• 86 whiteboard ideas

Things to Draw on a Whiteboard at School, Work or Home

Three whiteboard ideas per press, with the number of marker colours each needs, the minutes it takes and how to draw or play it.

Things to Draw on a Whiteboard at School, Work or Home

Show all 86
  1. Sprouts starting from three spots2 colours, 5 minutes. Join two spots, or loop one to itself, and add a spot on the line. No crossing, 3 lines a spot.
  2. How many squares in a four-by-four grid1 colour, 1 minute. Thirty: 16 small, 9 two-by-two, 4 three-by-three and the whole grid. Let the room argue first.
  3. Apple-tree word game: a wrong letter costs an apple3 colours, 4 minutes. Dashes for a secret word and a tree with ten red apples. Wipe one for each wrong guess.

Next step Games to chalk on the ground and play on

All 86 whiteboard ideas

Countdowns and trackers 19

  • Birds on a wire, one more bird each day 1 colour, 2 minutes. One sagging line across the board. Each bird is a filled teardrop with a beak and two stick feet.
  • Bookshelf that gains a spine for every book read 3 colours, 8 minutes. Empty shelves in black, drawn once. Each finished book adds a spine with the title lettered up it.
  • Brick wall knocked through one brick a day 1 colour, 8 minutes. As many bricks as days. Wiping one a day opens a growing hole; draw the view through it at the end.
  • Caterpillar that loses a segment every day 2 colours, 4 minutes. One circle per day plus a head. Wipe from the tail, and draw the butterfly on the day itself.
  • Five-day forecast strip 3 colours, 6 minutes. Five boxes, an icon in each and a temperature under it. Copy a real forecast and redraw on Monday.
  • Grid of 24 December doors, one opened a day 3 colours, 10 minutes. Wipe a door away each day and draw a tiny surprise in the gap: a bell, a star, a mitten.
  • Marble jar for class or family points 2 colours, 3 minutes. A big jar outline with the prize line marked. Each point is a circle, drawn by whoever earned it.
  • Mountain path with a climber who moves up daily 2 colours, 6 minutes. A zigzag path with a dot for each day. Redraw only the stick climber, one dot higher each morning.
  • Paper-chain countdown: wipe off one link a day 2 colours, 5 minutes. One linked oval per day left, in two colours. Someone wipes a link with a fingertip each morning.
  • Rocket on the pad with the days left in its window 3 colours, 6 minutes. Draw the rocket once. Only the number in the porthole changes, so keep other lines clear of it.
  • Row of candles: one goes out each day to a birthday 2 colours, 4 minutes. Wipe a flame and add a wisp of smoke. Space the candles a hand apart so one wipe takes one flame.
  • Shark fin circling the deadline 1 colour, 1 minute. A fin and two ripples beside the due date. Move it a little closer every day.
  • Sheep over a fence, one tallied per minute a meeting overruns 2 colours, 3 minutes. A fence, one woolly cloud on legs in mid-jump and a tally beside it. One mark per minute over.
  • Sign: days since someone used the wrong pen 2 colours, 3 minutes. A hazard-striped border, block capitals and a box for the number. The number is usually small.
  • Sleeps-until board with a moon for every night 1 colour, 3 minutes. A row of fat crescents. Wipe one each morning. Good for trips, holidays and visiting grandparents.
  • Snail that crawls a hand further each day 2 colours, 3 minutes. Spiral shell, soft body, two eye stalks. Its dotted trail is the record of the week so far.
  • Ten-step progress bar for a team project 2 colours, 3 minutes. A long rounded box split into ten. Fill a segment solid as work lands and write the date under it.
  • Thermometer filling toward a fundraising target 2 colours, 5 minutes. Tube and bulb in black, fill in red. Mark tenths up the side first so the progress stays honest.
  • Traffic-light noise meter with a movable arrow 4 colours, 4 minutes. Red silent, amber whispers, green group talk. Draw it once and redraw only the arrow.

Welcome and message boards 16

  • Back-soon clock with hands you redraw 2 colours, 3 minutes. Face and numbers once in black. The red hands are the only lines that ever get wiped.
  • Birthday cake with the name spelled in candles 3 colours, 6 minutes. Three tiers, scalloped icing, one candle per letter with the letter written above each flame.
  • Congratulations board with a trophy and confetti 3 colours, 5 minutes. Cup, two ear handles, a stem and a block base. Confetti is short dashes in every colour you own.
  • DO NOT ERASE box guarding one tiny snail 1 colour, 2 minutes. A huge ruled box, block capitals and an arrow, all protecting a snail the size of a coin.
  • Fat arrow signs for an open evening 2 colours, 2 minutes. Outline arrow with the room name inside. Shade the underside so the arrow lifts off the board.
  • First-day board with a border of pencils 3 colours, 8 minutes. Each pencil is a long box, a zigzag and a dark tip. Lay them end to end round the frame.
  • Good luck board with a clover border 2 colours, 6 minutes. Each clover is four hearts meeting at their points. Run them along the top and down one side only.
  • Meeting agenda as a winding road with stops 2 colours, 6 minutes. A two-line road snaking down the board, one signpost per item. Tick each post as you pass it.
  • Out-of-office beach scene with a return date 3 colours, 5 minutes. A palm, a sun and a deckchair in the corner, and the date you are back in a lifebelt ring.
  • Ribbon banner carrying the day's message 2 colours, 4 minutes. Letter the words first, then box them and fork the tails. Words never fit a box drawn first.
  • Stick figure holding up the quote of the week 2 colours, 5 minutes. A big speech bubble first, written full, then a small figure below pointing up at it.
  • Sunburst round a visitor's name 2 colours, 3 minutes. Write the name, ring it, then pull rays outward in quick strokes of alternating length.
  • Tonight's menu with a steaming dish 2 colours, 4 minutes. A shallow bowl, three wavy steam lines, the dish name in capitals and who is cooking underneath.
  • Weekly mascot: round owl with a changing speech bubble 2 colours, 4 minutes. Two ring eyes that touch, a V beak, a U body. Only the bubble is redrawn each Monday.
  • WELCOME in bubble letters with a drop shadow 2 colours, 8 minutes. Outline the letters first. The shadow is a thick second colour on right and lower edges only.
  • Word of the day in a marquee of light bulbs 2 colours, 5 minutes. A box with small circles all the way round. Fill every other bulb so the frame seems to twinkle.

Wipe-off games and brain teasers 21

  • Apple-tree word game: a wrong letter costs an apple 3 colours, 4 minutes. Dashes for a secret word and a tree with ten red apples. Wipe one for each wrong guess.
  • Blind contour portrait of whoever sits opposite 1 colour, 1 minute. Look only at the sitter, never the board, and do not lift the marker. Always funny, oddly true.
  • Dots and boxes on a three-by-three dot grid 2 colours, 5 minutes. Take turns joining two neighbouring dots. Close a box, initial it and go again. Most boxes wins.
  • Draw-and-guess relay against a 60-second timer 1 colour, 1 minute. One player draws a secret word and the rest guess. No letters, no numbers, no talking.
  • Finish the other half of the butterfly 2 colours, 4 minutes. Draw half a butterfly against a centre line. A challenger mirrors it. Step back to judge.
  • House drawn in one line without lifting the marker 1 colour, 1 minute. A square, both diagonals and a roof: eight strokes, none twice. It only works from a bottom corner.
  • How many squares in a four-by-four grid 1 colour, 1 minute. Thirty: 16 small, 9 two-by-two, 4 three-by-three and the whole grid. Let the room argue first.
  • How many triangles: three lines from the apex 1 colour, 1 minute. A triangle with three lines from the top corner to the base holds ten. Most people say six.
  • Impossible triangle that cannot be built 2 colours, 4 minutes. Three bars that each turn a corner toward you. Every corner is fine; the whole cannot exist.
  • Nim with rows of three, four and five marks 1 colour, 1 minute. Take turns wiping any number of marks from one row. Whoever has to wipe the last mark loses.
  • Nine dots, four straight lines, marker never lifted 1 colour, 1 minute. A three-by-three square of dots. The answer needs lines that run on past the outer dots.
  • Noughts and crosses, best of five, on a giant grid 3 colours, 2 minutes. Draw the grid big in black and play in two colours. Wipe the marks between rounds, never the grid.
  • Picture sums: rain cloud plus ribbon bow 2 colours, 3 minutes. Draw two things with a plus sign between and let the room shout the compound word. Then swap.
  • Rebus: HEAD written over HEELS 1 colour, 1 minute. Write HEAD above a short line and HEELS below it. Let people solve it, then ask them to set one.
  • Rebus: STAND with a small I underneath 1 colour, 1 minute. It reads I understand. Position is the clue in a rebus, so keep the lettering plain.
  • Spot the difference: one scene drawn twice 2 colours, 8 minutes. A simple house scene, twice, side by side. Change five small things in the second one.
  • Sprouts starting from three spots 2 colours, 5 minutes. Join two spots, or loop one to itself, and add a spot on the line. No crossing, 3 lines a spot.
  • Squiggle swap: turn a scribble into a creature 2 colours, 2 minutes. One person makes a five-second squiggle. The next has a minute to turn it into something alive.
  • Three-part monster drawn by three people 3 colours, 6 minutes. Head, body, legs. Tape paper over each finished part so the next artist sees only the join lines.
  • Which line is longer: fins in, fins out 1 colour, 2 minutes. Two equal lines, one with arrowheads and one with tails. The tailed one looks longer. Measure them.
  • Whole-board maze drawn from the finish backward 1 colour, 10 minutes. Draw the true path first, then hang dead ends off it. Solvers trace with a finger, never a marker.

Mascots and big simple animals 16

  • Bear face from five circles 1 colour, 2 minutes. Head, two ears, a muzzle and a nose. Fill only the nose and the inner ears so it reads at distance.
  • Cat loaf seen from the front 1 colour, 2 minutes. A rounded box with two triangle ears. Eyes low and wide apart, three fast whisker flicks a side.
  • Cat on the bottom frame eyeing the real pen tray 2 colours, 4 minutes. Sit the cat on the frame with one paw reaching down at a real pen. Its eyes stay on the viewer.
  • Dachshund stretched along the bottom edge 1 colour, 4 minutes. Head at one end, tail at the other, a body as long as the board. Notes sit along its back.
  • Elephant from two circles and a J 1 colour, 3 minutes. Big circle body, smaller head overlapping it, a J trunk and a fan ear. Outlines read further.
  • Frog wiped out of a solid green patch 1 colour, 3 minutes. Scribble a green block, then wipe the eyes and belly out of it with a fingertip. Erasing draws too.
  • Giraffe leaning in from the side frame 2 colours, 4 minutes. Only the neck and head show, entering from the edge. Boards have frames, so use them.
  • Goldfish in a bowl drawn round a magnet 2 colours, 3 minutes. If the board takes magnets, a round one is the fish's body. Add tail, fins and eye, then the bowl.
  • Monster taking a bite out of yesterday's notes 2 colours, 3 minutes. Wipe a bite-shaped arc out of old notes, draw jaws round it and let loose letters fall as crumbs.
  • Mouse hole in the bottom corner with two eyes inside 1 colour, 2 minutes. A small arch where the frame meets the corner, filled solid. Wipe two eyes out with a cotton bud.
  • Octopus holding a task on the end of every arm 2 colours, 6 minutes. A dome head, two eyes and eight curling arms. Write a job at each tip; wipe the job, not the arm.
  • Penguin with a solid black back 2 colours, 3 minutes. Fill the back with the flat of the tip and leave the belly bare board. White costs nothing here.
  • Rabbit with ears as tall as the board 1 colour, 2 minutes. A small round face at the bottom and two very long loops. The joke is the proportion.
  • Sloth hanging from the top frame 2 colours, 5 minutes. Arms hook over the real frame. Long body, a dark mask round the eyes, three claws on each hand.
  • Whale the full width of the board 2 colours, 4 minutes. One long teardrop with an upturned tail and a belly line along it. The spout goes on in blue.
  • Zebra with stripes pulled out of a black body 1 colour, 6 minutes. Fill the body solid, then drag stripes out with a cotton bud. On this surface white is a wipe away.

Weather and everyday icons 14

  • Alarm clock with motion lines for a deadline 2 colours, 2 minutes. Circle, two bells, two feet, hands at the due time. Shake lines each side make it ring.
  • Chore icons: broom, plate, bin and paw 1 colour, 4 minutes. One icon per job and a name beside each. Swap the names weekly and leave the icons alone.
  • Cloud from a flat base and four bumps 1 colour, 1 minute. Draw the straight base first, then four bumps of different sizes, biggest second from the left.
  • Light bulb for the ideas corner 2 colours, 2 minutes. A circle that narrows into a screw base of three lines. Short rays only when someone adds an idea.
  • Map pin and a dotted route for a trip plan 2 colours, 3 minutes. A teardrop pin with a bare dot in its head. The dotted line loops once before it arrives.
  • Marker with a worried face, drawn by a pen that is running dry 1 colour, 2 minutes. A pen with a face whose line fades into dashes. The dying marker draws this one best.
  • Rain cloud with slanted dashes 2 colours, 1 minute. All dashes lean the same way and the same length. Random rain reads as mess from across a room.
  • Shopping list with a doodle beside each item 1 colour, 3 minutes. Milk carton, egg, loaf, banana. Pictures let someone who cannot read yet help with the list.
  • Six-arm snowflake icon with a V on each tip 1 colour, 1 minute. Three lines through one point give six arms. Add a small V near each tip, pointing outward.
  • Sun with alternating long and short rays 1 colour, 1 minute. Circle first, then rays like clock numbers: long at 12, 3, 6 and 9, short between.
  • Thunderstorm: cloud and a filled zigzag 2 colours, 2 minutes. Close the zigzag into a shape and fill it. A single-line bolt vanishes at the back of the room.
  • Umbrella: half circle, scallops and a J 2 colours, 2 minutes. Scallop the flat edge into four, run ribs up to the top, and end the handle in a J hook.
  • Weekly meal planner with a tiny dish per day 2 colours, 8 minutes. Seven rows. Bowl, plate, pan, slice or wrap: five dish shapes cover most dinners.
  • Wind as three curling lines 1 colour, 1 minute. Three level strokes that each end in a curl, the middle one longest. Add two leaves if it is autumn.

How it works

Count down, welcome someone, run a game, keep a mascot or show the weather: 86 ideas sorted by the job the board does. Each gives its marker colours, its minutes and how to draw it. The Funny group holds 15, like Sloth hanging from the top frame. For what to draw on a whiteboard before the room fills up, press Quick: 30 take two minutes or less.

Read the full guide

Use the wipe

A whiteboard is the one surface where erasing is a drawing tool, and the best whiteboard drawing ideas lean on it. The zebra starts as a solid black body and its stripes are dragged out with a cotton bud. These are the cool things to draw on a whiteboard, because paper cannot do them.

Draw the frame once, change one part

A countdown that takes five minutes on Monday has to take five seconds on Tuesday, or nobody keeps it up. So every tracker here is drawn once and changed in one small spot: the number in the rocket's window, the climber on the mountain path, the red hands of the back-soon clock. Wipe that spot with a fingertip, not the eraser.

  • Check that the marker says dry-erase or dry-wipe before it touches the board. A permanent marker looks the same and does not wipe off.
  • Thick lines and solid fills read from the back of a room; thin outlines vanish. Fill with the flat of the tip and let the bare board be your white.
  • Work away from your drawing hand, left to right if you are right-handed, so your sleeve never drags through the drawing.

Questions and answers

Which white board drawing ideas suit the fridge door at home?

The best things to draw on a white board at home are the ones somebody else finishes. Tonight's menu with a steaming dish, a marble jar for family points, the sleeps-until moons and a game of dots and boxes left open by the kettle invite the next person to pick up the marker.

Is a dry erase board the same as a whiteboard?

Yes, and so is a dry wipe board. Only the surface varies. Melamine is the least expensive, and some melamine boards ghost, keeping a grey trace of old marks. Glass is non-porous and does not. Every idea here works on either, and on whiteboard paint.

Which whiteboard art ideas work as games?

The Games group has 21. Dots and boxes and Sprouts are for two players, and Sprouts from three spots is over in eight moves at most. Nine dots, the one-line house and the two counting puzzles suit a crowd. For draw-and-guess, choose Mascots and big simple animals for the subjects and give each turn a minute.

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