Visual thinking practice: Turning words into pictures

Here's a Pictionary-like exercise that's fun, easy and will help you hone your visual thinking skills.

You'll need a friend and a sketchbook, and you can do it nearly anywhere -- in an airport, a bar or over lunch. Here's how it works:

1. Each person makes a list of words and phrases. If you want you can pick a theme, like famous people, transporation, or dot-com companies.

2. Next, pick a word from your list and try to draw it. No letters or words allowed. It's your friend's job to guess the word. If your friend guesses the word you each get a point. If you give up, you lose a point.

3. Take turns and see how high a score you can get in an hour.

4. Next time you play, see if you can beat your record.

You can also play with three people: Every time someone correctly guesses what you're drawing, both you and they get a point.

Don't have any friends? No problem. You can also play this game online with anonymous strangers.