Travelling picture

Travelling Picture is a drawing game similar to the broken [...]

  • <30
  • free
  • 10-20
  • English, Bosnian, Estonian, Finnish, Italian

Description

Travelling Picture is a drawing game similar to the broken telephone or Telestrations game. Each notebook contains a word or short sentence that participants need to illustrate. The prompts can follow a specific theme, for example one related to your organisation or current project.

To start the game, participants sit in a circle with notebooks. If there are not enough notebooks for everyone, make sure that two people without notebooks sit next to each other. This ensures the turns work correctly.

In the first round, participants read the prompt in their notebook and draw a picture based on it. The drawing does not need to match the prompt exactly. Instead, it can show whatever the prompt makes them think or feel. After that, the notebook is passed to the next participant, who looks at the drawing and writes down what they think it represents. The notebook is then passed on again. This process continues for several rounds, depending on the number of participants. The final round should always be a drawing.

At the end of the game, all notebooks are placed on the table with the final drawings visible. The original prompt texts are also laid out. The group works together to match the drawings with the original prompts through discussion. The goal is to encourage conversation and reflection, not to find the “correct” answers.

Method & Activity Information.

  • Difficulty: Medium
  • Session location: Tampere, Finland
  • Test date: 14/03/2026
  • Duration: <30
  • Costs: free
  • Materials used: notebooks and pens
  • Youth participated: 13
  • Registration: none

Case Description

We arranged a workshop with Finnish Red Cross (FRC) volunteers to explore their thoughts about volunteer wellbeing. There was a need for an engaging method to help participants reflect on different motivational factors and how these contribute to wellbeing in voluntary work. The workshop included three minigames, with Travelling picture being one of them. 

Method Usage

In our case in Tampere, Finland, we used the Travelling picture as one of three methods in a workshop focused on volunteer wellbeing in the Finnish Red Cross. The group consisted of young volunteers aged 15-29 and two facilitators. The purpose of the session was to help participants identify, reflect on, and discuss volunteer wellbeing in a playful and inclusive way, utilizing FRC’s own motivational factors. We chose this method because it allows abstract motivations to be explored visually and collaboratively, encouraging equal participation. The session was arranged with participants sitting in a circle, with almost all of them receiving a notebook with a motivational factor, which they first illustrated and then passed on for written and visual interpretations in several rounds. The session concluded with a group discussion where participants matched the final drawings to the motivational factors and reflected on how meanings evolved.

Method & Activity Feedback

Facilitator

Category

Likert-7 AVG

Description

  • Effectiveness

    6.3

  • Efficiency

    6.3

  • Learnability

    5.7

  • Enjoyability

    6.7

  • Adaptability

    6.3

  • Feedback (recommendation)

    7.0

Observer

Category

Likert-7 AVG

Description

  • Engagement & Participation

    5.1

  • Comprehension & Knowledge

    5.0

  • Game Mechanics & Functionality

    4.7

Participant Experience

Category

Likert-7 AVG

Description

  • Enjoyment

    4.8

  • Usability

    5.1

  • Learnability

    4.6

  • Recommendation score

    5.2

Positive

Participants had fun, there was plenty of laughter during the game

Negative

Some felt the game was difficult and confusing.

Especially the last part connecting final drawings with the original prompts was hard.

Some participants were always writing instead of both drawing and writing as intended.

Suggestions & tips

​​It’s important to make sure that everyone gets to draw and write. It wasn’t explained in the rules how to do this. In our case, there were 11 notebooks and 13 participants, so everyone didn’t get one. Facilitators gave notebooks to every other participant, which meant the ones in middle always got notebooks with the same page open (text/drawing). This can be fixed by leaving 2 adjacent participants without a notebook in the beginning.​ 

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