Back-to-Back Art

This week, we’d like to offer you a fun, simple drawing activity – but there’s more than meets the eye when you do Back-to-Back Art!

This activity was adapted from the Icebreaker Ideas website, and the heart of it remains the same: grab a piece of paper, a pencil, and a partner, and choose an image to draw. The image should be something relatively simple, and given that we’re connecting our church community, why not make it Bible-themed? We recommend using a coloring page, at least to start, as those images tend to be relatively uncomplicated. You can find a bunch of them on World of Printables.

Only one partner – the “Director” – should see the image; the other partner – the “Artist” – should not look at it before you begin! The partners will sit back-to-back, and the Director must tell the Artist how to replicate the image. Just as the Artist may not look at the original image, the Director may not look at the work in progress. Depending on how challenging you’d like the activity to be, you can either allow the Artist to ask questions (yes or no only!) or require them to just do their best with the information they’re given. When the Director is finished describing the image, look at what the Artist has created and compare it to the original! Repeat as desired with different images, different partners…whatever your family would like to try.

Hopefully you’ll have fun as you go, but this activity has more to offer than just providing a silly way to pass the time. For those who tend to be attached to results, the lesson might be in creating something that will almost definitely not be “good” – and still enjoying it. There’s also a great lesson in communication embedded here: the Director must be exceedingly precise in their instructions, and when they see what the Artist has created from their words, it will highlight the gap between what they thought they were describing clearly and how the Artist interpreted their words. That gap is also a great way to help young people develop “theory of mind” – the ability to appreciate that other people’s experience of the world differs from your own. So gather your family and your supplies and give it a go! We’d love if you shared what you’ve created – and what you’ve learned – with us in person or on Facebook or Instagram.