Games

In Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (or Sorcerer’s Stone, for our American friends), one of the exciting and challenging tests for Harry, Ron, and Hermione was to play a game of wizard’s chess — only life-sized! Human chess isn’t limited to the wizarding world though; it’s a popular piece of entertainment in the Renaissance Faire world as well. Talented performers play out a real-life chess battle, complete with elaborately staged fights between pawns, rooks, knights, and all the rest. If you or your students are fans of chess (or you’re simply looking for a new and exciting challenge), why not try creating your own human chess match, either as a class activity or as a full-out performance? We’ll share how to stage this below. As well, you’ll find different variations for the battle action when a piece is captured, to accommodate students of all levels of experience. Instructions1. First, you’ll need to learn the rules of chess, and teach your students who don’t already know how to play. This is a great, simple resource for the basics of chess: Chess For Dummies Cheat Sheet. 2. Plan out your board. You’ll need a large grid of 64 spaces: 8 across (ranks) and 8 down (files), alternating light and dark spaces. You could paint the floor (if you’re allowed to paint your theatre space!), tape down coloured pieces of paper, make a grid with painter’s tape or spike tape, or use rope/twine and tent pegs if you’re outside. Once you’ve got your board in place, have students practice moving around the board as different chess pieces. How many spaces can each piece move, and in what direction? (This could be a great stage directions game variation.) 3. Plan out the number of participants you’ll need. This is a great exercise for large groups of students, as you’ll need at least 32 students for each of the chess pieces, as well as two additional students to be the leading players directing the pieces. However, if you don’t have that many students, there are some fun options you can try. You could have stuffed animals fill in for some of the players, and have the players (or students who have previously been eliminated) animate them, puppet-style. Or you could have your crafty students build life-sized chess pieces out of materials such as papier-mâché and chicken wire. If you’re doing this as part of a performance, perhaps you could have audience members participate (in a non-combat capacity of course). What other creative methods could you employ to have enough participants? 4. Figure out your gameplay. You could find an easy sample game online to play out (there are lots of examples on YouTube and Google; search for “sample chess game”), or if you have any chess aficionados in your class, have them play out the game live! If you are planning to do human chess as a performance, the gameplay must be pre-planned, but in a classroom exploration setting, feel free to experiment. 5. Lastly, you’ll need to define how your human chess pieces will “battle” or square off against each other. For example: • If you’ve studied stage combat, you can teach your students a simple choreographed combination of a few moves and have them perform it. Whatever side is capturing gets the winning move. Remember, stage combat should only be taught by an experienced and qualified fight director. If your students want to do combat but aren’t very skilled or experienced, they could perform a choreographed fight in extreme slow motion. These fights can be as serious or comedic as you wish! • Non-contact options: Have students use Shakespearean insults, improvise a vocalized argument, have a dance battle, or create a non-contact mimed scene. You could even mix up genres and have a duel with wands or use Jedi mind powers. • No matter which battle style you select (contact or non-contact), the captured player will act out a dramatic, overwrought death. • When a player is defeated, if you decide to drag the captured player off the board, please ensure you do so safely. Falling, dragging, and lifting can be dangerous, so again, please employ the skills of a trained fight director. The defeated player could also crawl, roll, or otherwise exit the board themselves. Have students experiment with different methods of exiting to find the most effective or entertaining way. • No matter what style of human chess match you do, you’ll want to employ some warm-ups prior to playing. See our giveaway below for a series of warm-up activities for human chess. Have fun and happy battling!

In this activity, students will demonstrate their knowledge of a selected play or musical and combine it with their creative and artistic skills to make their own theatrical board game. They’ll design and present a racing-style board game, like The Game of Life or Candyland, complete with a customized game board and tokens and an entertaining storyline based on important moments from the show. This activity is great for partners or small groups. An evaluation rubric is included at the bottom of this article. 1. Decide on a game journey.Have students select a show you’re currently studying or performing, or a different show of their choosing. Students will create a timeline of the major events in the play or musical, which they will use throughout the game to tell the story of the show. Map out a list of the important moments throughout the play that they need to include, and put them in chronological order. Determine how these moments will fit onto the game board or into the game. For example, will the moments be written on game spaces for the players to read, or do the players need to solve a show-related riddle or puzzle to win? The goal for the “game journey” is for the student game designers to demonstrate that they know the important plot points from the show’s storyline, while making the game fun at the same time. 2. Determine the gameplay and rules.Students will need to decide how the tokens will move around the board (e.g., using dice, playing cards, or another counting method) and any special spaces, such as “lose a turn,” “move back ___ spaces,” or “advance token to ____ space.” Special spaces can be game-related or action-related. For example, if the group chose The Phantom of the Opera for their game board, some special space examples might be, “You receive a threatening note from The Phantom — lose a turn” or “You’ve joined the corps de ballet — demonstrate your best moves and gain an extra three spaces” or “Madame Giry demands that you answer a trivia question to earn an extra dice throw.” Some board games include drawing extra cards or gaining bonus tokens for various reasons. Students are encouraged to add a unique slant to their games, whether that be answering trivia questions, completing physical tasks, collecting bonus tokens from landing on certain spaces, or something else related to the play or musical basis for the game. A game based on Alice in Wonderland might have game players collecting vials of “Drink Me” potion throughout the game, while a game based on Peter and the Starcatcher might require game players to retrieve bags of starstuff. Students will type up the rules and include them with their board game, ensuring they are clear and concise. (Nobody wants to spend ages reading through the rules before getting into the gameplay!) 3. Design tokens and a game board.Using their design skills, students will create a colourful and elaborate game board and unique playing tokens for their game. If students are studying The Addams Family, they might choose to make tokens that look like Morticia, Gomez, Wednesday, and Lucas Beineke, with a board designed entirely in black and gray. A Wizard of Oz game might have the game board divided into different zones such as Munchkinland, the spooky forest, the poppy field, and the Emerald City — with the Yellow Brick Road as the game track of course! For this assignment, students must also include a three-dimensional feature to their game board, similar to a scale model set design. They might wish to design a game backboard that looks like the French Taunter’s castle from Spamalot, have high rise buildings in each corner for a How to Succeed in Business… game, or build a miniature bed stacked with many mattresses for tokens to climb for a Once Upon a Mattress game. The possibilities are endless! 4. Play the game!Have each group pair up with another group, and test play each group’s board games. Then, give each team notes. What worked well? What needed improvement? How well did the team integrate the source play or musical into the design of the game? As time permits, have students try out a few different games. If you wish, have them vote on their top three games!

Take this article’s title with a grain of salt — we would never want to intentionally ruin any play or musical! We’re just going to have a little fun with show titles by adding, removing, and changing letters and words to make goofy new titles. While this game can be a lot of fun, it also can be challenging. For starters, your students may or may not have previous knowledge of play or musical titles. If it’s the latter, you will want to start by having the group brainstorm as many show titles as they can think of, or providing students a list of play and/or musical titles. (If you need some premade lists, we’ve got plays and musicals for Pride, creepy and spooky plays and musicals, and more than 200 plays in our own Theatrefolk play catalogue to peruse. While students aim to come up with funny, creative new show titles, they’ll have to ensure that the changes make sense grammatically. It’s also easy to get bogged down in trying to be super witty. With a lower-stakes game like this, it’s better to aim for quantity of responses over quality. Let the funny flow! Start by having students come up with as many new show titles as possible, using one or more of the prompts below. For an additional challenge, for the first four prompts, have students come up with an explanation of the new plot of the show using elements of the original plot. You can have students complete this individually, in pairs or small groups, or as a full class. It’s a great bell work assignment, or a way to start devising a new play or musical. Come up with a title and then in subsequent classes, create character profiles and start creating new scenes. Let’s dive in! Ruin a Play Prompts1. Ruin a play or musical by changing one letter of the title. For example: “In the Weights,” “Show Goat,” “A Little Fight Music,” or “Bean Girls.” Some show titles are conducive to more than one change — consider “Glove Never Dies” or “Love Never Pies.” 2. Ruin a play or musical by adding a word to the title. For example: “The Burger King & I,” “Peter Pancakes,” or “Rock of the Stone Ages.” If only adding one word is too difficult, students can include an article, preposition, or conjunction to make the title flow better and to ensure grammatical accuracy. 3. Ruin a play or musical by changing one word of the title to a completely different word. The word must be one single word agreed upon by the whole class. For example: “The Phantom of the Bathroom,” “Romeo & Bathroom,” “Lord of the Bathrooms,” or “Arsenic & Old Bathrooms.” 4. Ruin a play or musical by adding “… of DOOM!” to the title. For example: “Our Town… of DOOM!” “Waiting for Godot… of DOOM!” or “Smokey Joe’s Café… of DOOM!” Does this addition make the new show seem comedic or scary? Why? 5\, Ruin a play or musical by describing it badly. How can you describe a play with a one-sentence summary? Here are some examples: • “A monster saves a princess from marrying a tiny man” for Shrek the Musical • “The plant-based version of Sweeney Todd” for Little Shop of Horrors • “Woman is rendered mute to meet her crush but discovers appreciation for shoes and forks” for The Little Mermaid • “It’s literally a bunch of felines singing” for Cats • “Remember the cats? Same concept, but instead of cats it’s toy trains” for *Starlight Express * • "Misshapen French man tries to find true love” (This could be The Phantom of the Opera... or Beauty and the Beast... or The Hunchback of Notre Dame!) How many new, funny titles will your students come up with?

The following is a quick, simple warm-up game that works for virtually any age range and skill level. All you’ll need is a stack of Post-it notes or a pile of scrap paper, some writing implements, and your students. There are many different ways you can tailor this warm-up, depending on whether you’re studying mime, tableau, creative movement, or if you just need your students to get their brains and bodies moving. It’s a handy exercise to keep in your back pocket when you need to shake things up in class. Pick one, two, or a few for your students to do. Instructions1. Give each student a piece of scrap paper or a Post-it note and a writing utensil. 2. Each student has exactly three seconds to make a doodle on the paper. No more, no less! 3. Collect the doodles. Make sure they’re all appropriate for your class. 4. Choose a doodle (or doodles) at random, post it where everyone can see it, and have students try the following exercises: • Create a frozen pose with your body that physicalizes the doodle. • Create a frozen pose with a partner that physicalizes the doodle. • Move very slowly from a neutral stance (feet flat on the floor, hands by sides, eyes forward) to the frozen pose from the doodle. • Physicalize the doodle. Move around the room (silently) as you think the doodle would. • Select three doodles and have students slowly flow from the first doodle to the second to the third. • Divide students into groups of three or four. Select three doodles and have each group create a movement piece that includes the three doodles in some fashion. • Have one student direct the rest of the students in re-creating a giant version of the doodle flat on the floor. • Have students come up with their own way of bringing the doodle to life.

Giants, Elves, Wizards is a classic game used in drama classes, sports, Scouts, and more. It’s basically a life-sized version of Rock, Paper, Scissors (or “Roshambo” in some areas) with a chasing element where players tag members of the opposite team to win them over to the other side. In the drama classroom, it’s a great physical and vocal warm-up, and encourages students to employ teamwork and strategy to win players over to their team. In this article, we’ll explain the basic gameplay for Giants, Elves, Wizards, and then give lots of options to vary it. You may want to ask your school principal or phys ed teacher if you can play Giants, Elves, Wizards outside, or if you can use the gym for kids to spread out. If not, push any tables, desks, chairs, and other furniture out of the way before you start. Basic RulesIn Rock, Paper, Scissors, we all know rock smashes scissors, scissors cut paper, and paper covers rock. In Giants, Elves, Wizards, giants step on elves, elves hide from wizards, and wizards use magic on giants. Giants beat elves, elves beat wizards, and wizards beat giants. Each character has an action. For giants, students will raise their arms above their heads to look tall and intimidating. For elves, students will crouch down close to the floor to show how small they are. For wizards, students will stand with their arms straight out in front of them and wiggle their fingers like they’re trying to cast a spell. Easy, right? Now comes the strategy and teamwork part. Divide students into two teams and send them to opposite sides of the room. This is their home base. Each team will huddle up and secretly decide what character they’ll be. Once they’ve decided their strategy, they’ll turn, meet in the middle of the room, and form two lines facing each other, dodgeball style. Leave about 6–10 feet between teams. On the count of three, all students will repeat “giants, elves, wizards” three times in their lines, doing the corresponding action. After the third repetition, each team will then yell out their character in unison and do that action. For example: “Giants, elves, wizards… (brief pause) ELVES!” If the other team calls out Giants, the Giants team will chase the Elves team back to the Elves’ home base wall and try to tag them. However, if the other team calls out Wizards, the Elves team will chase the Wizards team back to the Wizards’ home base wall to try and tag them. The chasing team’s goal is to tag as many of the opposing team’s members as they can before they reach their home base. Any tagged students will join the winning team’s side. Then gameplay will start again, with each team choosing another character to play. One team will now have more members. The goal is to bring all the players over to one side. Phew! Now that you know how to play, we’ll offer some variations to mix up your gameplay and give your students some creative challenges. Variations• Come up with themed variations for different events, holidays, or shows you’re studying. For example, you could do a Halloween-themed game with Witches, Vampires, and Mummies. If you’re studying The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical, perhaps you could use the “big three” gods of that show as characters: Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades. Students will need to explain how one character beats the next, and create new actions for each character. • In the television series The Big Bang Theory, the characters play an expanded version of the game called Rock, Paper, Scissors, Lizard, Spock. This makes it more complicated as each character now can beat an additional character. Have your students try adding two new characters to Giants, Elves, Wizards, and explain how the new characters fit in. • Try adding a new rule. What happens if both teams choose the same character? What happens if they do this multiple times in a row? • Initiate a “buy back” system, where students can complete tasks prior to the match to earn back a member of their team that they lost earlier. Perhaps students must recite part of a monologue, do a mime sequence, or make up a dance on the spot. This could be especially helpful if one team is running out of members quickly! • Use the results of the final match as a writing prompt for your students. For example, if in the last round the Elves were beaten by the Giants, you might use this scene to start writing: “The remaining elves swore vengeance against the giants who had squashed their brethren. They started sharpening their tiny spears…” Or if the Elves beat the Wizards: “The wizards didn’t see the elves coming until the last moment. But that wasn’t anything unusual. It was always a sneaky surprise attack when the wizards least expected it. And no matter how often the wizards boarded up the cracks in the walls and kept their doors tightly shut, the tiny elves managed to get themselves inside, night after night.” The writing can be serious, silly, heartful, cold, or any other feeling students find appropriate and inspiring. If you wish, have students share what they have written.

Many getting to know you games consist of students sharing interesting facts about themselves and their personalities. In this game, students will discover things they have in common with their classmates. But, the goal is for students to share unique traits about themselves that none of the other students share, to be both one of a kind and the last student standing. This game can be friendly or competitive, but either way it’s an opportunity for you and your students to learn more about each other. Read on to learn how to play. Instructions1. Have students stand in a circle. 2. Choose one student to begin, or allow a volunteer to start. 3. One at a time, students will share their name and something about themselves: My name is Amy and I have one sister. My name is Marcus and I take swimming lessons. My name is Terry and I have a pet iguana. Students should choose a non-physical trait — it’s easy to see who has brown hair, for example. 4. If another student shares the same trait (for example, Sunil also has one sister), the student who named the trait has to sit down — in this case, Amy. If nobody shares the same trait, the student can remain standing. NOTE: Let students know that this game does not come with the expectation that they must confess something scandalous or share a secret with the class. This game is not meant to be group therapy; it’s simply a chance to share traits that make students unique. 5. The game will continue to the right. Students will keep naming traits about themselves and finding out whether anyone in the class shares them. 6. Once you’ve gone through the full class, you can keep going if time permits, or call the game there. The goal is for students to share at least one unique fact about themselves while remaining standing as long as possible. If it comes down to a final group of two or three, you can continue playing as long as time remains, or you can crown a double/triple champion. 7. Variations: • Non-competitive: When the game passes to the next student, any student who is sitting can stand up again. • Friendly competition: Once a student is sitting they are out, but they can still share a trait about themselves and try to get others out. If a seated student shares a unique trait, they can stand back up. Play continues until only one student is standing. • Extra competitive (but still friendly): If another student shares the same trait, all of the students with the shared trait sit down. Seated students can still share traits to get others out. If a seated student shares a unique trait, they can stand back up. • Memory challenge: Have students go through the list of names and share again the students’ names and their unique facts about themselves. • Opposites: Have students try sharing facts about themselves that they think many students in the class will share. In this variation, have students keep a tally of how many facts they have in common with other students. 8. If you wish, your students can complete an exit slip (found below) about their experience playing this game.

The improv game “The Next Chapter” is a fun full-class activity. It takes the traditional “Freeze” improv game and turns it on its head. In that game, small groups of students create an improvised scene, and when the teacher calls “freeze!” the next group of students creates a new scenario from the previous group’s frozen poses. In “The Next Chapter,” the small groups still freeze when the teacher says to do so, but the next group of students picks up where the last story stops, creating a new improvised “chapter” with each subsequent group. The result is one long improvised story that can still take many creative turns, but maintains the characters throughout the process. The learning goals for this improv game include developing teamwork skills and creative quick thinking skills. Additionally, this game challenges students to listen carefully and recall details from previous “chapters” to continue their scene and make it fit in with the overall story. Try it! Instructions 1. Have students get into pairs or groups of three. 2. Select one group to start. 3. For the first group, assign the students a relationship or specific roles. For example: scientists working on an experiment, Grandma babysitting her grandchild(ren), an exercise instructor and student(s). 4. Give the first group a setting to start: a lab, a gym, a shopping mall, a movie theatre, a playground. Make sure the whole class hears the role and location assignments clearly! 5. The first group will start their scene as the first chapter of the story. 6. When the scene comes to a natural pause or after a set amount of time (your decision), call out “freeze!” The group who is performing must freeze in whatever positions they happen to be in. 7. Have the next pair or group of students take over the roles in either a continuous or new setting, i.e. the next chapter of the story. The students must take the same position and roles that the previous students were in. From there, they can either continue the story as it was, or come up with a creative transition into the next scene with the same characters. For example: The first chapter establishes Grandma babysitting her two grandchildren. Second chapter: eating lunch. Third chapter: going to the park. Fourth chapter: coming home for naps. Fifth chapter: baking cookies. And so on. The stories can be as mundane or fanciful as the students wish, as long as the story is continued in a way that makes sense. 8. Students must remember any details established in the prior scenes and continue them going forward. Going with the Grandma example, the kids will stay kids and Grandma will still be Grandma. If one of the students says their character name is Brad, then it stays Brad. Remember the traditional rule of improv: “Yes, and…” Once a detail is established, everyone goes with it and adds more to keep the scene going. However, students can add details and create new scenarios within the story that make sense. For example, perhaps the kids discover that Grandma is a secret agent, or Grandma reveals she’s into street racing and takes the kids on a wild ride in a race car to the playground. Important details need to stay the same. For example, students can't randomly change a character’s name from Brad to Steven. However, if there is a clear reason — perhaps Grandma continually gets her grandchild’s name mixed up and he keeps correcting her — it can become a “bit” (a funny recurring moment or joke) and in that case, it’s acceptable. 9. Continue until all groups have had a chance to perform. The final group has to create a conclusion of some sort. 10. Students will complete and submit an exit slip (found below).

Advertisements and commercials can be entertaining, educational, heart wrenching, and hilarious. Ultimately though, the goal is to grab your attention, tell you about the product, and get you to part with your hard-earned cash in exchange for whatever they’re selling — as efficiently as possible. In this improv game, students are tasked with improvising an advertisement for a product. It’s challenging because it’s an individual performance exercise, but it has clear parameters to follow, which can help students figure out what to do in the moment. Feel free to print out the requirements (found in the giveaway below) and post them so students know the structure they need to follow. Instructions1. Pre-game prep: Ask your students to identify commercials or advertisements that they like or find memorable. You also may wish to have a selection of ad videos to show students. What makes the commercials memorable? What makes them effective (or ineffective) and why? If money were no object, would you buy that item based on the commercial? 2. Have students brainstorm a list of products to sell. Pretty much anything goes! Here are 10 ideas to get you started: toothpaste, pack of crayons, scuba wetsuit, garbage can, beard trimmer, twelve-pack of tube socks, lunchbox, ice skates, video game system, paper towels. Try to avoid items with established brand names, or at least refer to them as their generic item name (for example, use the non-specific phrase “adhesive strip” or “bandage” instead of Band-Aid). 3. Select a student to begin. Have them stand at the front of the room. Give that student a product to sell in an improvised commercial, or write the products on slips of paper and draw them out of a bag or hat. 4. The student must include the following information in their commercial: • An interesting opening statement (“Are your teeth gray and gross?” “If you love fly fishing, then I have the perfect product for you!” “BAM! Now that I have your attention…”) • A brand name for the product (Students can use an established brand if they like, or invent their own brand name.) • At least two features of the product (How it will benefit you, how it will make you happy, what it’s made of, quality of the material, ease of use, a bonus for purchasing, a jingle or catchphrase, etc.) • The price of the product • Where/how to buy it (In store, online, call now!) Students may present their commercial in any tone they wish: sales-y, comedic, emotional, as a song and dance, as a celebrity endorsement, and so on. There is no time limit, but students should attempt to be as efficient as possible in their delivery. Feel free to cut off students if you think they’re milking their stage time! 5. Once the student has improvised all the required information, they are done! Select a new student to perform. Continue until time runs out or everyone has performed. If your students are pros at the basic commercial improvisation, try these challenge modes! • Challenge 1: Students have to complete all the requirements in one minute or less. • Challenge 2: Students have to complete all the requirements in 30 seconds or less (without rushing). • Challenge 3: Students have to keep selling until you “change the channel” (infomercial style). Even if they’ve completed all the requirements, they have to keep going until you say, “CLICK!” • Challenge 4: “Change the channel” between three students. Have three students stand at the front of the room. Assign each student a channel number. Channel 1 begins their commercial. When you say “CLICK!” they must freeze and then Channel 2 will begin their commercial. Repeat with Channel 3. Once Channel 3 gets “clicked,” the game will go back to Channel 1, who must pick up wherever they were paused. Continue until each channel completes their commercial. • Challenge 5: Add an adjective to each product. For example: vintage lunchbox, glitter toothpaste, waterproof ice skates, glow-in-the-dark beard trimmer, stinky garbage can. Students must include the adjective as one of the selling features for the item, regardless of whether or not they think the adjective is a positive or negative one.

The following theatre game is a variation of the exercise “The 20 Step Process“. In The 20 Step Process, students are challenged to make a simple task comically complicated. In Origin Story, students separate the aspects of one seemingly simple task and explain how each part came to be. Students will see (in an exaggerated fashion) how so many different parts go into a seemingly simple task. Making a peanut butter sandwich has never been so epic! Instructions1. Divide students into small groups of three to four. 2. Choose a simple, everyday task, such as making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, for the entire class to work on. Other ideas might include brushing your hair with a hairbrush, deciding what to wear in the morning, painting a picture, or taking a photograph with a film camera. 3. Separate the task into as many parts as there are groups. With the PBJ example, you might suggest bread, peanut butter, jam, knife for spreading, plate for serving, jars to hold the jam and peanut butter, and fridge or cupboard to hold the ingredients. 4. Assign each group one part and have them come up with a fanciful origin story of where that item came from and how it came to be part of that moment. For the peanut butter sandwich example: Where did the peanut butter come from? How was the knife that spread the peanut butter on the sandwich made? What kind of bread is being used, and how did that particular loaf end up in that particular kitchen at that moment? 5. In their assigned groups, students will create a brief scene, performing their portion of the origin story. The group will be responsible for writing a script, casting the roles, developing interesting and engaging characterizations, and blocking the scene. Scenes must be at least one minute long but no longer than two minutes. Use a timer — if scenes are too short, they’ll need to be expanded; if they’re too long, they’ll need to be tightened or edited down. 6. Determine a running order, and have each group present their scene for the rest of the class. 7. Upon completion of all the scenes, groups will submit their written script, and each student will submit a completed exit slip (found below). Optional: You can make these scenes into a full production. Create a simple framework, such as you (in character as the teacher) getting ready to do the task. For example, you might start with, “I was sitting down in my office to eat a PBJ sandwich when a thought crossed my mind…” and end with taking a bite of the sandwich. Feel free to add lines in between scenes as transitions, or keep it simple with just an intro and outro.

There are times when you need a game that doesn’t require much explanation to get started. This is a great game to play with your students at the end of the term when they (or you) are feeling burnt out, or the day after closing a show when you’re tired and need a laugh. The following exercise challenges students to incorporate two prompts into one improvised scene. Students must employ listening skills, teamwork, and quick thinking to complete this exercise successfully. To prepare: Visit our Prompt collection and print out at least two prompt lists. As well, have a timer or clock with a second hand available to ensure each student gets the same amount of time to perform. Instructions:1. Select two students to perform. 2. Have the students choose a number between 1 and 50. (Each prompt list has 50 prompts, with an additional 50 prompts in the giveaway.) 3. Give the students the prompt on each page associated with that number. For example, for the number 37, the animal-related prompt is “What would your two different pets say to each other?” and the location prompt is “science lab.” 4. Give students a countdown of five seconds to prepare. 5. Students will improvise a one-minute scene together, incorporating both prompts into the scene somehow. For the above example, your students might play scientists studying talking pets, or they might play the pets hanging out in a science lab discussing what their owners are doing. It can even be as subtle as two students wondering aloud what their pets talk about when they’re not there, and then hearing the school bell ring and ending the scene with, “Ok, I’m off to the science lab!” It’s up to the students to be as obvious or subtle as they wish, as long as they use both prompts. 6. When one minute is up, the scene is complete. 7. Cross off each prompt as it’s used. Repeat up to 50 times. If your students are new to improv or find it intimidating to come up with ideas on the spot, try doing a brainstorming session before the first pair performs. Select two prompts and have the full class come up with performance ideas that incorporate both prompts. This will give students more ideas about where they could take their scenes.

I have yet to meet a student who didn’t cringe (inwardly or outwardly!) at the start of a new semester or the first rehearsal when they hear their teacher say, “Ok, let’s go around the circle and share an interesting fact about ourselves!” So. Much. Pressure. Here’s a game that helps teachers and students get to know each other without the stress of having to come up with an interesting fact — all you have to do is answer a question. You’ll need a deck of playing cards and a printout of our question set, found at the bottom of this article. Grab your cards and deal out a card face down to each student, or fan out cards face down and let each student select one. The number on the card corresponds to a pre-set question. If a student gets the Joker card, they get to choose which question they answer. The questions can be theatre-related (“Do you like plays or musicals better and why?”), drama class-related (“What is something you’re hoping to learn in drama class this term?”), personality-related (“Are you a morning person or a night owl?”), likes/dislikes-related (“What’s your favourite meal? Describe it.”), or combination of any of them. You might even have your students submit suggestions and select the best ones to ask. Just keep it light — you’re all getting to know each other. You’ll have time to go deeper later in the term. If you think your students would benefit from knowing the questions in advance, print out copies of the question list and hand them out, or make a large copy and post/project it at the front of the room. This may help reduce some potential anxiety over “What question am I going to be asked?” Your students might appreciate being allowed to turn their cards over and look at them secretly for a few moments, so they can see the question and have a little time to think about their answers. They might also like the thrill of not knowing their question until the last minute! Just make sure everyone turns their cards back over while others are answering, so everyone can listen respectfully. Here’s an example of how your question sheet might look: • Ace = What is your favourite meal? Describe it. • Two = What is something you enjoy doing in your spare time? • Three = What is something you’re hoping to learn in drama class? • Four = What is your favourite way to consume media (social media, videos, podcasts)? • And so on. Jack, Queen, King, and Joker follow Ten. Check the bottom of this article for a full template. Here are some ways to mix up the gameplay: • Interview: Divide students into pairs. Deal out three cards to each pair. Have the partners interview each other using the questions related to the cards. • Trades: Before looking at the card, the student has the option to trade cards with another student who hasn’t yet answered their question. (Unfortunately this means that the student who goes last doesn’t get to trade, but this might encourage students to volunteer to go sooner!) • Suits: If the suit of the chosen card is Hearts (no matter what number the card is), the student must mime their answer. You can add additional challenges to each suit if you like. For example: Diamonds = sing your answer, Spades = answer in a funny voice, Clubs = speak your answer while doing some sort of gesture or movement. • Dice Roll: Before looking at the card, give the student the option to roll a die. If they get a 1 or 2, they will answer their question. If they get a 3 or 4, they will have to trade cards with another student nearby and answer the question on the new card. If they get a 5 or 6, they will have to draw a second card and answer that question as well. • Hot Seat: Have three students draw cards and ask YOU the questions corresponding to the numbers on the cards. ** Additional Resources:**• 20 Icebreaker Questions for Drama Students To Get To Know Each Other • Get To Know You Bingo • Three “Get To Know You” Games

In improvisation, one of the first rules that drama students are commonly taught is to always say, “Yes, and…” to continue the story. Basically, agree with presented concepts to keep the scene moving forward. If Partner A says, “Wow it’s so hot today!” and Partner B says, “What are you talking about, it’s freezing!” Partner B is stopping the scene from moving forward. But what if the suggestion that one of the scene partners presents makes the other partner uncomfortable? Teachers can try to circumvent awkward or uncomfortable improvised scenes by using prompts to direct the focus of the scene, but you never know where a student will take a scene or what they’ll bring up in the moment. We also can’t know what might be upsetting for a student until it occurs. Once students have learned the basics of improvisation, including “Yes, and…” introduce “No, but…” as an option to take the improvised story in a different direction. This provides a way for students to reframe an uncomfortable situation. Students are still responsible for participating in the scene, adding information, and not derailing the plot (for example, if your partner says something like, “Wow it’s so hot,” then that’s a given for the scene). But they can pivot and adjust where the scene is going. If Partner A says, “Hi Donna!” and Partner B says, “Guess what, I changed my name last week, you can call me Dean,” Partner B is saying No, but also adding information. Having the ability to say “No, but…” is an important aspect of consent within the drama classroom. If students cannot say no, then their “yes” isn’t meaningful, because they don’t have a choice in the matter. Knowing that they have the ability to say no and adjust the scene tells students that their voices are being heard and respected, and that their feelings are important. This is not to say that students should be allowed to not participate in scenarios they just don’t like or feel silly doing. We want to encourage our students to try new things, make mistakes, and explore. But it’s good to have a safeguard in place as well. And, when used sparingly in improvisation exercises, “No, but…” can be an interesting and creative way to contribute to the scene. And sparingly is the key word here. Here’s a quick game you can try with your students to practice “Yes, and…” and “No, but…” You’ll need a timing device and a noisemaker, such as a bell. 1. Start by discussing with your students the concept of “Yes, and…” Remember, students don’t need to say that specific phrase — it simply means going along with suggestions and adding more to the scene. The goal is to keep the scene moving forward; you don’t want to derail it by denying the information your partner has given you. 2. Introduce the concept of “No, but…” Discuss scenarios in which students can pivot and adjust the scene if an uncomfortable situation occurs. It’s not to be used in every scene, or just because a student doesn’t like a given suggestion. Give a sample prompt or scenario and let the full group brainstorm different ways they could apply the idea of “No, but…” to the scenario (with or without the specific phrasing) that move the scene forward. 3. Have students form pairs. Select one pair of students to start an improvised scene. Let them know that each pair will be limited to one minute maximum for the scene. Students will focus on the spirit of “Yes, and…” to the best of their abilities. 4. When the timer reaches the 30 second mark, sound the noisemaker. Whoever’s line is next must use the “No, but…” prompt, and take the scene in a different direction. It doesn’t need to be wildly different, but it needs to go in a new direction while still being related to the earlier work in the scene (for example, same character names). 5. The scene will then continue until the end of the remaining time while going in the new direction from the “No, but…” prompt. Don’t worry if time runs out and the scene hasn’t ended. Sound the noisemaker to indicate that time is up and end the scene where it is. If possible, repeat with the next pair of students until everyone has had a chance to try. 6. Debrief with your students: • How did “No, but…” affect the improvised scene? • Was it difficult to take the scene in a new direction with “No, but…”? Why or why not? • Why is it helpful to have a “No, but…” technique available to use? Some students may find it difficult to say no to others, particularly if they’ve been taught continually about always saying yes in improv. While we don’t want to derail the scene going on, we want students to know that there is an option for them to say no to something that is upsetting for them. Having a consent-based option like “No, but…” ensures that students’ feelings are being respected, while keeping the improvisation fun and forward-moving. Additional Resources: • Top Ten Tips for Teaching Improv • Improv Game: Creative Defiance

Get To Know You Bingo is a fun icebreaker game. It gets students up out of their seats, moving around and talking to each other. It’s also a good way for you to get to know more about your students, and to potentially gauge their prior drama knowledge. To prepare the game, you’ll need a computer and a printer or photocopier. To play the game, students will each need a printout of the Bingo card and a writing utensil. Preparation:Start by creating a Bingo grid card with various questions that your drama students might know the answers to, or traits that students in your drama class might possess. Since students will be talking to each other to get their squares filled, you don’t have to do different layouts for every student, but you can if you wish. (The website My Free Bingo Cards is a great resource to print free randomized Bingo cards if you don’t want to make them manually.) Traditional Bingo cards in North America are 5 by 5 squares (25 squares total), but you can also make a smaller card of squares or rectangles if you wish (in the United Kingdom, Bingo cards are sometimes made on a 5 by 3 or 9 by 3 rectangular grid). To fill your squares, you can include ideas that are specific to drama or to your class (a production class, musical theatre class, playwriting class, etc.), or go with straightforward personality or appearance traits, or even a mix of both. For example, you might have “Someone who can name a play written by William Shakespeare” or “Someone who has blonde hair.” At the bottom of this article, you can download a whole list of square ideas. You can also duplicate ideas or have students come up with card ideas themselves. You might also want to make a “free” space; traditionally the centre square of the 5 by 5 grid is a free space, but you can put it in any place you wish. Make sure when you’re putting the prompts into the squares that you leave enough room for student signatures. Print enough copies so each student has a sheet. Rules:The game will be played in three rounds. In the first round, students are looking for one line — horizontal, vertical, or diagonal. In the second round, students are looking for two lines (they can intersect). In the third round, students are aiming to fill a full card. When a student gets the required amount of squares filled with signatures, they yell “Bingo!” Students must ask the person the question on their sheet before they get their signature; they can’t just thrust the paper at them and say, “Sign something.” Students also must write down the person’s answer as applicable. For example, if the person signs the “Someone who has taken dance lessons” square, what kind of dance lessons have they taken? Or where did they take the lessons? It’s more fun to have lots of different signatures on your Bingo card, but if you want to reduce touch points, you can have students write people’s names and answers on their own cards. Just make sure they spell their peers’ names correctly! Students need to be observant and choose their people and squares carefully! Once a square is filled, they can’t erase someone’s signature and get them to sign a different square. Some squares might be easier or more difficult to fill. Signing rules are as follows (feel free to adapt to your class size): • First and second round — one square per person per card. • Third round — students may sign two squares per person per card but no more than two. • Students may sign one square on their own card. • The teacher may sign one square on a student’s card. When a Bingo is called, have the rest of the class sit down and have the winning student share their answers. If you wish, have a person who signed one of the squares answer a followup question. For example, if a student signs the “Someone who has an older sibling” square, you can ask them what their sibling’s name is, or how many older siblings they have. Some squares, like “Someone who has blue eyes,” won’t have much of a personal followup, but you could also ask a general question to the class, like “Who else has blue eyes and could have signed that square?” While we know many students like competing and will likely vie to be the first to call “Bingo,” the point of the exercise is less to WIN and more for students to get to know their classmates better. Distance Learning Adaptations: If you are teaching virtually, you can adapt this game in a few ways. You can use it as a full-class discussion starting point. For example: “Raise your hand if you’ve seen a live theatre show.” From there, you can have students share what shows they’ve seen. Continue with as many squares as you like or have time for. You can also do a small group competition. Divide students into small groups and send them into breakout rooms. Assign one student in each room to be the note-taker. Have each group see how many squares they can fill in a specified amount of time, or see which group can get a full card the quickest. You could also assign bonus points if more than one student in the group can fulfill the square’s requirement. For example, if three students can name three different Shakespearean plays, they get three points for that square.

Have you ever had a conversation with someone and felt like something was off? It might have been because the person you were speaking to was using body language that didn’t match what they were saying. Sometimes someone’s verbal cues (what they’re saying) don’t match their nonverbal cues (what their body is doing — posture, gestures, facial expressions — also known as body language). The following improvisation game gives students the opportunity to present and observe various verbal and nonverbal cues, and compare and contrast how they feel when the cues don’t match. 1. Have students stand in a circle. 2. Give the class a generic line, such as “I’m so mad at you,” “It’s good to see you,” “Can you help me?” or “Yes, I understand.” 3. One by one, have students go around the circle and say the line, while using appropriate body language that they think matches what they are saying. For example, if the line is “I’m so mad at you,” students might clench their fists, stomp their feet, or cross their arms to show that they are angry. (The key word is “might” — different students may have different ways of demonstrating what they think are “appropriate” nonverbal cues. You may want to discuss this with your class.) 4. Then, go around the circle a second time and have students say the same line again, but with a different nonverbal cue (gesture, facial expression, or posture) that doesn’t match what they are saying. For example, they might jump up and down while laughing, hide behind a friend, look away, cross their eyes — any sort of gesture that doesn’t “go with” what they are saying. 5. Have two students standing opposite each other in the circle meet in the middle. Give one student an opening line and have the other student improvise a one-line reply. Both students must try to present body language that does not match what they are saying. 6. Discuss: • Was it easy or difficult to present nonverbal cues that didn’t match the words you were saying? Why? • How did you feel when you were watching someone say a line while their nonverbal cues didn’t match? (Confused? Distrustful? Annoyed? Something else?) • If you were playing a character whose body language didn’t match their words, what would you think of that character? What might the other characters in the scene think of them? What might the audience think? • Do you think someone might choose to purposefully use nonverbal cues that didn’t match what they were saying? Why might they do that? • Have you ever experienced a time in “real life” when someone’s body language didn’t match what they were saying? What happened? How did it make you feel? • Do you ever think about the nonverbal cues that you are demonstrating to others — either consciously or unconsciously? What might your body language be saying about you?

Negative self-talk is so common and can be very difficult to overcome, not only for students but also for teachers. It’s easy to fall into the trap of berating ourselves over mistakes and telling ourselves we aren’t good enough. We would never speak to a friend or even a stranger like that, so why do we do it to ourselves? If your students need a bit of a pick-me-up, the following exercise can help them become aware of their own negative self-talk and dismiss it. Instructions: 1. Individually, have students write a list of up to three negative things that they have thought or said about themselves. Allow them to share some of the negative thoughts and write them on the board if they want to. (This can help students see that others may have had similar negative thoughts about themselves, and that they aren’t alone.) • Another suggestion is to have students write out their negative thoughts on Post-it Notes and submit them to you so you can display them anonymously where everyone can see. Then students can see that others have similar negative thoughts but no one has to volunteer their thoughts. 2. Take a moment to think about this negative inner voice in your head. RuPaul (from RuPaul’s Drag Race) calls this negative voice the “inner saboteur.” Alberto from the movie Luca calls it “Bruno.” Give your negative inner voice a name. It can be anything except for your own name. 3. Come up with a character for the negative inner voice. What do they look like? What does their voice sound like? How do they move? If time permits, have students draw a sketch of the character, have them get up as a group and move around the space as their character, or have them partner up and try out different voices for their character. 4. How would you tell your negative voice to be quiet or stop putting you down? Make up a phrase. Alberto says “Silenzio Bruno!” when his negative inner voice talks to him. For example, students could say “Thanks for your input,” “That’s not true,” “Stop lying,” “Be quiet,” or any other phrase that dismisses the negative thought. 5. Have everyone stand up. Choose a negative thought to say. At the same time, have students say their thoughts out loud in their negative inner voice’s character voice/persona. 6. Then, students will stand up straight in a strong position — standing tall, feet flat on the floor, shoulders back, chin up. At the same time, in a powerful voice (their own), they will say the phrase that they chose to dismiss the negative thought. Feel free to repeat this step as many times as you wish. 7. Have students make a big show of scrunching up their original lists of negative thoughts and throwing them away. 8. Students will respond to the exit slip below.

In this round-up post, we’re focusing on relationship skills, which is one of the five areas of Social and Emotional Learning (SEL). If the concept of SEL is new to you, check out this article for a basic overview: Social and Emotional Learning in the Drama Classroom: What Is It?. Here are ten theatre games that help students develop relationship-building skills: five for building relationships between students in the drama classroom and five for building and developing relationships in character. Each game has an additional exit slip question that you can use for a post-game written assignment or verbal discussion topic, to help students further delve into the topic of building relationships. Building Relationships in the Drama ClassroomThe Human Knot • Students must work together to untangle a full-class knot. • Exit slip question: How does this game help to build relationships in the drama classroom? The Negotiation • Students must work together to plan and present on a topic in a short amount of time. • Exit slip question: Describe your relationship with your teammates during this game. Were you a leader, a follower, spoken over, a collaborator? (Your relationships with different teammates might be different.) How did that make you feel? Three Games to Help Students Play to the Audience • These three simple games will help students learn audience awareness and theatre etiquette: Trapdoor, Upstage/Downstage, and Act It Out. • Exit slip question: What is the relationship between actors and the audience? How can you use the skills you practiced in this game to improve that relationship? Three “Get To Know You” Games • These three simple games will help you and your students get to know each other: The ABC Name Game, Move Yer Butt, and Mixer. • Exit slip question: How did this game help you develop/improve your relationships with other students? Three Things in Common • This game will help students get to know each other better, beyond surface commonalities. • Exit slip question: What was something unexpected that you learned you had in common with someone today? What else would you like to learn about that person? Building Relationships in CharacterCombining Skills • While students play characters with different occupations, they need to create a working relationship to solve the problem at hand. • Exit slip question: What were the relationships between your character and your team members’ characters? How did you build those relationships during the scene? Imposter • Students play experts in the same profession working together, while discovering that one member of the team is an imposter. • Exit slip question: For the experts: How did your relationship change when you realized one of the team members was an imposter? For the imposter: How did you try to relate to the team of experts? Job Interview • Student A interviews Student B for a job, but Student B doesn’t know what the job is. • Exit slip question: Who had more power in this relationship? Did the power dynamics change during the scene? How did you feel being more/less powerful than your scene partner? Muted Conversations • Two students act silently while two other students play their voices. • Exit slip question: Was it easier for you to relate to your scene partner or your voice partner? Why? Taking Away the Script • Students work in groups on a scene. Partway through the rehearsal, students are informed that they cannot use any words to perform their scene. • Exit slip question: How can you effectively show and develop the relationship between characters onstage without using words?

This fun improv game challenges students to work together and think quickly on their feet to create a scene that solves a problem, using skills possessed by characters with different occupations. This game can be played live, in person, or online via distance learning. 1. Have students form groups of three. 2. Give each student in the group a different occupation, preferably in different fields. For example, a lifeguard, a chef, and an engineer. You can use our resource, Tons of Occupation Prompts, for occupation ideas. 3. Give each group a problem to solve as a group. Perhaps they’re on a sinking boat, or they’re trying to change a diaper, or a bear is chasing them. If necessary, brainstorm some scenarios with your students beforehand, or get suggestions from the class. 4. Students will need to use the unique skills of their character’s occupation to solve the problem. For example, if the scenario is that a bear is chasing the group, the lifeguard could use their whistle to distract the bear, the engineer could design and build a trap, and the chef could cook some food to lure the bear into the trap. Students can create a silly or serious scene while improvising, but they can’t just say something like, “I’m a doctor and I’m running away!” If students aren’t sure what their occupation’s skills are, make them up! 5. The scene is complete when all three students have contributed to solving the problem and figured out a way to exit the scene as a group. 6. At the end of class, each student will complete an individual exit slip.

The following improvisation game challenges students to stay in character, think on their feet, keep the scene going, and react to each other. They’re also likely going to laugh, because one of the characters in the scene isn’t what they seem — they’re an imposter! This game can be played in person or online via distance learning. 1. Have students split up into groups of three to four. 2. Give each group an occupation or job prompt: a group of kindergarten teachers, a group of dentists, a group of construction workers. You can use this list of occupation prompts for inspiration. 3. One student will play an actor who is studying the others to play a character with that job for an upcoming project. (For example, think of the character Joey Tribbiani from Friends playing Dr. Drake Ramoray on the fictional version of Days of Our Lives on the show.) The other students will play real versions of people with that job, who are experts in their field. 4. The group will start a scene where the experts are doing typical tasks associated with the job they’re doing. Using the examples above, the group of kindergarten teachers might lead their students in a craft or a song, the group of dentists might start examining a patient’s teeth, and the group of construction workers might start using their respective equipment. It doesn’t matter if the students playing the experts actually know what their job is — they need to act like they’re confident and knowledgeable, and keep talking and reacting to each other. 5. The imposter will desperately try to fit in, copying the others in an exaggerated manner, using terminology (real or made up) that they clearly don’t understand. The imposter kindergarten teacher may make up lyrics to a song (“Twinkle twinkle little star… would you like to drive my car?”) while the imposter construction worker might struggle to figure out how to operate a tool. 6. The group must have a specific beginning and end for the scene. Is the actor found out to be an imposter? Do they confess? Or does the imposter fool the rest of the group and escape? It’s up to your students. You may want to have each group perform the scene twice — once where the experts are fooled, and once where the imposter is found out. 7. At the end of class, have each student complete an exit slip (found below).

Unless you have perfect timing, when you’re producing a show with your students, you will be performing it at a different time of year than what the show is set in. For example, you might be performing Almost, Maine in April (when the show is set in the winter) or Disney’s High School Musical 2 in February (when the show is about summer vacation). Even if it’s snowing inside, you’ll need to make the audience feel as though they’ve entered a tropical destination (or vice versa). So, how do you make different types of weather come alive, either onstage or onscreen? Lots of different ways! Let’s explore them with your students. The Rain GameThis is a fun game that the whole class can do, in person (at a distance if needed) or online (mics on — video optional). The class will work together to make a soundscape of rain sounds. No talking allowed! The teacher will lead and the students will follow by watching and listening. Start with the full class gently rubbing their hands together, to mimic the wind. Slowly transition to tapping one finger on the palm of your hand. Add all four fingers, then move to gentle finger snapping, representing the pitter-patter of raindrops. The rain will get heavier as the class moves towards clapping, then a full out thunderstorm with stomping feet on the floor or slapping the floor with your hands. Then, move back through the actions in reverse as the storm goes away and the rain gets lighter and lighter. Ask your students: How could a soundscape like this be used to create atmosphere in a scene? What other sounds or actions could be included? Technical ElementsThere are lots of ways students can use technical elements to show the weather in their performances, including: • Costumes: snow suits, bathing suits, rain coats, mittens, gloves, hats • Props: umbrellas, beach toys, a bottle of sunscreen, seasonal sports equipment • Set/virtual set: an appropriate virtual background when performing online, or set décor elements such as fake snow, a beach towel, leaves, flowers, a backdrop of a tree (such as a palm tree in the summer or an evergreen in the winter) or a blue sparkly curtain to represent rain • Lighting: warm tones (yellows, reds, oranges) or strong spotlight for warm weather, cool tones (blues, purples) for cold weather • Sound effects: wind whistling, rain sounds, birds chirping (from a sound effects library or real-life sound effects using tricks such as a rain stick and a metal sheet for rain and thunder, or the soundscape from earlier) • Underscoring/background music: Beach Boys music to depict summer, or the song “Snow” from the musical White Christmas to represent a wintery scene Distance Learning Quick Challenge: Give your students four minutes to find four different “things” around their home they could use to represent each of the four seasons. For example, they might grab a pair of rubber boots to represent a rainy spring, the song “Summer Nights” from Grease to represent hot summer weather, a rake to represent raking leaves in autumn, and a GIF of a snowstorm for a virtual background image to represent winter. (Feel free to adapt as appropriate to your local climate and weather trends!) Performance TechniquesOf course, students don’t even need any technical elements to depict the weather; they can demonstrate or react to weather through performance techniques. Try the following prompts with your students: Physical Acting** :** Have students mime the actions that match the weather. • Cold weather: shivering, hugging themselves, burrowing into their clothes, catching snowflakes on their tongues • Rain: holding their hands over their head, scrunching up their faces, wiping away “drops” of rain from their faces • Hot weather: fanning themselves, applying sunscreen, sunbathing, jumping in a pool to cool off, wiping away sweat • Wind: struggling to move against the wind, trying to keep items from flying away (such as a hat or papers) Voice Only: Give students a short line to say while trying the following vocal techniques, such as, “Isn’t this weather something else?” • Cold weather: teeth chattering, stuffy nose • Hot weather: panting, taking a sip of a cool drink • Windy or thunderstorm: trying to be heard over the “noise” of the weather (students can increase their intensity depending on the “intensity” of the weather — for example, a light breeze versus a hurricane) Once students have practiced the two separate techniques (physical and vocal), have them combine physical actions with vocal techniques to create a mini solo scene. Have them start with the line, “Isn’t this weather something else?” and then improvise two more sentences to follow up. Extension Challenge: Have students combine physical actions, vocal techniques, and at least one technical element to make a mini performance. Start with, “Isn’t this weather something else?” and write or improvise four additional lines, interacting with their technical element in some way. You may wish for students to perform live, or to record their performances and submit them to you. Have students present their mini performances for the rest of the class.

The following warm-up game uses found objects and allows students to work on their improvisation, storytelling, and character building skills. Take the well-known elementary school activity — show and tell — and give it a twist! DescriptionStudents will present a found object as multiple different characters. You may have played a version of this game before where the student sells a found item as if they’re in a commercial or on a shopping channel. In this version, students don’t need to sell the item, just talk about it for an extended period of time, while staying in character. This warm-up game can be done online or in person. Materials Needed• Found objects – whatever students have in their possession or find in the classroom • Timer (optional) • Remote control, bell, or buzzer (optional) Directions1. Have students grab a nearby object to use as their show and tell piece. It can be anything from a pencil to a stuffed animal to a piece of clothing. 2. Students may volunteer to participate, or the teacher can select the running order. The game is played in multiple rounds. 3. One by one, students will present their object. For the first round, students will introduce themselves, present their object, and describe it in detail, as themselves. They can describe what the item is, what it looks like, how they obtained it, how long they’ve had it for, whether it is meaningful to them, and so on. Students must speak using full sentences (not just a list of adjectives). For example, if the object is a pencil, the student might say something like, “My name is Indra, and my item for show and tell is a pencil. It is about six inches long, red, and has a half-chewed eraser on the end. It used to be my sister’s pencil, but I stole it from her room and never gave it back. If you look closely, you can see that she chewed on it. I try not to touch that part of the pencil.” If you wish, you can give a time limit. If you give a time limit, it’s the responsibility of the student to keep talking for the full time. Once they reach the time limit, cut them off. If you don’t want a time limit, have students figure out a conclusion to the story. If you think your students will go overboard, give them a limit — for example, ten sentences or descriptors. 4. For the second round, students will present the same item they picked, only as a different character. This time, they will pretend that they are five years old and are sharing their item with their kindergarten class (or whatever the equivalent is where you live). If students aren’t sure of what to do, brainstorm as a class how a five-year-old might present their item. Have them think back to what they were like when they were in elementary school, or if they have a younger sibling or babysit, what those young people might do. Five-year-olds might be enthusiastic or shy, silly or charming, excited to share their thoughts, or eager to get their turn over with. They might wiggle in their chairs, stumble over their words at times (their brains sometimes go faster than their mouths), or go off on tangents. Going with the example above, a five-year-old might say that they got the pencil from their sister’s room, but then start talking about the sister or the sister’s room, and forget that they were talking about the pencil. Have students present their item in character as five-year-old children. If you want to get silly, have the rest of the class react in character to each person’s presentation. 5. If time permits (or if you want to do this warm-up multiple times throughout the week), have students present their items as different characters or with different prompts. Some ideas for characters may include: • An elderly person, sharing an item they’ve had for a long time • A sports commentator, giving a play-by-play description of the item • An ASMRtist (autonomous sensory meridian response — soothing whispers) • A celebrity “sharing” the item with their fans, while trying not to let slip that they’re actually endorsing the product 6. Here are two twists you can use as well, to keep students on their toes: • Channel Change #1: Create a cue to “change the channel” by using a sound effect such as a bell or buzzer, or by “clicking” a remote control, and have the student present their item using a different character (for example, start as a five-year-old child and then switch to a sports commentator). You can also simply clap your hands or say “pause” or “switch” if you don’t want to use any props yourself. • Channel Change #2: Use your channel change cue plus a student’s name to switch from student to student (for example, start with Indra and then switch to Jonas). For this twist, don’t give your students a running order; they are responsible for paying attention and being ready to go when they’re called.