We use the word “communication” quite often, still, it has so many aspects that we can discover through different activities. With this game, we have the chance to discover different levels, from words to body language…
Duration:
approximately 30 minutes, still, you can always add new elements and make it longer.
Preferred location:
even if the activity itself is absolutely suitable for indoor use, we suggest that you do it outside – bringing people into another environment can make the whole process more fun and can stimulate completely different outcomes.
Working method:
developing teamwork and communication skills through games that focus on cooperation.
Materials:
sheets of paper and pens.
Purpose:
exploring the possibilities of communication within a team, understanding different ways how we communicate and finding ways how to turn these into possibilities.
Instructions
after you wrote a bunch of words on separate pieces of paper (there should be 3 words for each participant, but you can also create more or various categories depending on how hard these words or expressions are), divide the players into teams and let them choose 3 words without showing it to anyone. As soon as you are done with this, each participant in his/her small group has three steps:
- describing one word or expression through sentences;
- describing the other word through only one word;
- describing the third word only through body language.
The rest of the participants need to guess these words. You can also reflect on the choice of words (which ones were chosen by the player in the first, second, and third rounds) and offer them to make it more challenging for themselves – choose a harder one and describe it only with body language for example.
Debriefing
reflect on the activity together with your participants and discuss the following aspects:
- which levels of communication were the most and the least comfortable?
- are there any other forms of communication?
- were the words in line with the body language; if not, how can we align them?
- how do the others communicate and how can we understand them?
- how do we see communication in our own surroundings?
Possible alternatives
the game can be played with a mobile device or mobile app as well. You can always turn the activity towards your desired outcome – what would you like your participants to practice or achieve? It could be valuable to talk about the relationship between communication and inclusion or communication and employability so that you can further guide your participants based on their situation and needs.