Tries to explain without speaking

Explain without speaking is a great activity both for small and large groups and underlines the importance of good communication. Divide participants into groups of 4 or more people. There can be up to 10 people per group.

For smaller groups, it’s best to have everyone play together.

To begin, the groups are set in a queue, each person with their back to the person behind them so that no one is face to face. One player will lead this activity and won’t participate.

The leader comes up with a phrase, it can be work-related, or something fun! The leader then whispers this phrase to the first person in the queue of each group, and with this, the game start.

When the leader says ‘Go’, the first person in each queue taps the next person on the shoulder, and when they turn around, he/she tries to explain, without speaking, the phrase that the leader gave them.

After 30 seconds, the leader shouts “Change!” and the second person turns around, taps the next person on the shoulder, and the activity repeats as they try to explain whatever they understood from the first person. Be sure that players are not speaking throughout the entire activity.

The game continues until the last person in each queue has participated. Each player has 30 seconds to try to understand the expression and 30 seconds to pass on the information.

Once the game is complete, the last person verbalizes in front of the whole group what they think the phrase is. The results are usually very funny!

The topics of this publication: non-verbal communication, interactions, integration