Here’s a quick opening activity that requires the participants to think visually.

Purpose

To draw a picture related to the training topic

Participants

Minimum: 3

Maximum: 7

You can divide larger number of participants into smaller groups and ask each group to play among its members.

Time

10 - 35 minutes

Supplies

Blank pieces of paper
Felt-tipped pens

Flow

Distribute supplies. Give a blank piece of paper and a felt-tipped pen to each participant.

Ask the participants to doodle. Tell the participants to draw a simple doodle anywhere on the sheet of paper. Encourage them to work independently and rapidly within a minute.

Have participants to exchange their doodles. After a minute, ask each participant to exchange the piece of paper with the doodle with someone else. Tell the participants to continue exchanging the doodles several times.

Ask the participants to draw a picture. Tell them to incorporate the doodle on the paper as a part of the picture. Also, ask them to think to make the picture to reflect some aspect of the training topic. Encourage the participants to work rapidly and announce a 3-minute time limit.

Example:

In a recent workshop on diversity and inclusion, Leeva received a piece of paper with a doodle that looked like a figure of eight. She drew a picture of a hat, incorporating the doodle as the flap of the hat. She was thinking about different types of headgears worn by people from different cultures. She wanted to learn about the significance of these differences among the hats.

Share the pictures. After about 3 minutes, ask the participants to stop drawing the picture. Ask the people in each group to take turns to show the picture and discuss how it is connected with the training topic.