Summer Game Cards for Playing Charades, Pictionary & More!

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Discover endless fun with our Summer Game Cards. Perfect for all ages, these cards guarantee laughter, creativity, and unforgettable memories. Use these game cards to play Charades, Pictionary, Heads Up and More!

Summer Game Cards for Playing Charades, Pictionary & More!

If you love playing games, you’re going to love these fun Summer Game Cards. They’re perfect for summer nights, beach vacations, camps, and so much more! And the best part is – they can be used to play multiple games.

Embrace the challenge, bring on the laughter the laughter, and let the games begin!

This freebie includes over 50 game cards along with blank cards so you can add your own words and phrases to the game.

Why You’ll Love These Summer Game Cards

  • Family game night – The entire family can play!
  • Everyone can play – Younger kids and older kids will have so much fun playing all of these games. These games are also great for small or large groups of people.
  • Play anywhere – These games can be played inside or outside. Play anywhere and still have fun.
  • Play multiple games – use these game cards to play different games like charades, Pictionary, Heads Up, and CatchPhrase.
  • Create your own – Get the whole family involved and use the blank cards provided to add your own words and phrases related to summer.

Supplies Needed to Play These Summer Games

The best thing about using these game cards is you don’t need a lot of other game pieces or supplies to play Charades, Pictionary, Catch Phrase or Heads Up.  Here’s what you’ll need to play these fun games:

  • Summer Game Cards
  • A bowl or basket
  • Timer – we use the timer on our cell phones
  • Dry Erase Board
  • Dry Erase Marker
  • Piece of paper – to keep score

How to Play Summer Charades

The game of charades is a game of pantomimes. Players have to act out a word or phrase without speaking while the other members of the team try to guess what the phrase is.

  1. Divide players into two teams. Select a time and score keeper for each team.
  2. Place charade cards in the bowl or basket.
  3. Decide which team goes first. A player from the first team stands in front of the group and selects a card from the bowl. Once the player has read the card, the timer is set for 1 minute.
  4. That player acts out the phrase on the card until the team guesses it or until the timer runs out. The player cannot talk, make sounds, or use props while acting out a word. The team scores a point if they guess the word or phrase on the card before time is up.
  5. Now it’s the other team’s turn. Repeat the same process with the other team. The game continues until all players have had a turn to act at least once.
  6. The team with the highest score at the end of the game wins.

How to Play Summer Pictionary

Pictionary is a fun drawing game where players must illustrate a word or phrase without speaking while their teammates try to guess what they are drawing.

  1. Divide players into two teams.
  2. Select a time and score keeper for each team.
  3. Place Pictionary clue cards in the bowl or basket.
  4. Decide which team goes first. A player from the first team stands in front of the group and selects a card from the bowl. Once the player has read the card, the timer is set for 1 minute.
  5. That player begins to sketch while players on the team guess the image being sketched. The player cannot talk, make sounds, or include letters and numbers in the drawing. The team scores a point if they guess the word or phrase on the card before time is up.
  6. Now it’s the other team’s turn. Repeat the same process with the other team. The game continues until all players have had a turn to act at least once. The team with the most points at the end of the game wins.

How to Play Summer CatchPhrase

CatchPhrase is a fast-paced word game where the goal of the game is get your teammates to correctly guess a word by providing clues.

  1. Divide players into two teams and have players sit in a circle so each player is next to a member of the other team. Each player needs to be able to pass the basket of cards to a member of the other team as quickly as possible.
  2. Place game cards in the bowl or basket.
  3. Decide which team will start and a choose a player on that team to go first. Give the basket of cards to that player.
  4. The first player takes the bowl of words, draws one, and immediately starts to describe it while at the same time someone sets the timer for 60 seconds. As soon as the first player starts giving clues, his team members can start shouting out guesses while the opposing team stays silent. When giving clues, players can make physical gestures and give almost any verbal clue to get their team to say the word. But players CANNOT say a word that rhymes with the word, give the first letter of the word or say part of the word in the clue.
  5. Once the word is guessed correctly, the bowl is passed to the next player (the other team) and they start giving clues to their team members. Teams continue guessing and passing the bowl until the timer goes off. The team holding the bowl when the timer goes off loses that round (think of the bowl as a hot potato) and the other team scores a point.
  6. The first team to win 7 points wins the game.

How to Play Summer Heads Up

Heads Up is a guessing game where players place cards on their forehead and other players give clues while the player with the card on their forehead attempts to guess what is on the card.

  1. Place game cards face down on table. The first player selects 5 cards from the pile and keeps them faced down in front of them.
  2. Set the timer for 60 seconds while player one selects a card and, without looking at the word, places it on their forehead with the words facing the other players. The other players will yell out as many clues as possible without saying any form of the word on the card until the word or phrase is guessed correctly. Once they guess correctly, player one replaces the card with a new one on their forehead while other players continue to yell out clues for the new word. Continue until the timer runs out. Points are awarded to the guessing player for each word they guess correctly.
  3. The next player takes his or her turn following the same guidelines above. Continue playing until everyone has a chance to be the guesser. The player with the most points wins.

Tips for Printing Printables

After downloading and saving the printable PDF file, it’s time to print our printable. Here are five tips you can use to help your printouts look their best.

Invest in a good home printer – I have an Epson Expression Wireless Color Printer that I currently use to print my printables and I’m very happy with it.

Choose the right paper – For best results, we recommend printing this game on white cardstock. When I’ve tried to print on regular paper I found that the ink causes the paper to wrinkle a little especially if the printable requires a lot of ink. Card stock is thicker paper that is better for printables that you want to use over and over again like this printable game.

Use a paper trimmer – I recommend using a paper trimmer if you are cutting out cards,  game pieces, gift tags, and other smaller printables. It makes it so much easier to cut everything straight.

Use a professional printing service – I also recommend using a professional printing service to get the best quality. I go to Office Depot or Staples a lot to print my printables. I’ve also used Shutterfly and Walgreens to print large printables. Most printables use a lot of ink so it may even save you money to get them professionally printed.

Laminate them – Laminating printables will help them last longer especially if it’s something you want to use over and over again. I’m a little obsessed with laminating things and thanks to my handy dandy laminator, I can laminate anything right at home. You’ll also need laminating sheets.

Download these Printable Summer Game Cards

I’ve made it so easy for you to download this free printable. Just add your name and email in the form below and this digital file will be delivered right to your inbox. Then, open your email and save the PDF file to your computer. It’s that easy. Once the PDF is saved to your computer, just print, cut, and have fun!

Personal Use Only

This free printable is for personal use only.  When you download a freebie on this website, it is licensed for personal use. Digital reselling, sharing, redistributing of the files is NOT allowed. In order to share, use the direct URL to this page.

More Fun Summer Fun!

2 Comments

  1. These Summer Game Cards sound like a blast! I love that they’re perfect for all ages and can be used for multiple games. It’s so convenient to have everything in one pack. I can just imagine the chaos and laughter during a family game night. Do you think these cards would be great for a backyard barbecue with friends too? And how do you decide which game to play first? 😜

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