This is a resource where we as Drama teachers can share some of our favourite resources, including lesson ideas, programs, anything really.
General Games and Warm-up Activities
These are general
purpose activities that should be readily adaptable to a wide range of
settings. Remember that we have offerings especially suited to Primary
and Secondary classes.
Shared by: Chrissi
Hill Perth Modern
Name: Jay
Jakabia
Aim: Group co-operation,
warm up voice, improve movement improvisation
Rules:
Circle.
One by one students
say each of the following five lines in a variety of ways, with one movement
for each line.
Jay jaka bia
Jay kafuru
Kafuru langa
Langa ti langa
Kumbi lo lo
After each line,
the class imitates the vocal delivery together with the move.
Encourage variety,
expression and “true” imitation.
Ask students
to use several levels - floor, low, mid, high.
Shared by: Kim
Flintoff
Name: Something
you don't know
Aim: Introduction/ice
breaker
Rules:
Each student
writes something that they believe no-one else in the room knows about
them - an amazing event, a great achievement etc. Papers are numbered
on the reverse and placed face down on the floor. Students take turns selecting
and reading a paper to the group, trying to guess who it refers to.
Shared by: Kim
Flintoff
Name: Little Yellow Wooden Paddle
Aim: Beginning concept attainment strategies
Rules:
There are many variations to this game - basically it is a case of someone
establishing an arbitrary rule - this can be demonstrated by a phrase, a word, a
sound or and action - the rest of the group need to determine the rule by
attempting to create examples of their own. Sound complex? its
simple to play - here's an example - I say "Little Yellow Wooden
Paddle" - person two says "Big Brown Leather Bag" - I say
"No!" - person three says "Cutting apples" - I say
"Yes!" - the group continue making suggestions - some people will
realise earlier than others what the rule is: they must keep it to
themselves... This game is has all the elements of critical thinking
embedded in it - played well it provides great opportunities for students to
examine their own thinking strategies.
Shared by: Pauline
Hood Prendiville
Name: Broken
Window
Aim: Group cohesion,
following instructions, relaxation
Rules:
Group in circle
with feet apart.
Tap ball across
circle.
When it goes
between someone's legs, that person is out and must stand with their hands
behind their back.
In subsequent
turns, if the ball goes through the legs of someone who is out, the person
who sent it there is out also.
The ball cannot
go higher than the shoulders, or leave the circle.
Shared by: Tracy
Kleber Perth Modern
Name: Aliens
Aim: Playing
a motivation, being “aware”
Rules:
Choose an object.
This is our “life source”.
Students close
eyes. No peeking.
Choose an alien,
who must pretend not to be.
Choose a neutral
person and give them the life source.
Students walk
around and one by one go up to the neutral person and say,” Trust me. I'm
not the alien.”
It is up to
the neutral person to decide whether they trust the person and give them
the life source.
Shared by: Janine
Bettenay Australind SHS
Name: Treasure
Chest
Aim: Team building
Rules:
Similar to ‘Grandmother’s
Steps’ but all work as a team to get the treasure home.
Shared by: Heather
Timms Ballajura C C
Name: Count
(aka 21)
Aim: Focus skills,
group building, importance of pause/silence
Rules:
Students stand/sit
in a circle and the number of people in the circle is counted - e.g. 17
Count from 1
- 17, 17 - 1, with one person saying one number from the 1 - 17 set.
If two people
say a number at the same time, the score is wiped and you start back at
1.
At the beginning
you give them the hint that pause and silence are so important.
It is a great
way to calm a class down. I usually record what they get so they can try
and better it next time.
Shared by: John
B Rockingham SHS
Name: Fruit
Salad Variation - eye contact only
Aim: Concentration,
focus and eye contact, risk taking
Rules:
Circle of chairs
minus one - Piggy
Establish eye
contact with person at other end of circle and agree to swap positions.
Piggy must attempt
to take an empty seat
Shared by: Karen
Steele Manjimup SHS
Name: The
Hokey Pokey
Aim: Physical
warm-up
Rules:
Be creative,
be loud
Shared by: Travis
Vladich Willeton SHS
Name: Zombie
Chasey
Aim: Ice-breaker
and awareness
Rules:
Define limited
boundaries
Zombie walks
at zombie pace, arms in front, has to touch others.
Others save
themselves by calling out another students name.
The student
called then becomes the zombie.
Students tagged
by the zombie are out of the game.
Shared by: Camille
Diggins PLC
Name: Electric
Chair
Aim: physical
activity, fun
Rules:
Group link arms
in a circle around a chair or cushion.
The object is
to get people to touch the chair.
Anyone who touches
the chair is “dead” and must leave the circle, which gets smaller and smaller.
Variations -
play with eyes closed
with
backs to the chair
substitute
a small group of people for the chair.
Name: Tag
Aim: ice breaker,
involvement
Rules:
a) Cat and Mouse
Group stand
in pairs, one behind the other and spread around the room.
Two people,
the “cat” and the “mouse”, chase each other around the other pairs.
The mouse can
take refuge by jumping on the back of another member of the group. That
person then becomes the mouse.
If the cat catches
the mouse, they continue with roles reversed.
b) Dragon Tail
The “dragon”
chases all other group members. When someone is caught he/she holds on
to the dragon's waist and adds to the tail..
They continue
the chase.
c) Chain Tag
As for the Dragon
Tail, but the group members caught form a chain by holding hands.
d) Blind Tag
Everyone is
in pairs.
One member of
each pair is blindfolded.
One pair are
‘it’. They try to tag all the other pairs.
Name: Liar
Aim: group participation,
mime, fun
Rules:
The players
form a circle.
One person (A)
starts a mime, e.g. lighting a fire
The next person
(B) says, “What are you doing?”
A must answer
untruthfully, e.g. “I'm flying a kite.”
B then mimes
flying a kite.
And so on round
the circle.
Name: Snake
in the Grass
Aim: sense of
touch, group awareness, fun
Rules:
One person lies
on the ground as the “snake”.
The rest of
the group must touch the snake with one finger.
When the snake
calls “Snake in the grass!” everyone tries to avoid being tagged by the
snake.
The snake can
only move on hands and knees.
The game continues
until everyone has been caught.
The last player
caught becomes the new snake.
Name: Indian
Tee pee
Aim: concentration,
non-verbal communication, fun
Rules:
Sit in a circle.
Each member
chooses an Indian name e.g. “Falling Rain”.
One member starts,
makes her/his own sign and then the sign of someone else.
Whoever’s sign
is made must respond immediately with own sign and someone else's.
The game should
go quickly.
Shared By: Barbara
Blackburn - VP DramaWest.
Vocal Warm-up
Leader: I say a boom
Group: I say a boom
Leader: I say a boom chicka
Group: I say a boom chicka
Leader: I say a boom chicka
boom
Group: I say a boom chicka
boom
Leader: I say a boom chicka
rocka chicka rocka chicka boom
Group: I say a boom chicka
rocka chicka rocka chicka boom
Leader: Oh yeah!
Group: Oh yeah!
Leader: One more time
Group: One more time
Leader: In ***** style
Group: In ***** style
**** The leader changes the style each time and the group must follow the style. eg: opera / jive/ revival preacher / sign language/ whisper/ sexy/ Spice Girls/ fast/ slow/ etc.
Improvisation
In twos - The babysitter tries to persuade the child to go to bed. The child won’t because is is afraid of a monster. (Name the kind of monster).
In threes- One person in the middle. The students at each end hold conversations simultaneously with the person in the middle, as if there was no person on the other side. The person in the middle tries earnestly to carry on a conversation with bothe sides. Rotate players.
In fours - A group of friends are going out. Two want to go to one kind of movie and the other two want to go to another - have a big contrast of genre. Students must reach a resolution for the whole group - they cannot split up into pairs.
Noises Off
Two volunteers come to the front of the room.
One stands facing the class. The other stands with back to the audience, directly behind the first.
Group comes up with a title for a story.
The person facing the audience must create a story from the title. The other person must create the sound effects.
The sound effects can either accentuate the story or encourage it.
Warm-up for Absurd
Theatre
Props - chairs
Space - large or small
Students place all chairs in the centre of the space.
Each one then selects a working area in the rest of the space and mentally designs a shape using some chairs - eg cross, circle, diagonal.
Once everyone has a design, each person takes a chair from the centre to begin.
Call “Free for all!” and students are then free to take chairs from anywhere - the centre or other students’ shapes - to complete their own shapes.
Anyone who completes their shape is the winner.
The objective is to prevent others from completing their shapes while you complete your own.
NB: Students can only
move one chair at a time. No cheating is allowed.
Some games suggestions from Karen Molnaa (California)
Mr. Know it All -Get 5 kids to stand in a line in front of the class. The class asks questions. Mr. KIA answers by each of the 5 students saying only one word. After each question the "lead" person on Mr KIA goes to the back of the line of 5.
Human knot- Have students stand in a circle with eyes closed and arms out stretched. They walk forward and grasp hands with anyone. Then they open eyes and must untangle themselves without dropping hands. (Works best with groups of 8-10.)
Name 5. In a circle. Have one student in the middle. He/she closes eyes. The rest of the students pass a ball (or roll of tape) around the circle until the center person says "stop" whoever has the ball must then name 5 items of any category the person in the middle names before the rest of the class can pass the ball around the circle once. (This is harder than it sounds).
Who started the motion? One person goes outside. I choose someone to start a motion. Everyone copies the motion. The person outside comes in and must guess who started the motion. Each time he/she guess the motion must change.
Bulgarian Selling Game- One person is a store clerk and another is someone who wants to buy an object (I keep a card file with strange objects written on it). The store clerk can speak, but the other person must pantomime and use strange noises to get the point across. If the store clerk can't guess (in about 45 seconds) I send in a store manager to help out.
Hitch
Hiker. 3 people in a car (use chairs) they stop for a hitchhiker who
enters and sits behind the "shotgun" seat. The hitchhiker
establishes a character which the other 3 must pick up on and start an improv.
I sent in "Hitchhikers every 1 minutes--the members in the car rotate out
of the chair. (the "shotgun person gets out, the driver moves to
shotgun, the person sitting in the backseat behind the driver become the driver
and the old hitchhiker moves behind the driver.) Each time a hitchhiker
comes in the entire car changes character (Note--this is a very loud game)