This game is a lot like Pictionary, without the guessing-what-it-is bit: everyone draws an object based on a word picked at random.

How to do it

As our work gets more and more complicated, we need to increase our thinking and communication toolkit to include visual language as well as verbal language. This is a fun easy game to help people get into a more creative mindset, by getting them to do some mental association and drawing.

Ahead of time, prepare some words on index cards that represent concepts that are important to the people in your group, but can be tricky to explain or draw (examples: quality, problem, goal, teamwork, solution, risk, investment).

Encourage everyone at the beginning that this game isn’t about drawing ability, and that there’s no right or wrong. Give everyone a marker and some sticky notes. Get someone to pull out one of the index cards at random and call out the word. Everyone then has 2 minutes to draw that word. When they’re done, get everyone to stick their sticky note up in a common area for everyone to see. Repeat a couple more times.

Variations

If time, it can be really insightful to have a quick time of reflection and discussion after the drawing. Ask everyone: what do they notice about what people have drawn? Some interesting take-outs are:

• There are always more ways to draw/show something than you might have thought of. No one of us is more creative than all of us.
• Seeing the different ways that people have drawn the same word can help us to see a familiar concept in fresh new ways.

Source: Gamestorming

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