Communication drawing activities examples (Top 5)

This blog consists of the basics, importance, and benefits of communication followed by the various examples of drawing communication activities that you could try to enhance aspects of your personal, social and professional life.

What is communication?

Communication is the exchange of information through means of speech, writing, and other non-verbal mediums, to produce greater understanding.

Communication is one of the most basic components that constitute how we interact with other people.

It can be done verbally- through daily conversations, writing (books, magazines, websites), visual (graphs, maps, charts), or non-verbal cues (gestures, voice tone, body language).

Basics of Communication

The basics of communication include:

• Taking turns and being empathetic during the conversation
• Using respectful vocabulary and keeping the conversation as healthy as possible
• Practicing in a natural setting to raise confidence in social situations
• Pausing while communicating to improve listening and clarifying skills

Importance and benefits of communication

• Effective communication enables conveying how you are feeling, your needs, and your boundaries. This can also result in high levels of self-efficacy.
• It brings down the possibility of violence and instills empathy and compassion in individuals.
• It also increases the levels of emotional intelligence, mental well-being.
• Setting boundaries through effective communication can build the skill of assertively communicating. 
• This enables individuals to communicate how they are feeling and their needs but by being mindful of the other person at the same time.

Types of communication skills

There are different types of communication skills that you could possibly learn in order to be able to communicate better. 

These skills are interrelated and work better when combined and practicing these skills is key. 

Listening skills

Actively listening and paying close attention to the person who is talking to you is important. Often we tend to listen to someone just to reply back to them. This limits our ability to make sense of what the other person is trying to convey.

By listening to the other person to understand their perspective and mindfully replying back to them is something you could focus on to develop communication skills. 

This skill might seem simple but might take constant focus and awareness. 

You can be an active listener by avoiding possible distractions in the surroundings and by asking questions in case you need to clarify something.

By sharing your opinions, comments, and ideas in a constructive manner can benefit the other person as well. This also enhances the quality of conversation and qualifies as a healthy one.

Communication style

We tend to adapt to different styles of communication depending on the situation. It is important to consider your audience, make the best out of your communication skills, and develop an effective format to communicate better.

For instance: If you need to communicate complex information with your co-worker, it’s better to communicate via audio call/ video call than by communicating via email. 

The right amount of friendliness

Two of the most important characteristics in friendships are- honesty and kindness. These characteristics help in fostering understanding and trust in our interpersonal relationships. 

The very same characteristics are important in workplace and professional relationships as well. 

By keeping an open mind, approaching others with a positive attitude, asking questions to clarify and create a better understanding are a few ways of enhancing your communication with others. 

Constructive feedback

In order to develop healthy communication skills, it is very important to be able to give and receive constructive feedback. This comprises answering questions, providing solutions, or even helping strengthen the topic at hand.

Tone, pace, and clarity

It is important to be mindful of your tone, pace, and volume while speaking to someone or in a gathering. By being clear and audible one can effectively communicate and it’s a critical factor for developing communication skills.

In certain settings speaking loudly might come across as awkward or disrespectful. 

Non-verbal cues

Our body language, facial expressions, eye contact, and gestures convey a great deal apart from what we are trying to convey through words. 

While having a conversation with someone it is important to actively listen to what they are saying and at the same time also pay attention to their body language. 

Thus, it is also important for you to be aware of your body language while communicating, to ensure that you are able to fully convey what you intend to, to the other person or the group.

Reciprocity

The way you reciprocate and respond to someone you need to attend to is important. 

Whether it be returning a phone call that you’ve missed or responding back to a text message or email, the faster you do so determines the effectiveness of your communication skills. 

If the message seems too complex, it is okay to let the person on the other end know that you’ve received the message by simply acknowledging and that you’d get back to them later, fully. 

Emotional intelligence

The ability to manage your emotions and understand them while communicating are important components of emotional intelligence. This helps in avoiding stress and dealing with challenges as well as empathizing with others. 

Emotional intelligence is learned over time through various experiences that we encounter on our way. The main components of emotional intelligence are self and social awareness, self and relationship management.

These components are essential in their own way and enable you to communicate effectively with other people.

Respect

By paying attention to others, trying to understand their perspective and where they could possibly be coming from help in developing respect.

By respecting others’ opinions and ideas,  they would be more interested and likely to communicate with you. 

How to improve your communication

• Active listening- Listening is a very important skill to facilitate effective communication. Paying close attention, rephrasing, and asking questions can enable a greater sense of understanding.

• Non-verbal communication- While communicating your gestures, facial expressions and tone give out a lot more apart from everything that you’re trying to communicate verbally. 

Being aware of all these aspects by limiting hand gestures, maintaining eye contact, and keeping a good posture can really help make a good first impression.

• Confidence- Being confident in a conversation might capture people’s attention and make them want to listen to what you are saying.
  By maintaining eye contact, relaxed body stance, and by maintaining a well-paced tone can be simple ways of confidently being able to communicate.

• Managing your emotions- being able to manage your emotions and knowing where to express these emotions appropriately with the right level of intensity is an important aspect.

• Feedback- Being open to and asking for feedback is another effective way to communicate better. 

Asking your peers and friends for feedback and making use of them constructively to work upon your communication can help in building communication skills.

• Concise- conveying your message in a crisp, and making it to the point can avoid the listener from getting confused.

• Public speaking- grabbing any opportunity to speak in front of an audience and being able to articulate your feelings and thoughts can help improve communication. 

It helps in magnifying your potential and brings down hesitation and self-doubt to a large extent.

Communication drawing activity examples

The various communication drawing activities examples that can help in improving your communication are:

Back-to-back drawing

 Materials required:

• Even number of people
• Pen
• Paper
• Whiteboard

Directions- all the members of the group are paired and are made to either sit or stand with their backs facing each other. 

One person will take the role of the speaker who will give out instructions and the other member will be in charge of drawing.

The speaker is asked to describe the geometric image in the prepared set of cards designated to them and the listener will draw the image, solely based on the instructions received from the speaker’s description. 

The listener (the person who is drawing) is not allowed to speak or ask doubts during the course of this communication activity.

Benefits- This activity shows that effective communication takes place only when both parties are equally invested but it can also take place through active listening. 

By patiently listening to the instructions and being able to comprehend without asking questions is a difficult task but this activity does inculcate effective communication and listening skills and cooperation.

Drawing Twins

Materials required:

• Pencil 
• Paper 
• Simple line-drawn pictures (kite, house, face, snowman)

Directions:

Divide participants into pairs and give one member of the pair a picture that must not be shown to their partner.

The person with the picture must give instructions to their partner so that they can draw it, but must not say what it is. 

Compare the drawing with the original and hand out more pictures and ask participants to swap roles.

The person with the picture can give instructions in a similar manner as in part 1 but this time the person drawing can ask yes/no questions and the person with the picture can watch as they draw. 

Benefits: This communication drawing activity illustrates how it is to give clear instructions as well as how it is to listen, and can also show how things are easily misunderstood and misinterpreted while communicating with another person.

Frequently asked questions

What are some communication activities?

Some effective communication activities that can be implemented for better communications are:

• Listen and draw
• Guess the emotion
• Communication origami
• Card pieces
• The guessing game

What is communication?

Communication is the exchange of information through means of speech, writing, and other non-verbal mediums, to produce greater understanding.

What are the examples of oral communication activities?

Oral communication activities include:

• Business meetings
• Discussions
• Social gatherings
• Telephone calls
• Presentations
• Interview
• Informal conversation

What are the top 10 communication skills?

The top 10 communication skills are:

• Non-verbal communication
• Being concise
• Confidence
• Empathy
• Open to feedback
• Active listening

What is a communication activity?

Communication takes place with two or more people being present (if not physically) and it is an activity of conveying and receiving information.

Why is communication important?

Communication is an important factor in accurately being able to convey messages to the other person on the receiving end effectively.

References:

 39 Communication Games and Activities for Kids, Teens, and Students. (2019, May 21). PositivePsychology.com. https://positivepsychology.com/communication-activities-adults-students/

8 Team-Building Activities for Improving Communication (With Tips). (n.d.). Indeed Career Guide. https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/communication-team-building-activities

Communication skills training activity the name game. (n.d.). Www.trainingcoursematerial.com. Retrieved June 16, 2021, from https://www.trainingcoursematerial.com/free-games-activities/communication-skills-activities/the-name-game

Leah. (2019, March 13). 7 Fun Communication Games That Increase Understanding. Userlike Live Chat; Userlike. https://www.userlike.com/en/blog/communication-games

Team Building Exercises – Communication: Fun Ways to Build Communication Skills. (2009). Mindtools.com. https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/team-building-communication.htm

49 Communication Activities, Exercises, and Games. (2019, May 27). PositivePsychology.com. https://positivepsychology.com/communication-games-and-activities/

CFI. (2018). Communication – Importance of Good Communication Skills. Corporate Finance Institute. https://corporatefinanceinstitute.com/resources/careers/soft-skills/communication/

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