How it works
This random object generator draws from 586 everyday objects, from a colander to a hammock to a kaleidoscope, and prints one line under each about what it does or how it works. The All objects menu keeps the draw to the kitchen, the house, school and office, tools, the outdoors, clothes, toys or tech. Take away the objects you do not want, then share a link to the same set.
Read the full guide
Draw, keep and take away
Five objects are on the page when it opens. Press Pick 5 new objects for five more. For a longer list, press Add another; the × on a row makes it shorter. To keep an object, take the others away with the × at the end of their rows: the next press fills the gaps and leaves what you kept. Nothing comes back until you have seen every object in the group you chose. Copy the list copies each name with its use on the line under it.
What counts as an object here
Everything in the list is a man-made thing you could point at in a home, a school, a workshop, a garden or a sports bag. There are no animals, no food and no brand names, and nothing so rare that you would need to look it up. The line under each name says what the object is for, and where there is a neat reason it works, the line gives that too: why a wine glass has a stem, how a thermos holds heat, why a golf ball has dimples.
Three games that need a list like this
Scavenger hunt: choose Around the house in the All objects menu, then press Add another until the list holds 10, and the first person to touch all ten wins. Memory tray: press Add another until the list holds 10, give everyone one minute to study them, turn the screen away and see who can write down the most. Sell it: draw one object and give a player thirty seconds to pitch it as if it had just been invented. Drama teachers use the same exercise with a twist, where the object must be used as anything except what it is.
- For a drawing warm-up, take away all but three objects with × and arrange them in your head as a still life. Sketch for five minutes, then take one away, press Add another and draw the new arrangement.
- Invent something: draw two objects and design the product you would get by joining them.
- Story writers can draw one object and make it matter. It has to appear in the first paragraph and decide the ending.
- For language practice, read the use aloud and ask the learner to name the object. The uses avoid the object's own name where they can, so most work as clues.
- Play twenty questions with a single hidden draw. The group you chose is a fair first hint.
Questions and answers
How many objects are in the list?
There are 586: 75 from the kitchen, 78 from around the house, 65 from school and office, 70 tools and garage items, 90 for the garden, camping and sports, 68 clothes and accessories, 70 toys, games and party things, and 70 pieces of tech, sound and music. Each object sits in one group, and each group is a choice in the All objects menu.
Is this the same as a random thing generator?
It is, as long as the thing you want is something you can hold, wear, sit on or plug in. Every result here is a physical object. If you want a thing in the wider sense, such as a place, a person, an animal or an idea, the random noun generator draws from all of those and defines each word.
Is this a random object generator with pictures?
Not yet, and we would rather say so than fill the page with stock photos. 140 of the objects show an emoji, drawn by your own device, and every object has its one-line use. For sketching that is often better: you draw the fork in your own kitchen from memory, and not a copy of someone else's picture.
Can I use it with a class?
Yes. The whole list is printed below the tool, so you can read every object and every line before a lesson. The rudest thing in it is a whoopee cushion. A few sharp or hot things are included because they are ordinary household objects, such as a chef's knife, an axe and a soldering iron.
Is the pick really random?
Yes. Every object that fits your group and your Starts with letter has the same chance, and the choice is made in your browser. The one fixed result is the first set of five, which is built into the page so that it appears at once on a slow connection. After that the page only steps in to stop repeats.