All great team-building activities are fun, and easy to play. They have to be engaging enough for the whole team to get involved, and easy enough that you can get started with limited materials. However, the best team-building games also spark creativity. Creativity is crucial in the workplace because it’s what drives innovation and problem solving. Thinking outside the box is increasingly important in our fast changing world, so here’s a great way to spark that creative outlet in your team.
How Drawing Games Spark Creativity
Drawing is something we’ve all done at some point in our lives, and then stopped for whatever reason. Drawing a picture is literally an act of creating something from your imagination, so what better way to tap into that latent creative side?
Draw It!
Another fantastic game to play with the team is Draw It! It has a similar game play to the regular version of Pictionary, except it's conveniently available online for both desktop and mobile. All the words, timing and scorekeeping is taken care of for you, so all you need to do is focus on drawing on your creative side (get it?). Head on over to Brightful Meeting Games to play it now for free
What is Telephone Pictionary?
Another way to turn the act of drawing into a team building exercise, we’ve got just the right game for you to try. It’s called Telephone Pictionary, a spin on the classic Pictionary game. The thing that makes Telephone Pictionary such a great team building exercise is how funny it is. The joy and laughter that arises from the silliness of this game is a surefire way to create bonds within your team. The gameplay also encourages communication, deduction and abstract thinking.
HOW TO PLAY TELEPHONE PICTIONARY
Telephone Pictionary combines the verbal exercise of Telephone with the fun drawing game Pictionary. This game is good for any group size, as long as these groups can be broken down into smaller groups of 5-10 people each.
- Each person is given a sheet of paper for every person they have in a group - (e.g. if 10 people in the group, each person is given 10 sheets of paper).
- Have each player write down some type of phrase on the top sheet of paper then pass the entire stack to the person on their left
- That person will read the phrase, move that sheet to the back of the stack, then draw a picture representing that phrase on the next sheet of paper
- They’ll then pass it to the person on their left, who will then look at the drawing, move that sheet to the back of the stack, and then write a sentence that describes that picture.
- This process repeats until the stacks make it all the way around the circle
- The players then read out their original phrase and show everyone else what eventually became of that phrase. You’ll probably find that it’s completely different!
Draw It is a fun and free Pictionary game
That’s the end of the game, but if you are feeling competitive, you can take a vote to see which final phrase was the closest to the original, or which phrase was the most amusing. The aim of the game isn’t necessarily to get it completely right, but to see what whacky transmutations come from each time the phrase gets “lost in translation”!
Team Building Benefits of Telephone Pictionary
This game really drives home how things can get lost in communication, based on our assumptions or lack of information. When we communicate with our team, unless we paint the whole picture or give all the facts, it’s safe to say the original meaning can become bamboozled, especially if it has to cross multiple parties. This game drives home the importance of clear communication!
If you need some inspiration for phrases to start with, here’s a list for you. They don’t have to make sense, and they should be a little hard to draw. Remember - half the fun is getting it stupidly wrong!
A List of Funny Things to Draw to Get You Started
Elvis playing basketball
A cow in the desert
A dachshund as a plumber
A spaceship made out of fruit
A dinosaur fighting an army of bananas
A man wearing a kilt
A robot and a space alien having a fist fight
A caveman holding a dinosaur egg
A family of flamingos
A sheep dressed as a policeman
A tiger made out of bacon
A dinosaur playing golf
A pirate with a parrot on his shoulder
A chicken riding a unicorn
A man eating a carrot
A woman holding a stack of money in her hand
A wizard using a magic wand to cast a spell
A robot wearing a cape
A giant robot attacking a city
A horse riding a shark
A monster in a box
A man with a turkey on his head
A family of penguins
A unicorn riding a seahorse
A man dressed as a king
A squirrel in a chicken suit
A cowboy riding a moose
A woman with a snake around her neck
A dinosaur playing the guitar
A monkey holding a clock
A person juggling knives
A cow driving a car
A chicken with a machine gun
A person dressed as a baseball player
A ninja riding a horse
A penguin dressed as a pirate
A bear in a dinosaur costume
A person in a spacesuit
A penguin dressed as a knight
A person riding a shark
A family of ducks
A dog with a camera
A man in a car made out of chocolate
A person riding a horse made out of cotton candy
A woman dressed as a cow
A family of cats
A cat driving a car
A robot riding a unicycle
A person dressed as a pirate
A dinosaur eating a hamburger
A person dressed as a knight
A chicken dressed as a pirate
A cow driving a car
A person dressed as a pirate
A family of dogs
A person dressed as a monkey
A family of snakes
A man riding a cow
A person dressed as a wizard
A family of ducks
A person dressed as a pirate
A dinosaur dressed as a cowboy
If you want even more inspiration on cool things to draw, be sure to check out our massive list of Best Things to Draw.
