Communication Exercise: Magic Putty

If you’re looking for a way to help students work on their communication skills at the beginning of the year, here’s a great warm-up.

Instruction

• Everyone stands in a circle.
• You’re going to lead the exercise by saying, “I’m holding something in my hand. It’s magic putty. I can use this putty to make any kind of toy I want. For example…”
• Mime shaping the putty into a toy (a slinky, hot wheels car, doll, lego).
  • You can be specific with the category: toys for kids, action figures, non-electronic toys.
  • You can change the category to whatever you want: objects, transportation, places, food, sports-related.
  • If the word “toy” doesn’t work for your students, change it! It can be any object that you interact with in a physical way.
• Play with the toy for a few seconds. Have the group guess the toy.
• Shape the toy back into the ball of putty.
• Be specific with each step. Focus on being clean and specific with your actions in order to communicate what the putty has become.
• Pass the putty to the next person who will shape it into a new toy. They play with the toy, reshape it back into putty, and pass it to the next person.

This is a great game for beginners because it doesn’t ask students to play a role, or be funny or impressive. It just asks them to think of a toy and physically communicate that toy through mime.

Some tips:

• Don’t worry about the amount of putty you start with or about being realistic. A handful can make an entire baseball stadium if you so desire. It’s magic.
• Encourage physicality. Coach students to make items that use the whole body (e.g., a bicycle).
• Do the steps. Coach students to follow each step cleanly: Accept the putty, shape the putty into a toy, play with the toy, shape it back into putty.
• Again, don’t be bound by the word “toy.” It can be any object that you interact with in a physical way.

Variations:

• Share your toy: Instead of collapsing the toy after playing with it, it gets handed to the next person in the circle, who also plays with it for a few seconds, then collapses it to make a new toy.
• Speed round: Do a round as quickly as possible, keeping the movements/steps as clean and clear as possible.