Tandem Activity Book: An Adventure For Two

Tandem Activity Book: A Creativity Vehicle Built For Two is Lea's latest creation with the imaginative team over at Chronicle Books. This spiral bound notebook is filled with 78 activities for two people to complete together at the same time. It's a chance to share old memories while making new ones too.

Because the book's purpose is to bring two people together, it can work whether you know your friend too well or not well enough. Bring a pen and an open mind for distraction-free entertainment that's easy and portable. I think it's best to “unplug” your devices and focus on what's in front of you for an optimal social experience. While this book is a no-brainer to give to kids, adults can really benefit from going through the activities, especially the ones associated with memory and childhood.

Getting To Know Each Other

To illustrate how two people can use Tandem Activity Book to get to know each other in a unique and fun way, I asked Leafcutter's own Worker Ant, Emily, to try out some pages with my friend Wilson. The two had me as a mutual acquaintance, but had not spent anytime together on their own. The questions and playful prompts make great conversation starters around subjects that don’t normally come up very often. The book is full of great couples activities too, especially since it's easy to carry with you on a picnic or take camping. Adults need permission to play more! To take time to do silly things, and this book facilitates just that.

So, armed with two pens, the Tandem Activity Book, and the only instructions being to have fun (and turn off their phones), Emily and Wilson went off to the Leafcutter backyard to see what would happen.

As an icebreaker, the duo started with the question spinner which includes such queries as, "What's more fun: being a child or being a grown up?"

Then they took a few minutes to draw and invent their own star constellations and the mythology behind each one.

As mutually food-obsessed people, this page was very much enjoyed. They reported back that food has very strong ties to memories for each. And this was the page that led to many other topics of conversation and the discovery of shared experiences.

Here, Wilson is walking Emily through his grandmother's home, via the page where you are asked to draw your childhood home's floor plan.

Emily was able to share memories of her old house that she hadn't thought of in years. The woodshop, Wilson later told me, is what Emily's dad misses most about that house.

After their meet-up, I asked for a full report of their findings about each other. They both remarked that the notebook's activities made for unique ice breakers that really got the conversation flowing. Laughing at the silliness of some of the drawings and games helped take the edge off of their first moments together. Emily noted that she is more artistically inclined and, accordingly, she took to the drawing activities more easily. Wilson is better with words, and he found the storytelling activities to be the best way for him to connect with Emily.

Both said they would love to take a copy of Tandem Activity Book home to share with house guests and friends from time to time. Perhaps a nice way of using the book would be to name and date the pages and then keep it handy to recall key details and stories from the lives of people that are important to you. The completed book can then be kept as a journal of friendship and memories, to be reflected upon for years to come.