The telephone game is a common game to examine how communication works within groups. Gather all the participants in a circle and have one person come up with a phrase or story. That person then whispers the phrase into the ear of the person next to them and the phrase must quickly get around the circle until it reaches the last person who reveals what he heard. The game shows how people often change information based on their own perceptions.
There are several activities that exist or can be made up in which participants must be bound to each other and must figure out how to communicate and complete a task while coordinating parts of their bodies with those of someone else. A popular example of this is a three-legged race. By having players study a race, they can determine how each unique group decided to communicate in order to finish the task. Results will vary as some may argue, some may play safely and walk, others might skip in harmony and still others could skip communication, as one of the partners may trip and the seconds decides to drag that person along in order to win.
This type of activity shows just how important words are to communication and reveals the effects of miscommunication and improper interpretations. One such activity for classes or groups of people that meet for the first time is to have them line up from oldest to youngest or in alphabetical order using nothing but hand signals. This activity also demonstrates the importance of the communication of all participants. If one person does not communicate or if another person is too dominant, people will end up out of order or frustrated.
Having participants do activities in which they can only use words also shows how important words are and reveals the consequences of improper interpretations. These activities also demonstrate the importance of word selection and it may have dramatic effects. One activity for this method is having people describe various items without looking at them, using hand gestures or making facial expressions. Blindfolding them can add to the experience as they will be less tempted to cheat.