What is back to back activity?

Índice Show

an activity for pairs to reflect on how they communicate
What is it for?
What does it look like?
Participants’ State of Mind
Level of Complexity (1–5)
Time of Participation
“Back to Back Drawing” Game Objective
What is Needed to Play “Back to Back Drawing”
“Back to Back Drawing” Game Setup
How to Play “Back to Back Drawing”
How to Win at “Back to Back Drawing”
The Benefits of Playing “Back to Back Drawing”
How do you play the back drawing game?
How do you play the game of communication?
What is blind drawing game?
How do you play draw the picture game?

an activity for pairs to reflect on how they communicate

What is it for?

Back-to-Back Drawing is an exercise that requires participants to communicate thoughtfully and consider the nature of misunderstandings in the work they do.

Emotion-Centered Design

Impact

Back-to-Back Drawing allows participants to practice thoughtful communication through deep listening and translating. By relaying to someone what you think they mean and learning about where the gaps in communication are, people are able to reflect on how they communicate and be more mindful. This thought exercise is used to guide discussions about real work situations.

What does it look like?

The researcher or facilitator has the group form pairs and sit back to back. One person is given a picture of a shape or a simple image, and the other person is given a piece of paper and a drawing utensil. The person with the picture gives verbal instructions to their partner on how to draw the shape or image they’ve been given (without simply telling them what the shape or image is). After a set amount of time, each set of partners compare their images and see which team drew the most accurate replica. In the end, the facilitator opens a discussion about miscommunication, understanding, perspective, and feeling stuck.

Participants’ State of Mind

playful, mindful

Level of Complexity (1–5)

Time of Participation

20 mins

Source

Adapted to Matter–Mind Source from SMILE Oregon State: Therapist Aid, Leadership Inspirations

Back to Back is a fun energetic activity with a strong and simple message about collaborative work, and the importance of aligning forces towards the same direction.

Running the activity:

Instruct participants to find a pair of similar height and weight.
Ask everyone to sit on the floor, back to back with their pair.
Ask the pairs to hold their arms while keeping their backs together.
Tell everyone their goal is to stand up, while keeping arms and backs together.

This activity is really fun. People will laugh. Typically, a few pairs will be able to stand up faster, while others will have a hard time. Be sensitive to the group and only run this activity if appropriate.

To have a proficient and well-balanced team, harmony and communication are key factors that must be cultivated. This back-to-back drawing game is a great tool for just that. It heavily relies on the participants to adequately get information across from one another and it provides the means and practice to remove misunderstandings in a working environment.

“Back to Back Drawing” Game Objective

The goal of the game is for one player to understand and competently draw the image or object that is being clearly described, without being able to see it in the first place.

What is Needed to Play “Back to Back Drawing”

The tools required for this activity are the following: pictures ( in a physical or a digital format ) of the things that will be verbally described, as well as some pens and paper that the players will use in order to draw. If the first item is difficult to acquire, one can simply pick up an existing object for the player to convey.

“Back to Back Drawing” Game Setup

The organizer of this team building activity must prepare all the items listed above, establish a time limit under which the game will be played and find the target group of participants. It can be either played with one group of people, which will be later divided into pairs, or with more teams that will follow the same procedure.

How to Play “Back to Back Drawing”

Step 1.

Each group will be divided into pairs that will sit with their backs turned from one another. One person will be the one that explains the object or picture that is shown to them ( member A ) and the other will be the one that will draw it, according to the description ( member B ).

Step 2.

The members of each pair will be given the instruments for completing their assigned task. Member A will be instructed not to show the image they received to their partner. Member B will be instructed not to peek at their partner’s image. If one of the two rules mentioned above is broken, the team is instantly disqualified.

Step 3.

After the timer is set, member A will begin to describe the object they’re seeing without revealing its actual name. Member B will attempt to understand what they’re being told, guess the object, and draw it on a piece of paper.

Step 4.

When the time is up, the pair will showcase their results and see how the information has traveled from one player to the other. If member B has successfully drawn the right object, the team to which the pair belongs gains one point.

How to Win at “Back to Back Drawing”

Communication is crucial for winning this type of activity. Not only that, but the pair must learn to rely on one another for success. The speaker needs to become fully aware of how they need to clearly describe the object to the listener. They need to approach a certain pattern of expression that is familiar to the listener’s way of understanding things. Moreover, the listener needs to be assertive and open to asking more questions in the hopes of elucidating the task at hand. Simply stated, in order to win there needs to be a heavy flow of questions and answers from both parties. Teamwork will be the deciding factor in whether the members will be going towards victory or failure.

The Benefits of Playing “Back to Back Drawing”

This game advertises communication as a much-needed tool in the workplace. It underlines, on the one hand, the importance of being able to promptly express what you need from somebody ( let’s say an employee ). As a speaker, you need to make sure your ideas are clearly stated so that no information can escape the conversation due to poor verbal delivery. On the other hand, the game highlights the importance of patience, the ability to listen well to what others have to say, and how one may be able to overcome a blockage in a flowing dialogue. And, as a plus, this game will definitely fill the room with laughter.

How do you play the back drawing game?

The challenge requires two participants — one person draws on the other's back, while the second tries to recreate that image just by feeling the movement of the pen. The challenge, which originated on TikTok, has now spread to Instagram and people of all ages are participating in it.

How do you play the game of communication?

To play communication games, first choose a challenge. Next, gather your materials. Then split the group into teams or pairs, explain the rules, and start the clock. Most communication games require nothing more than paper and pencil to play, or no materials at all.

Blind drawing requires 2 players to sit back to back. One player is given a picture of an object or word. This person has to describe the image verbally to the first person to sketch it out!

How do you play draw the picture game?

Tell the players to sit back-to-back with their partners. Explain that one person (the Artist) will draw a picture using only simple shapes and lines. The other player (the Apprentice) cannot look while he is doing it. When the Artist is done, he must give the Apprentice verbal directions on how to draw his picture.