OuiSi · Visual arts

Draw the connection

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Grades 1–5 Teaching 35 min Plus 3 to set out, 3 to clear Class any size Set any Prep paper and drawing materials

set out 3′ Build the chain 12′ Pick one link 5′ Draw what they share 13′ Guess from the drawing 5′ clear 3′

Goal: Children build a chain of visual connections, then draw the thing two cards share — not either card. The shared thing is usually abstract, and drawing it is the whole lesson.
Materials: One OuiSi Photo-Card set. About eight cards per group of four. Paper and drawing materials.

Grades 1–2: Trace one shared shape from each card before drawing — the full 35 min
Grades 3–4: Draw the shared thing freehand — the full 35 min
Grade 5: Line and shape only. No color allowed — the full 35 min

1 · Build the chain

12 min

Groups of four, about eight cards each, spread face up.

Take turns. Place one card so it connects to a card already on the table, and say the connection out loud as you place it.

It can connect by shape, color, pattern, or an idea. Keep going until every card is placed.

When a group finishes, one extra challenge.

Can you move one card so it connects to two cards at once?

2 · Pick one link

5 min

Choose the one link in your chain that is hardest to explain in words. Pull those two cards out and keep them in front of you.

Hardest to explain, not best. The links that resist words are the ones worth drawing, and children pick them accurately.

3 · Draw what they share

13 min

This is the part that needs saying twice, slowly.

Do not draw either card. Draw the thing they share.

A curve that runs through both. The way light falls the same way twice. A rhythm. Children will protest that it is not a thing — that protest is the lesson arriving, so do not rescue them from it.

If a group is genuinely stuck after two minutes, offer one scaffold.

Close your eyes. What shape is left when you stop thinking about what the pictures are?

4 · Guess from the drawing

5 min

Groups swap drawings only, keeping their two cards hidden.

Look at this drawing. Now find two cards in your own chain it could be the connection between.

They will rarely match the original pair, and that is the good outcome. The same abstract shape connects many things — which is the point of the whole Photo-Card set.

Watch for

Drawing one of the cards. The most common failure, and it looks like compliance. Walk the room in step three and ask: which card is that? If they can answer, redirect.
That isn't a thing. Correct, and worth saying back to them: it is not an object, it is what the two have in common. Then let them sit in it.
Sorting by object during the chain — all the animals together. Redirect to what they can see: I do not need to know what it is. What does it look like?
Children who like rules can find step three pointless. Give them a target: the drawing has to work for at least two different pairs of cards.

Adapt

Multilingual learners — this lesson runs on pointing and drawing. Words are never required.
Children who think faster than they write — let them show the connection with the cards first and draw it after. Separate the seeing from the making.
Autistic children — a concrete shared feature, such as both have a circle, is a correct and complete answer. Draw that.
Wide ability range — mixed groups work better here. There is no answer key to fall behind on.

Curriculum links. Building a chain of visual connections and stating each one · Identifying an abstract quality two images share · Drawing a quality rather than an object · Reading an abstract drawing back to its source.
Standard codes vary by state and district — these are the skills exercised, for you to map to your own.

Screen-free. No codes and no devices. Works with any OuiSi Photo-Card set.
Extension. Children design a new Photo Card that would connect to both of their two cards at once.