Drama

Activities & Games

a girl sings with raised hands
This series of drama games and activities is based on our years of work with participants of all ages and can be adapted to many different groups.

  • If you can make space in your classroom for everyone to get into a circle, that is ideal for the games.

  • Allow about ten minutes for group work in the presentation activities, and more if things are going well.

  • When we work with a group over an extended time, every day we do a warm-up, a word game, an action game, a presentation activity, and a bit of work on a culminating activity like a play.

The videos have internal chapter marks that can be used to navigate—just click on the list icon on the right corner of the player, or on the dots in the progress bar.

Accurate closed captions are available by clicking on the "CC" button in the player.

If your class has unreliable internet, you may prefer to download the videos, and save them locally for playback. For a download link. send us an email request.

A rubric for this workshop is available as a PDF or as a downloadable Word doc.

If your browser doesn't allow downloads send us an email request.

1

1. Introduction.

 With a short clip from The Wind in the Willows.

2

2. Drama Basics: drama is communicating with an audience using your voice, your body, your imagination, and most importantly, co-operation.

  • Warm-ups: stretching and other movements to open up the body’s resonators for a stronger, louder voice.
  • Articulation exercises to speak more clearly.
  • Tongue twisters with subtitles so everyone can join in.
  • Snowball by Shel Silverstein: a poem we can all say together with different voices.

3

3. Word games 1—Guessing games.

Two Truths and a Lie, Coffee Pot and Good Morning Your Majesty.

Fun and funny games that encourage participation, listening, imaginative thinking, and working together. Great for getting to know each other, making friends, and public speaking.

4

4. Word games 2—Quick thinking games.

The Minister’s Cat, One Word at a Time Story, and Fortunately/Unfortunately.

Encourage creative collaboration, communication, quick thinking and keeping things going.

5

5. Action games 1

  • Magic Pencil— participants use mime to transform an ordinary pencil into many different things)
  • Emotion Charades— participants act out a combination of one emotion and one action word, for the others to guess.)

6

6. Action games 2

  • Who Started the Motion?  —One person has to guess who the leader is for a random series of everchanging actions which everyone else follows.
  • What’s My Job?  —One person (or a pair or group) chooses a profession to mime and says, “What’s my job?” before and after the mime. Others guess.

7

7. Presentation activities 1

  • Nursery Rhymes—small groups work together to act out a famous nursery rhyme.
  • Machines—small groups use repetitive actions and sounds to create recognizable machines from, for example, school, home or construction sites.

8

8. Presentation activities 2

  • Tableaux—a frozen picture,  and Tableaux-Machines—a machine that repeats the tableau like an animated GIF
  • Fairy Tale Skit—groups tell a whole fairy tale in five tableau machines)
  • Three Word Skit—groups create and present a short skit based on three secret words. The others guess what the words were.

9

9. The Little Red Hen (K-3).

An act-out story with parts for everyone.

More resources...

We have prepared two booklets you can download .

Drama Games and Activities details the activites covered here, and offers additional ideas and resources.

Mask Activities gives art and drama ideas that can used as a follow-up.

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