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Advanced Level Warm-Ups & Games

Alphabet Conversation

Beads on a String

Bippity, Bippity, Bop!

Bomb and Shield

Bucket of Water

Circle Switch

Conveyor Belt

Do You Love Your Neighbor?

Flock Dance

Freeze and Justify

Gibberish Interpreter

Give and Take

Greetings

Group Count

Introductions and Applause

Lap, Lap, Clap, Snap!

The Machine

Mirror

Narrative, Emotion, Detail

One Word Story

Passed Around

Quick Change

Rainstorm

Slow Motion Emotion

Sound and Gesture

Two-Person Environment

Walking Blind

What Are You Doing?

Who's Telling the Truth?

Who's the Leader?

Whoosh!

Theatre Focus: Creativity, playwriting

English Language Focus: Scenario roleplay (making appointments, asking for directions, etc.), crafting debates/arguments

 

How to play:

Good for advanced students

  • ·      Have two Students take the stage

  • ·      Direct them to create a dialogue where the first word they speak for any line begins with the next letter of the alphabet from where they started, using all 26

  • The dialogue should make sense and move the action forward

Notes:

  • Students can start with ‘A’ or at an elected letter

  • Dialogue should finish with the letter just before the starting one

  • Sample dialogue:

    • S1: How do you feel about taking a cruise?

    • S2: I don’t know, you know I can’t swim.

    • S1: Just wear a life vest, you’ll be fine.

    • S2: Knowing me, I’d find a way overboard.

    • S1: Loosen up, we’ll have a blast!

    • Etc.

Theatre Focus: Building an ensemble, reacting to actions

English Language Focus: Confidence-builder

 

How to play:

  • Students stand in a circle around T who is in the middle

  • Level 1: T points to a S and says “bippity bippity bop” as fast as they can

  • S must say “bop” before T gets to the end of the phrase

  • Level 1: T points to a S and says “hippity hippity hop” as fast as they can

    • S must hop before T gets to the end of the phrase

  • Level 1: T points to a S and says “bop”

    • S must not say or do anything

  • Level 2: T points to a S and says “bowl of jelly”

    • S must wiggle around like they are jelly, while the S on either side links arms like a bowl around them

  • Level 3: T points to a S and says “charlie’s angels”

    • With the first S in the middle, Students on either side must pose like they are Charlie’s angels

  • Level 4: T points to a S and says “haunted house”

    • S must crouch down and say “come in, come in” in a scary voice, while Students on either side uses their arms to make a house over them

  • Level 5: T points to a S and says “Hawaii”

    • S must do a hula dance while Students on either side wave arms in the air like palm trees

  • Level 6: T points to a S and says “Godzilla”

    • S must stomp around and roar like they were Godzilla, while Students on either side shrink back in fear and scream

  • Switch it up:

    • Add elimination mode

      • If S says or does the wrong thing at any given time, they leave the circle

      • If Students mess up a three-person tableau, they all leave the circle

    • Mix and match the levels

Notes:

  • Always start with level 1 when playing for the first time

Theatre Focus: Setting the scene, creating the environment

English Language Focus: Action/emotion association

 

How to play:

  • Have two Students take the stage

  • Ask them to hold an imaginary bucket, one S on each side

  • T fills the bucket with water from an imaginary hose

  • Instruct students to carry the bucket from one side of the stage to another, dump it, and bring it back

  • Students should make apparent the differences in weight with their bodies and expressions

  • Switch it up:

    • Add other elements (freezing cold, bad smell, slippery floor, etc.)​

Theatre Focus: Teamwork, collaboration

English Language Focus: (mostly) Silent activity

 

How to play:

  • Have Students stand in two equal lines facing each other, no more than a few feet apart

    • Every S should be looking directly at another

    • If space is tight, make two sets of two lines   

  • Designate one line as A, the other as B

  • T will stand at the end of the lines and call out “A, B, shift” repeatedly

  • When you say “A”, Students in line A strike a pose

  • When you say “B”, Students in line B mirror the person’s pose they’re standing across from

  • When you say “shift”, line A shifts one person over in one direction and line B shifts one person over in the opposite direction

    • Students on the ends switch from line A to line B, or vice versa  

  • Repeat until Students are back where they started

  • Switch it up:

    • Start off slow, then gradually speed up so Students are scrambling to keep up (if students get confused, remind them they should end up facing the person two people down)

    • Add noises to the poses

    • Have Students make a repeating motion & sounds​

 

Theatre Focus: Focus, movement

English Language Focus: Silent activity

 

How to play:

  • Have Students clump together in a big group

  • Choose a leader from the front of the group

  • Have leader move in a slow stylized walk or movement while everyone else follows

  • If the group’s direction changes, whoever is currently in front becomes the new leader

  • Similar to Mirror, it should never be apparent who is leading

  • Allow several Students the chance to lead

Theatre Focus: Communication intentions

English Language Focus: Action/emotion connection

 

How to play:

  • First, introduce Students to ‘Gibberish’ – speaking with silly sounds that don’t form words but that still communicate an intention and meaning

  • Warm up with a call and response – teacher says a phrase in gibberish and the Students repeat it, trying to use gestures and show different emotions & styles

  • Have two Students take the stage – one to speak in gibberish, the other to translate the gibberish into English

  • Give the student speaking gibberish a specific situation to talk about (ex: explaining to parents why the house is on fire)

  • The gibberish student should only speak one line at a time, and use as many actions as possible

  • The interpreter will mimic the actions and translate the phrases

Notes:

  • Encourage gibberish student to be specific with their intentions/actions

  • Encourage interpreter to think carefully about making the gibberish make sense

Theatre Focus: Ice-breaker,

English Language Focus: greetings (formal, informal, pop culture, etc.), playing with language

 

How to play:

  • Have Students walk around greeting one another

  • Allow Students to do this however they feel comfortable, especially if they’ve never worked together before

  • Next, ask Students to greet each other in specific ways

Notes:

  • Scenarios for how Students can greet one another include:

  • Someone you don’t trust

  • A long lost friend

  • Someone with really bad breath

  • Someone you have a crush on/are in love with

  • Etc.

Theatre Focus: Warm up, introduction to being onstage

English Language Focus: Introducing yourself, likes/dislikes, etc.

 

How to play:

  • One by one, each student will walk through a door and ‘enter’ the stage

  • Door can be physical or imaginary

  • Once onstage, the student will introduce themselves, using “Hi, my name is…,” then tell the audience one interesting, personal thing

  • More can be added to the introduction, but avoid making it too long or complicated

  • After each introduction, ‘audience’ will applaud enthusiastically, while the student remains onstage to receive the applause

  • Once the applause is finished, student will exit the stage, and another will take their place

Notes:

  • Do not coach the students on the content of their introductions, but feel free to guide them as they wait for and wait out the applause

  • Avoid letting students leave the stage before they’ve had the time to acknowledge the applause

Theatre Focus: Collaboration

English Language Focus: Silent activity

 

How to play:

  • Have one student begin with a noise and simple, repeatable gesture

  • Once S1 has a rhythm going, have another student who has an idea for a connecting sound & gesture join in

  • Each student will join in with a new noise & gesture that connects to the others in some way, until all Students are a part of the machine

  • Switch it up:

    • Decide on the type of machine first, have Students create it together simultaneously

Notes:

  • Allow Students the space for reflection.  Think about the following questions:

    • What was the machine?

    • What was your part in the making of it?

    • How could you make the machine better

    • How hard was it to keep your concentration with the machine was being created?

Theatre Focus: Storytelling, playwriting

English Language Focus: Active verbs, ‘to be’ verbs, descriptive adjectives

 

How to play:

  • Have a student take the stage and begin telling a story

  • Throughout the story, hold up a card with either ‘N’, ‘E’, or ‘D’ on it

  • Holding up the ‘N’ means the student must add more narration or action to the story; holding up the ‘E’ means the student must add more emotion to the story; holding up the ‘D’ means the student must add    more detail to the story (about the environment, smells, sounds, etc.)

  • Let multiple Students practice their storytelling

  • Switch it up:

    • Have three Students be in charge of the cards and identify when they’re needed

    • Use the cards for other activities!

Theatre Focus: Comfort, trust

English Language Focus: Silent activity

 

How to play:

  • Arrange Students into close circles

  • 6-8 Students per circle, larger classes use more than one

  • Have S1 go into the middle with arms crossed over their chest

  • When ready, S1 can rock forward, back or side to side and be gently ‘passed’ around the circle

  • Make sure the Students creating the circle are standing close, with a balanced stance, so S1 can be passed slowly and safely

Notes:

  • Encourage each student to go as the goal is to foster involvement in the group and responsibility for one another

  • Allow Students the space for reflection:

    • What was it like having to rely on someone else?
    • What was it like being responsible for someone else?

Theatre Focus: Focus

English Language Focus: Classroom management

 

How to play:

Note: this game requires no speaking

  • Goal is to create a ‘rainstorm’ using only the Students’ bodies

  • Have Students sit in a circle on the floor

  • Teacher starts, then student to their right, then the person to their right until a wave is created around the circle

    • Once the wave reaches back to teacher, start different activity,c reating 2nd wave

  • Instruct Students to copy movements of the person to their left carefully, and not to switch until that person switches

    • Encourage Students to focus on person to their left, not the leader

  • Activity 1: rub hands together (wind)

  • Activity 2: tap a finger on the palm of your hand (first raindrops)

  • Activity 3: tap all 4 fingers (more rain)

  • Activity 4: clapping (hard rain)

  • Activity 5: slapping thighs or floor (thunder)

  • After crescendo, repeat activities in reverse to calm the storm until you are all rubbing your hands together

  • Quietly stop (there should be absolute silence)

Theatre Focus: Focus

English Language Focus: Uninhibited engagement

 

How to play:

  • Have Students stand in a circle

  • Tell Students you will start with a simple sound and gesture that you will pass to the person on your right, who will pass it on, and so forth around the circle

  • Students should be prepared to receive the sound/gesture and pass it on immediately

    • Start small

  • Continue until Students are responding automatically

  • Switch it up:

    • Start with a small sound/gesture and have Students make it bigger as it goes around the circle
    • Allow Students to alter the sound/gesture, trying to one-up each other
    • Send one sound/gesture one way, and another sound/gesture the other way

Theatre Focus: Comfort with others, trust

English Language Focus: Silent activity

 

How to play:

Note: this is a silent activity

  • Put Students into pairs (S1 & S2)

  • Instruct S1 to close their eyes, while S2 leads them around the room, slowly

  • Instruct S2 to try and make their partner feel as safe as possible by figuring out what’s best for their partner: holding one or two hands, an arm around their shoulder, etc.

  • After a few minutes switch, letting S1 lead while S2 closes their eyes

Notes:

  • Allow Students the space for reflection.  Think about the following questions:

    • How did you make your partner feel safe?

    • What did your partner do that allowed you to feel safe?

Theatre Focus: Telling believable stories

English Language Focus: Verb tense practice

 

How to play:

  • Divide Students into groups of three or four

  • Give groups a topic such as ‘your most embarrassing moment’ or ‘your favorite holiday memory’

  • Have Students share their personal stories on this topic within their groups

  • Instruct groups to choose one of the stories to tell

  • Each student in the group must learn it and make it their own

  • Have each student tell the story to the class while the class tries to guess who it really belongs to

Theatre Focus: Collaboration, focus

English Language Focus:

 

How to play:

  • Have Students stand in a circle

  • S1 starts by waving both hands at their neighbor and saying ‘whoosh!’

  • S2 passes the same sound and gesture to their neighbor, and so on, all the way around the circle

  • Switch it up:

    • Four other sounds and gestures can be used to switch up the action:

      • Student holds up both hands to stop the motion and says ‘whoa!’; the direction of the whoosh changes

      • Student says ‘zap’ and zaps the whoosh to someone across the circle; the student who receives the woosh either continues it around the circle or zaps it to someone else

        • To ‘zap’, point with both of your hands clapped together

        • A ‘whoa!’ after a zap, returns the whoosh to the zapper

      • Student says ‘grooooooovelicious’ and the whole group squats down and up in a groovy way, joining in on the sound

      • Student who started it sets the whoosh in motion again

      • A ‘freakout!’ is started when a student waves both hands in the air

        • Everyone starts screaming and moves into center of circle

        • When freakout is finished a new circle is formed

        • The student who started it sets the whoosh in motion again

    • Create other sounds and gestures

    • Use elimination mode, where if a student messes up they’re out, until only two people are left

Theatre Focus: Creativity, playwriting

English Language Focus: Writing organization

 

How to play:

  • Have two Students stand on opposite sides of the stage, one is ‘A’, the other is ‘B’

  • Give them five seconds to think of a random phrase, then ask them to share – ‘A’ first, ‘B’ second

  • These two sentences will become the first and final lines of a story

  • One by one, have Students go on stage and fill in the space between A and B, coming up with sentences that complete the middle of the story (in order)

  • After it is completed, have Students repeat the story

Notes:

  • Feel free to record/write down the story as they invent it

  • Challenge is to have the story make as much sense as possible

  • Most appropriate for older Students

Theatre Focus: Managing objectives in a scene

English Language Focus: Silent activity

 

How to play:

  • Have Students stand in a circle

  • Direct them to silently choose two other Students in the circle and label them: S1 as the ‘bomb’, S2 as the ‘shield’

  • Make sure Students keep this information to themselves

  • When ‘teacher’ says go, Students are to move around the room, making sure to keep their ‘shield’ between themselves and the ‘bomb’

  • Advise Students to continue moving, no stopping

  • After a time, yell ‘switch!’; the ‘bomb’ becomes the shield and the ‘shield’ becomes the bomb

  • When finished, return to the circle and have Students share who they picked as their ‘bomb’ and ‘shield’

  • Switch it up:

    • Vary the objective (enemy and protector, etc.)

Theatre Focus: Focus, collaboration, body language

English Language Focus: Silent activity

 

How to play:

  • Have Students form circle with someone in the middle

  • Goal of the game is for two Students forming the circle to silently cue one another and switch places without attracting the attention of the student in the middle

  • Goal of the student in the middle is to take an open spot before the Students swapping places get there

  • Whoever is left without a spot stays in the middle

Notes:

  • Students must move inside the circle, not outside

  • More than 2 students can switch at ant given time

  • Have Students reflect on which type(s) of visual communication worked best for them

Theatre Focus: Focus

English Language Focus: Vocabulary Practice

 

How to play:

  • Put chairs into a circle, one less chair than the number of Students participating

  • Have S1 stand in the middle and the rest seated

  • Then, S1 approaches someone sitting in the circle and asks: “Do you love your neighbor?”

  • If that person answers “Yes, I love my neighbor”, the two Students sitting on either side try and switch seats before S1 can sit in one of their chairs

  • But, if that person answers “No”, they must clarify with: “But, I love everyone who… (for example: ‘has brown eyes’).  Everyone with brown eyes must find a new chair

Theatre Focus: Creativity, spontaneity

English Language Focus: Uninhibited personal expression in English

 

How to play:

  • Designate a leader

    • Can be teacher for ease

  • Have Students walk around the space, constantly changing the shapes of their bodies and exploring unusual poses

  • When the leader yells ‘freeze!’ all Students remain frozen in their current poses

  • The leader will call out a name and ask the student to ‘justify’ their pose

  • After leader asks 3-4 Students, unfreeze and continue

  • Repeat

Notes:

  • Teacher can be the leader for ease

  • Music (instrumental) can be used to stimulate imagination

  • Justify means imagining a situation in which their pose makes sense

    • Ex: a student with their arms above their head may be ‘changing a lightbulb’

Theatre Focus: Focus

English Language Focus: Numbers

 

How to play:

Note: this game is desired to teach focus, make sure Students take their time

  • Students stand in a circle, looking at the floor

  • Any student can start by saying “one”

  • Another student will continue by saying “two”, and yet another with “three”, until you reach the desired number

  • However, if any two Students say a number at the same time, the game begins again at “one”

Theatre Focus: Giving and taking focus, sharing, improvisation

English Language Focus: Classroom dynamics

 

How to play:

  • Divide the class into two groups

  • Have the first group ‘take the stage’ and form a semi-circle

  • Explain that, after you say ‘action’, only one person (S1) can move – take focus – at a time.  Everyone else must freeze – give focus

  • When another student (S2) takes focus, the S1 must freeze.  Then, S2 must continue to move until someone else begins to take

  • When all Students have had a chance to take, switch groups

  • Switch it up:

    • Add a sound component for advanced Students

Notes:

  • The taking should be random

  • There should be no sound

  • There should be no overlapping taking

  • Tell Students that if you feel anyone is taking disproportionately more, or that too much overlapping is happening you will say ‘thank you’, the group’s cue to sit down

  • Allow Students the space for reflection.  Think about the following questions:

    • Was it hard, waiting your turn to take?

    • How are giving and taking focus useful when rehearsing scenes?

    • What were the necessary skills needed to be successful as a group

Theatre Focus: Building an ensemble

English Language Focus: Vocabulary classifications (animals, colors, numbers, etc.)

 

How to play:

Due to the more simplistic nature of this activity, it is best used with younger learners

  • Have Students sit on the floor in a big circle

  • Go around the circle and have Students give their names

  • Show Students the pattern/rhythm several times, until they are comfortable with it

    • Pat your legs with your palms twice

    • Then, clap once

    • Next, snap both hands

    • Repeat

  • To begin the game, the leader (S1) starts the action, but instead of saying ‘snap’, they say the name of a person (S2)

  • S2 must then call out another student, until

  • Switch it up:

  • Add an elimination mode

    • If a student breaks the rhythm they are out, and the person to their right restarts the game

  • Speed up the rhythm

Notes:

  • Goal is to never break rhythm; let students practice until they get the hang of it

Theatre Focus: Focus, communication, movement

English Language Focus: Silent activity

 

How to play:

  • Have Students pair up and pick an A and B

  • Tell A’s that they’re looking in the mirror

  • Instruct them to move very slowly and have B’s mirror their movements

  • After a minute or two, have Students switch

  • Switch it up:

    • Have Students pretend they are talking to themselves in the mirror (no movement)

Notes:

  • Ideally, an observer should not be able to tell who is leading and who is following

  • Encourage them to mirror facial expressions as well

  • Remind them to go slow

Theatre Focus: Teamwork, focus

English Language Focus: To create a coherent story, one word at a time

 

How to play:

  • Have Students sit in a circle

  • Have a student start by saying a word that begins a story

  • Next, the student to their left says another word, continuing that story

  • Continue around the circle, one student – and word – at a time

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Theatre Focus: Focus, attention to detail

English Language Focus: Clothing and appearance

 

How to play:

  • Have Students sit in a circle and choose a ‘changer’

  • Allow Students to study the changer’s appearance for 3-5 seconds

  • Ask the changer to leave the room/go out of sight and change 3 things about their appearance (pull a sock down, remove earrings, unbutton a button, etc.)

  • When the changer returns, have Students figure out what 3 things changed

  • Play multiple rounds

Theatre Focus: Action/emotion connection

English Language Focus: States of being/to be verbs (to be happy, to be sad, etc.)

 

How to play:

  • Place slips of paper with different emotions written on them in a large bowl

  • Have three Students take the stage

  • Ask S1 to draw an emotion from the bowl, and show it to the other two

  • As the teacher counts down from 10 to 1, Students are to gradually adopt the emotion in their faces and bodies

  • Have the class guess which emotion they chose

    • How could they tell?

  • Possible emotions include being angry, sad, embarrassed, amiable, frustrated, eager, etc.

heatre Focus: Creating the environment, setting the stage

English Language Focus: Action/emotion association

 

How to play:

  • In a circle, give Students 30 seconds to think of a specific environment (classroom, soccer game, etc.)

  • Choose a student (S1) to begin by stepping into the circle and beginning to act within their created environment (ex: sitting and wiping your brow in a hot desert)

  • Student (S2) who was standing to their left, once they become aware of the environment, joins in

  • S2 then says one line to S1, and S1 responds

  • Repeat in pairs going around the circle

Theatre Focus: Spontaneity, creativity

English Language Focus: Vocabulary practice

 

How to play:

  • Put Students into groups of 8: 2 in front, 6 in back, facing the audience

  • Have S1 in the front start an ‘activity’ (changing a light bulb, brushing teeth)

  • S2 asks ‘what are you doing?’

  • While continuing the same action, S1 says something like ‘washing my car’

  • S2 immediately starts washing their car, while S1 moves to the back line and a new student (S3) moves forward

  • S3 becomes the asker and S2 must respond before moving to the back line

  • Game continues in this way until all Students are eliminated except one

    • Students are eliminated if they hesitate, freeze up or stop moving/change action while they say what they are doing

  • Then, bring up the next 8 students and repeat

Theatre Focus: Focus, attention to detail

English Language Focus: Silent Activity

 

How to play:

  • Have one Students leave the room, while the others stand in a circle and choose a secret leader

  • The leader begins a repetitive motion that the others follow, changing it up every now and then

  • Student from outside will return and try and guess who the leader is

  • Student only gets three guesses before it is someone else’s turn

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