A different Icebreaker
It is important to create an environment where people feel safe enough to think differently. Sometimes, that starts with a pencil and a prompt that makes no logical sense.
Samitomato: The Drawing Game That Disarms Even the Toughest Stakeholders
Sometimes the fastest way to get serious results… is to start by being a little ridiculous.
Let’s be honest, some stakeholder workshops feel like hostage negotiations with Post-it notes. You arrive with slide decks and your best “interactive activity,” but the room’s energy flatlines before you’ve finished your intro slide. What if, instead, you could bypass the overthinking left brain of your stakeholders and wake the right hemisphere up for a wonderfully productive workshop?
That’s where Samitomato steps in. On the surface, it’s a quirky drawing game designed for kids. But beneath the surface, I’ve found it to be a surprisingly effective way to spark creativity, curiosity, and connection, especially in adults who wear lanyards and scepticism as badges of honour.
Each pocket-sized pack provides over 810,000 unexpected drawing prompts. One roll of the dice, and even your most reserved stakeholder ends up sketching a “mean checkered sheep, wearing a crown" or a “calm, green, striped rabbit in the snow.” It’s non-competitive, low-stakes, and strangely freeing.
Here’s why it’s effective.
The right hemisphere of the brain, our creative side, is where imagination, intuition, and spatial awareness live. When we draw, especially something absurd or unexpected, we activate that hemisphere in a way words, agendas, and spreadsheets can’t. And once it ignites, you get broader thinking, fresher ideas, and a willingness to see things from new angles, which is exactly what workshops are meant to produce but often struggle to deliver.
More than just an icebreaker, Samitomato creates a tone that lasts. Once people have laughed together, even over a pink wombat in high heels, the whole room shifts. Conversations open up. Ideas start to fly. You’re not just facilitating, you’re unlocking.
It is important to create an environment where people feel safe enough to think differently. Sometimes, that starts with a pencil and a prompt that makes no logical sense. It's also a nice change from icebreakers like “two truths and a lie” or “what animal best represents you”.
If you try this game with your stakeholders, let me know how it went.
Full disclosure: I know the creator, Samantha Simpson-Morgan. I don’t get anything for sharing this. I just believe in starting sessions with humanity and humour. And this game works.
