, swap. License plate letters: copy the letters you spot before the next car passes.

For the restaurant table

Tic-tac-toe never gets old when the grid resets with a click. For older kids, hangman with the names of what is on the menu.

For learning time

Letter race: a parent says a letter, the child writes it as large as the screen allows. Number stairs: write 1 to 10 as steps climbing across the board.

For two children

Half a monster: split the screen, one draws the top half, the other the legs, without peeking. On a 12 inch board or larger there is room for both to work at once.