What is the Coat of Arms activity?
The Coat of Arms is a visual, creative “get to know you” icebreaker that asks people to make a visual representation of themselves on a shield, their Coat of Arms. They can include information like their background, identity, purpose, and values, or go for more lighthearted information, like “what do people not know about you?” or “how do you spend your spare time?”
It’s a great way for people to introduce themselves in a new team, and share more about who they are.
The Coat of Arms is made visually, with participants using drawing, images, and emojis.
The twist to this icebreaker
The twist with this version is that once all the Coat of Arms are finished, you take turns to interpret and present someone else’s Coat of Arms to the group – without any further clues. This leads to inevitable (usually funny) misinterpretations of the depictions, “melting the ice” between team members.
How to run the Coat of Arms activity (30-45 minutes)
- Introduce the activity and the purpose to the team: “This will help us get to know each other better. You will first make your own Coat of Arms, then we will each interpret and present another person’s Coat of Arms back to the group.”
- Each person picks a Coat of Arms to fill in. Copy and paste if more are needed.
- Start a Meeting and make sure the appropriate tools are enabled for the session (pen, tokens, reactions, images, text).
- Participants then draw, add images, or write in each section [suggested timer: 10 mins].
- Once the time is up, have people pair up and try to interpret each others’ Coat of Arms back to the group [suggested time: 2 mins each]. This is the fun part, so don’t worry if there are incorrect interpretations, the original creator can explain any differences [suggested time: 20 mins for a group of 8 people].
