Back to Back Drawing Game: 60 Pictures, 3 Levels, House Rules

Deal a picture to the describer's phone, keep it out of the drawer's sight, and compare the drawing with the picture when the round ends.

Back to Back Drawing Game: 60 Pictures, 3 Levels, House Rules

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Next step Drawing game words for kids ages 5 to 10Open the session with an icebreaker question

Back to Back Drawing Game: 60 Pictures, 3 Levels, House Rules: how it works

The back to back drawing game needs two chairs, paper and one picture the drawer never sees. This page deals that picture from 60 original line drawings in three levels: simple things, busy scenes and abstract arrangements. For a simple back to back drawing activity, stay on the first level. Twelve pictures carry a read-aloud script, and 15 printable sheets cover rooms without phones.

Deal a picture and play a round

Seat two players back to back. The describer holds the phone, the drawer holds paper and a pencil. Pick a Level and press New picture. The name and the notes stay under a cover. The describer talks the drawer through the picture with shapes, sizes and positions only: "a large square in the lower part of the page", never "a house". The white square around the picture stands for the edge of the drawer's paper. The picture is small on the screen, and a pinch zoom keeps its lines sharp. After two to four minutes, turn round, compare, and swap roles with a new picture. Some groups call it the blind back to back drawing game.

60 pictures for back to back drawing, in three levels

Simple pictures show one thing built from 3 to 10 lines and shapes: a house, a sailboat. Busy pictures use 7 to 15, and overlap starts to matter, as in a cat whose head covers the top of its body. Abstract arrangements have nothing to name, so the abstract images suit a back to back communication drawing activity, where "it looks like a rocket" would be a shortcut. After the round, Show notes opens a checklist of every shape and where it sits. For rooms without phones, open a sheet of four pictures, simple, busy or abstract, and print it. Each level has five sheets, and a link at the top of a sheet opens the next.

Run it as a listening drawing activity for a whole room

Twelve simple pictures carry a read-aloud script of six or seven plain directions. Press With a script, deal a picture and open Show notes. Read one direction at a time, twice at most, while everyone draws on their own sheet. Nobody may ask anything in this listening and drawing activity, so it doubles as an active listening drawing exercise for a class or a team meeting. The scripts never name the object, so the room learns what it drew only when you show the picture on the big screen or as a printed card.

Tips

  • Play three rounds with three rules: the drawer stays silent, then may ask yes-or-no questions, then both talk freely. The drawings usually get closer each time, and that contrast opens the debrief.
  • No peeking applies to both players. A describer who turns round to check the drawing has ended the round.
  • Open every description with the overview: how many shapes, and which is the largest. Then work outward from it.
  • In a communication exercise, drawing skill is beside the point. Say so before the first round.
  • The page has no clock. Use a phone timer, or the one minute game timer, which goes up to two minutes.

Questions and answers

How do you play the back to back drawing game?

Two players sit back to back. One holds a picture and describes it with shapes, sizes and positions, never naming the thing. The other draws what they hear without seeing it. After two to four minutes they compare and swap roles. Any number of pairs can play at once, and children can join on the Simple level.

What should we ask after a back to back drawing team building activity?

Four questions cover it. Which words from the describer helped most? Where did the drawing go wrong, and which instruction caused it? What did the drawer want to ask and could not? What will each of you do differently in the next handover at work? The back to back drawing communication exercise earns its time in that talk, so give it as long as the drawing.

Is there a back to back drawing team building PDF?

There are 15 printable sheets and no PDF file. Open a sheet, choose Print, and pick Save as PDF as the printer. Each sheet holds four pictures with cut lines and scales to Letter or A4 paper. The Print button in the tool prints the picture at its small screen size, so use the sheets for paper.

What does this drawing activity for communication show a team?

As a communication drawing activity it makes a gap visible: what one person means and what another hears. Words such as "big", "next to" and "in the corner" turn out to be vague, and the silent round shows what is lost when a listener cannot check. We make no claim that the exercise has been tested or measured.

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All 60 pictures

Simple pictures 20

  • Apple tree Read aloud, one step at a time: 1. Draw a large circle in the top half of the page. 2. Under it draw a tall narrow rectangle. Its top touches the bottom of the circle and it reaches nearly to the bottom of the page. 3. Draw a level line across the page along the bottom of the rectangle, sticking out well past both sides. 4. Inside the large circle draw three small circles, spread out and not touching. 5. Inside the rectangle draw one small circle, halfway down. 6. On the level line, to the left of the rectangle, draw a small triangle sitting on the line.
  • Balloon Check: an upright oval in the upper part of the page; a tiny triangle under it with its point touching the oval; a wavy line hanging from the middle of the triangle to near the bottom of the page.
  • Envelope Read aloud, one step at a time: 1. Draw a large rectangle lying down in the middle of the page. 2. From the top left corner draw a straight line to a point a little below the center of the rectangle. 3. From the top right corner draw a line to the same point, so the two lines make a wide V. 4. From the bottom left corner draw a line up toward the center that stops when it meets the V. 5. Do the same from the bottom right corner. 6. Draw a small circle over the point of the V.
  • Fish Check: an oval lying down, left of center; a triangle on its right end with the point touching the oval; a small triangle on top of the oval; a dot near the left end and a short level line below it that starts at the edge; two small circles above the left end, the higher one larger.
  • Flag on a pole Read aloud, one step at a time: 1. Draw a long straight line down the left side of the page, from near the top to near the bottom. 2. Put a small circle on the top end of the line. 3. Across the bottom end draw a short level line, so the two make an upside-down T. 4. Just under the small circle draw a rectangle lying down. Its left side is the long line, and it reaches about three quarters of the way across the page. 5. Draw a circle in the middle of the rectangle, not touching its sides. 6. Inside the rectangle, under the circle, draw a level line from side to side, close to the bottom edge.
  • House Read aloud, one step at a time: 1. Draw a large square in the lower part of the page, in the middle. It is about half as wide as the page. 2. Draw a triangle on top of the square. The bottom of the triangle is the top edge of the square, and its point is near the top of the page. 3. Inside the square, draw a tall narrow rectangle standing on the middle of the bottom edge. It reaches almost halfway up the square. 4. Put a dot inside that rectangle, halfway up, near its right side. 5. Still inside the big square, draw a small square in the top left corner. It does not touch the sides. 6. Draw a plus sign inside the small square, from edge to edge, so it is cut into four equal parts.
  • Ice cream cone Read aloud, one step at a time: 1. Draw a triangle that points down. Its flat side is on top, just above the middle of the page and about a third as wide as the page. Its point is near the bottom. 2. On the flat side draw a half circle, like a dome, exactly as wide as the triangle. 3. Put a small circle on the very top of the dome, touching it. 4. From the top of the small circle draw a short straight line going up and to the right. 5. Inside the triangle draw two level lines from side to side, one a third of the way down and one two thirds of the way down. 6. Inside the dome draw three short dashes, spread out and pointing different ways.
  • Kite Check: a diamond, taller than wide, with its widest point above the middle; one line from its top corner to its bottom corner and one from its left corner to its right corner; a wavy tail hanging from the bottom corner.
  • Lollipop Check: a large circle in the upper half of the page; a smaller circle inside it with the same center; a thin upright rectangle hanging from the bottom of the large circle, a little shorter than the circle is wide.
  • Mushroom Check: a wide half circle with its flat side down, across the upper half of the page; an upright rectangle under the middle of the flat side; three small circles of different sizes inside the half circle.
  • Pencil Check: a long rectangle lying down across the middle of the page; a triangle on its right end, pointing right; a small rectangle on its left end, the same height; a short upright line across the triangle near its point.
  • Robot face Read aloud, one step at a time: 1. Draw a large square in the middle of the page. 2. Inside it, in the upper half, draw two circles side by side with a gap between them. 3. Inside the square, in the lower half, draw a rectangle lying down, centered under the two circles. 4. Draw two short upright lines inside that rectangle so it is split into three equal boxes. 5. From the middle of the top of the square draw a short line straight up, and put a small circle on its end. 6. On the outside of the square, halfway down the left side, draw a small upright rectangle stuck to it. 7. Do the same on the right side.
  • Rocket Read aloud, one step at a time: 1. Draw a tall rectangle in the middle of the page. 2. On top of it draw a triangle. The bottom of the triangle is the top of the rectangle. 3. Inside the rectangle, in the upper half, draw a circle. 4. At the bottom left corner of the rectangle draw a triangle stuck to the outside. One side runs up the side of the rectangle, one side is level with the bottom of the rectangle, and the point sticks out to the left. 5. Do the same at the bottom right corner, pointing right. 6. Under the rectangle draw a triangle that points down, a little narrower than the rectangle.
  • Sailboat Read aloud, one step at a time: 1. Near the bottom of the page draw a wide shape with four sides: a long flat top, a shorter flat bottom, and two sloping ends that lean in toward the bottom. 2. From the middle of its top side draw a straight line up, almost to the top of the page. 3. To the right of that line draw a large triangle. One side runs along the line, one side is level and sits just above the wide shape, and the third side slopes between them. 4. To the left of the line draw a smaller triangle the same way, with its level side at the same height. 5. At the very top of the line draw a tiny triangle that points right. 6. Under everything draw a wavy line from the left side of the page to the right.
  • Snowman Read aloud, one step at a time: 1. Draw a large circle at the bottom of the page, in the middle. 2. Draw a medium circle on top of it, so the two just touch. 3. Draw a small circle on top of that one, touching it too. 4. Inside the small circle draw two dots side by side. 5. Inside the medium circle draw two dots, one above the other, down the middle. 6. From the left side of the medium circle draw a straight line going out and up to the left, a little shorter than that circle is wide. 7. Do the same on the right side, going out and up to the right.
  • Table lamp Read aloud, one step at a time: 1. Near the top of the page draw a shape with four sides: a short flat top, a long flat bottom, and sloping sides that spread out toward the bottom. 2. From the middle of its bottom edge draw a narrow upright rectangle going down. 3. Under that draw a flat rectangle lying down, wider than the narrow one and centered under it. 4. Draw a level line across the page along the bottom of the flat rectangle, sticking out on both sides. 5. From the bottom edge of the top shape, near its right end, draw a short line hanging straight down. 6. Put a dot on the end of that short line.
  • Traffic light Read aloud, one step at a time: 1. Draw a tall rectangle in the middle of the page, from near the top to about three quarters of the way down. 2. Inside it draw three circles of the same size in a column: top, middle and bottom. They do not touch. 3. Shade in the bottom circle. 4. Under the tall rectangle, in the middle, draw a short narrow rectangle going down. 5. Under that draw a level line as wide as the tall rectangle. 6. On each side of the tall rectangle, level with the middle circle, draw a short line sticking straight out.
  • Truck Read aloud, one step at a time: 1. Draw a large rectangle, wider than it is tall, on the left and middle of the page. 2. Against its right side draw a smaller rectangle. The bottoms line up, and the small one is about two thirds as tall. 3. Inside the small rectangle, near the top, draw a little rectangle lying down. 4. Under the large rectangle, near its left end, draw a circle that touches its bottom edge. 5. Under the small rectangle draw a circle of the same size, touching its bottom edge. 6. Put a dot in the center of each circle.
  • Wall clock Check: a large circle; four short marks just inside the edge at the top, right, bottom and left; a long line from the center pointing straight up and a shorter line from the center pointing right; a dot at the center.
  • Window Check: a large square; one upright line and one level line that divide it into four equal panes; a long flat rectangle under the square, touching it and wider than it.

Busy pictures 20

  • Alarm clock Check: a large circle face; a long hand pointing straight up and a short hand pointing down to the right, with a dot where they meet; two smaller circles behind the top of the face, one on each side, partly hidden by it; a short line up from the top of the face with a small flat rectangle on it; two short legs sloping outward at the bottom.
  • Bicycle Check: two large wheels of the same size, side by side and not touching; a frame of straight lines that makes two triangles sharing the middle bar; a line from the front of the frame down to the center of the front wheel; a short level handlebar above the front; a short level seat above the back; a small circle where the pedals go, low in the middle.
  • Birthday cake Check: a wide rectangle for the bottom layer and a narrower one centered on top of it; three narrow candles standing on the top layer, evenly spaced, each with a small flame above it that does not touch; a wavy line across the bottom layer near its top; a plate line under the cake, wider than the cake.
  • Boat at sea with the sun Check: a boat in the middle: a wide hull with sloping ends, a mast, and one triangle sail on the right of the mast; a plain circle sun in the top left corner; two birds drawn as small V shapes in the top right; two wavy lines under the boat, one below the other.
  • Camera Check: a large rectangle lying down; a large circle in its middle with a smaller circle inside it, same center; a small rectangle inside the top right corner of the large one; on top of the large rectangle a bump on the left and a smaller button on the right; a dot inside the top left corner.
  • Car Check: a long low rectangle for the body; on top of it, in the middle, a cabin with a flat roof and sloping front and back, split into two windows by one upright line; two wheels that overlap the bottom edge of the body, each with a dot in the center; a small circle headlight at the right end; a short door handle line; a ground line touching the wheels.
  • Castle Check: a wide wall in the middle with three small square blocks along its top and an arched gate in the middle of its base; a tall tower on each side, taller than the wall, each with a pointed roof and one narrow window; a ground line under everything.
  • City skyline Check: five buildings of different heights standing side by side on one ground line, touching each other; the first has a door; the second has four small square windows in a block of two by two near its top; the middle one is the shortest and has a pointed roof; the fourth is the tallest and has an antenna line on top; the last has one wide window near its top; a small moon in the top right corner.
  • Face with a hat Check: a large round head; two small circle eyes, a small triangle nose and a curved smile; a flat hat brim, wider than the head, that covers the top of the head; a rectangular hat top on the brim, narrower than the brim, with a band line near its base.
  • Hot air balloon Check: a large circle in the upper part of the page; inside it an upright oval of the same height, and a level line across the middle from edge to edge; a small basket below, joined to the circle by two ropes that slope inward; a line across the basket near its top; two birds drawn as small V shapes, one in the top left corner and one on the right, level with the ropes.
  • Ladybug Check: a large circle body; a smaller circle head behind the top of it, so only the upper part of the head shows; a straight line down the middle of the body from top to bottom; six filled spots, three on each side, matching left and right; two short antenna lines sloping outward from the top of the head.
  • Lighthouse Check: a tall tower that is wider at the base than at the top, with two level stripes across it and a small door at the bottom; a small box on top of the tower with a pointed roof; two lines spreading out from each side of the box, like beams; a ground line.
  • Owl on a branch Check: an upright oval body; two pointed ears on top; two large circle eyes side by side, each with a dot in the middle; a small triangle beak pointing down, between and below the eyes; a narrow oval wing on each side, overlapping the edge of the body; a level branch line under the body.
  • Robot Check: a square head with two dot eyes, a straight mouth and a short antenna line on top; a short neck; a large square body with a circle in the middle of the chest; an arm on each side, straight out from the top of the body; two straight legs with a flat foot under each.
  • Rocket and ringed planet Check: on the left a small upright rocket: a rectangle, a pointed top, a round window, a fin on each side at the bottom and a flame underneath; on the right, a little higher, a large circle with a flat oval ring across its middle that sticks out on both sides; four dots for stars: one in the top left corner, one at the top between the two, two in the lower right.
  • Sitting cat Check: a round head on top of an upright oval body, the head overlapping the top of the body; two pointed ears; two dot eyes, a tiny triangle nose and two whiskers on each side that reach past the head; a tail that curves out and up from the lower right of the body.
  • Steam engine Check: a long rectangle lying down for the front and a taller rectangle behind it on the right, with a window near its top; a short chimney on the front end with two puffs of smoke, the higher one larger and further right; three wheels of one size touching the underside, two under the long part and one under the tall part; a small triangle on the front; a rail line under the wheels.
  • Street with a house, a tree and the sun Check: a level ground line; on the left a house made of a square, a triangle roof that overhangs both sides, a door in the middle and one small window to the left of the door; on the right a tree made of a narrow trunk and a round top; in the top right corner a sun with four short rays that do not touch it.
  • Tent at night Check: a large triangle tent in the middle with a smaller triangle door at the middle of its base and a short pole line sticking up from its peak; a tall narrow triangle tree on the left, shorter than the tent; on the right a small fire: two crossed lines with a small triangle flame above; a moon in the top left corner and three dots for stars to its right; a ground line under everything.
  • Windmill Check: a tower that is wider at the base than at the top, with a door at the bottom and a small round window above it; four straight arms from one point near the top of the tower, set like an X; a long narrow box along one side of each arm, always on the same side going round; a small circle where the arms meet; a ground line.

Abstract arrangements 20

  • Abstract: circle cut by a line with two squares Check: a large circle in the middle; a level line through its center that runs past it on both sides, almost to the edges of the page; a small square inside the circle above the line and one of the same size below the line, both centered and neither touching the line.
  • Abstract: diamond between two bars Check: a thin bar across the top of the page and one across the bottom; a large diamond between them that touches neither; a circle in the center of the diamond; a dot outside the diamond on the far left and one on the far right, level with its side corners.
  • Abstract: five shrinking circles on a slant Check: five circles in a slanting row from the top left to the bottom right, each smaller than the one before and none touching; a square alone in the top right corner; a triangle with a square corner tucked into the bottom left corner of the page.
  • Abstract: five squares in a plus with a circle Check: five squares of one size: one in the middle of the page and one touching each of its four sides, making a plus shape; a circle inside the middle square only.
  • Abstract: four squares in steps with a circle Check: four squares of one size climbing from the bottom left to the top right like steps, each touching the next only at a corner; one circle alone in the bottom right corner, a little wider than one square.
  • Abstract: four triangles pointing at a circle Check: a small circle in the center of the page; four triangles of one size around it, above, below, left and right, each pointing at the circle and stopping short of it.
  • Abstract: grid of nine with four marks Check: a square divided into nine equal boxes by two upright and two level lines; a circle in the top left box, an X in the top right box, a filled dot in the center box and a small triangle in the bottom right box; the other five boxes are empty.
  • Abstract: L shape with two circles Check: a thick L shape drawn as one outline with six corners, its upright arm on the left and its foot along the bottom; a large circle in the open space above the foot, touching nothing; a small circle inside the L where the arm meets the foot.
  • Abstract: rectangle, circle and a slanting line Check: a rectangle lying down in the upper left; a large circle centered on the bottom right corner of the rectangle, so a quarter of the circle is inside the rectangle; one straight line from the bottom left corner of the page to the top right corner, crossing both shapes.
  • Abstract: rings on the left, two lines on the right Check: three circles sharing one center on the left side of the page, evenly spaced like rings; two upright lines of the same length on the right side, close together and not touching the rings.
  • Abstract: split square with shapes in and out Check: a large square with one straight line from its top left corner to its bottom right corner; a circle in the upper right half and a small square in the lower left half, neither touching the line; outside the square, a small circle touching the middle of its right side and a short upright line standing on the middle of its top side.
  • Abstract: square with a circle on every corner Check: a square in the middle of the page; four circles of one size, each centered on a corner of the square, so the corner sits in the middle of the circle; a dot in the center of the square.
  • Abstract: square, diamond, square, dot Check: a large square; inside it a diamond whose corners touch the middle of each side; inside the diamond a smaller square whose corners touch the middle of each side of the diamond; a dot in the very center.
  • Abstract: three linked circles over a bar Check: three circles of one size in a level row in the upper half, each overlapping the next, so the middle one overlaps both; a long flat rectangle below them, as wide as the row of circles and not touching it.
  • Abstract: three shapes on a line under a bar Check: a level line across the lower part of the page; sitting on it from left to right a square, a triangle and a circle, all the same height and not touching each other; high above them a long thin rectangle lying down, as wide as the whole row.
  • Abstract: triangle in a circle in a square Check: a large square; a circle inside it that touches all four sides; a triangle inside the circle with one corner at the very top and all three corners touching the circle.
  • Abstract: triangle with a circle and a rectangle on it Check: a large triangle with its point at the top; a circle drawn over its bottom right corner, so the corner is inside the circle; a small rectangle lying down that crosses the left side of the triangle halfway up, part inside and part outside; a level line under everything that touches nothing.
  • Abstract: two half circles on an upright line Check: an upright line down the middle of the page; a large half circle on its left with the flat side on the line, in the upper part; a smaller half circle on its right, set lower, so it starts a little before the large one ends; a small square alone in the top right corner; a small triangle alone in the bottom left corner.
  • Abstract: two overlapping triangles, one upside down Check: a triangle pointing up on the left and a triangle of the same size pointing down on the right; the point of each touches the flat side of the other; they overlap in a slanting band in the middle of the page; a small circle inside the band, halfway up.
  • Abstract: zigzag over three growing circles Check: a zigzag line of five strokes across the top, starting low on the left and ending high on the right; below it three circles in a row with their centers level, growing from small on the left to large on the right and not touching.

How this list was compiled: Drawn by the Game Night Generator editors for this page in September 2026. All 60 pictures are original line drawings built from basic shapes (squares, rectangles, circles, ovals, triangles and straight or wavy lines) by our own drawing script, on a square page of 240 by 240 units; none was traced or copied from a worksheet, a book or another site. 20 are simple pictures of one thing, 20 are busy pictures in which position and overlap matter, and 20 are abstract arrangements with nothing to name. 12 of the simple pictures carry a read-aloud script of 6 or 7 directions that was written against the coordinates of its own picture; every other picture carries a checklist of its shapes and where they sit, written the same way. The shape count stored with each picture counts every separate stroke or shape, small dots included. The rules on the page are the common form of a training-room exercise that nobody owns, in our own words, and no claim is made that the exercise was tested or measured. Licence: own work