Hello Albacete teachers and welcome to the CLAP blog of activities from the January course. Included here are all the activities from Laura's course and Graeme's course so if you see an activity that you do not recognise it's because the other group did the activity. We hope you enjoyed the course and found the activites useful and more importantly we hope you had fun!
all the best for the future
Graeme and Laura
Directors CLAP
Wednesday 23 January 2008
ACTIVITIES
Name with Action
Players stand in a circle. One player says his/her name and at the same time invents a matching action or movement. The player to the left then repeats the name and action and adds his/her own name and action. Then the next player does exactly the same, including the names and actions of the people before and so on around the circle. If any player makes a mistake, the action returns to the first player.
I feel … when…
Elicit all the adjectives (feeling words) from the students and write them on the blackboard. Students take it in turns to make sentences for example: “I feel... embarrassed when… I speak English in front of a lot of people.”
When all the adjectives are finished put the class into groups and give them 5 adjectives each on paper taken from the blackboard. The teams must then mime each adjective with the rest of the class guessing which feeling it is.
Key words.
Choose some words from a text or a story. Each word is given an action and a sentence. Write the words on the board and train the students to say and do the relative action when they hear the word. When all of them know what they have to do, tell them the story of read the text, pausing in the key-words. E.g. “Mount Everest, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White….
“What are you doing?”
Players stand in a circle with enough room to move their elbows. Player One steps forward and begins miming an activity, any activity such as shearing a sheep. Player Two, to the right asks player One, ‘What are you doing?’ Player One is to answer without hesitating with the first action which comes to mind OTHER than the one they are doing i.e. tying my shoelaces. Player Two then begins doing the thing announced by player One and is asked by player three ‘What are you doing?’
Comment: Teacher can pre-teach simple actions with flashcards/drawings and use these to keep the game fluid. Alternatively compile the actions beforehand form the kids suggestions.
Variation 1
Get players to speed up and start to eliminate if they hesitate, repeat or make a mistake.
Shapes
This exercise calls for instant reaction from the entire group to an order from the tutor telling them to form a shape. They must act as one unit, but nobody should speak, although members of the group may physically guide others to complete the required shape quickly. The tutor only gives the order once so that the group must listen and then move swiftly and silently into the shape. As soon as one shape is completed, the tutor gives the order for the next shape and so on. Speed, discipline and economy of movement are required.
Some examples are:
Square, equals sign, multiplication sign, question mark, exclamation mark, division sign, circle, the letter Z, the number 4, triangle, straight line.
Clumps
When the leader calls out a number, everyone must get in a group of the same size as the number.
Variation
Body Part Clumps. Same as above except leader shouts out number and a body part e.g. three noses, the players form groups of three and touch their noses together.
All Change. “All those wearing…”
Simple game where everyone is seated in a circle and the leader stands in the middle. When the leader says "all those wearing blue change" everyone wearing the colour blue must change seats; the leader will also try to find a seat so that one person will be left without a seat standing in the middle. Start the game focused on clothing e.g. all those wearing jumpers change, then combine items of clothing with colours, all those with blue bras etc.
Alternatives: all those with two sisters, all those with a dog, all those who like pizza, all those who have been to Benidorm.
Gift
Preparation:
Using the blackboard, get your group to make an exhaustive list of gifts received or given. To help, ask them to think of gift giving occasions. When do people give and receive? Valentine, birthday, anniversary, wedding, Christmas, etc. Get individuals to make their own lists, say of five things. Make it interesting the five best ever gifts you have been given. The five things you would give your worst enemy, the five biggest gifts they’ve been given and the five smallest gifts they have given etc what has given most/least happiness. When they have finished with their own lists compile a master list on the board.
Organise the group in a circle or horseshoe with chairs. Explain that you want each person to imagine a gift and one by one to enter the centre of the circle or the open end of the horseshoe and collect their gift. They should pick it up and return with it to their seat and in doing so describe to the rest of the group the weight and size of what they have got. When they get to their seat they may interact with their gift.
The object of the game is for the rest of the group to identify the gift through the mime. Stress that players should not immediately interact with their gift. I.e. if the gift is a fishing rod they should take it to their seat and assemble it before launching a cast.
Options: Allow the mime to take place in silence and at the end ask the question “what is it?” Another is asking controlled and repetitive questions during the mime such as, is it heavy? What shape is it? Is it big or small? Is it slippery? Is it alive? Etc. Another alternative is to allow people to volunteer answers during the mime but this can be chaotic and not give the performer the opportunity to finish what they have thought of.
Where are we, where have we been and where are we going?
Two players present a scene with dialogue where they demonstrate to the rest of the group 1) where they are, 2) where they’ve been and 3) where they are going without actually saying it directly. For example: two people ordering beers (they are in a bar) talk with excitement about the possible team selection available and what the weather will be like (they are going to a football match) and moan about the inflexibility of their boss regarding flexi-time (they’ve just come from work).
Who’s The Leader.
Leader of the orchestra or The Sports master.
In a circle or at the board compile a list of musical instruments or sports along with a mime of how to play them on the spot.
Get the players to form a circle. Practise the mimes. Explain that one player will be asked to be the leader. They lead the orchestra by miming playing an instrument and all the others follow suit. Demonstrate how this works taking the group through simple changes of instrument or sport until everyone has the idea. Then explain that one person will be asked to leave the room while a leader is appointed. The player leaves, a leader is appointed and a rhythm is established with changes of the instrument/sport. The player outside is invited back in to stand in the centre of the circle. They have three attempts to identify the leader.
Comment: This activity encourages quick responses and the players working together as a team.
Party Game
Similar to Encounters players are given an identity which may be an occupation or a personality. One player is chosen to be the host of a party. Guests arrive and should show who they are without saying it directly. The host should try to guess the identity of his/her guests.
Name Six
Players stand in a circle passing around a rolled newspaper. One player is in the centre with his/her eyes closed. When the player in the centre shouts stop, the player holding the newspaper must name six items in the category selected by player one before the newspaper makes a complete circle. If the player is successful then he/she moves into the centre and selects the next category. Categories can be for example, six breeds of dogs, six types of flowers, vegetables, and films with one-word titles.
Comment: Players have to think quickly and focus on the task of naming the items. It's interesting to notice that the players tend to take more interest in the moving of the newspaper and the countdown.
Name with a feeling.
Work through on the board a number of standard adjectives to describe feelings and teach the formula, also use the words that the students know. Ask them individually how they feel.
E.g. Happy, sad, cold, hot, hungry, angry, tired, bored, interested, optimistic, pleased, sporty, rich, poor,
Hi, I’m … and I’m wild!
Have each person in the circle introduce themselves with a walk appropriate to the feeling they use by walking into the circle. Then everyone should walk into the circle and use the third person, He’s … and he’s wild!
Family Portraits
Optional preparation: have players write five descriptive adjectives about other people in the group. Encourage long legged, short-sighted, hungry, rich, etc. Collect descriptions and request more as you compile a list on the board. Then explain that you are going to use these descriptions in Family Portraits. Organise the players into groups of three or four. Ask one group to create a "family portrait" based on a type of family indicated by the leader. After three seconds the players freeze in their portrait. Take a picture or pretend to. Quickly move on to the next group and form another portrait. After repeating several times get the whole group to call out the family they’d like to see represented.
The Stupid Family. The Enormous Buttocks Family. The Angry Family. The Elephant Family.
Mirrors
Players stand in pairs face to face and decide who will be player one and who will be player two. Player one is the leader and begins to move slowly, player two is the reflection and must try to mirror player ones movements. After a few minutes the roles are changed. Players should work towards the changes being impossible to see and therefore who is leading and who is following. This activity demands that the players see the "whole" of the other player, to concentrate and to work together. Another option is to state a place where the action takes place i.e. on the farm, in the changing rooms, at the hairdressers.
Vocal Mirror
In pairs the players perform the mirror exercise i.e. one player being the reflection of the other. The players then take the activity one step further by including vocal reflection by speaking at the same time and saying the same thing.
Comment: This activity makes the players really work together. They should start slowly and gradually try to increase the pace.
Option: Ask them to choreograph perfect simultaneous speech. Let them practice before leaving the room and coming back in to see if you can tell who the leader is and who is the mirror.
Interview Twins
Three players create an interview scene. One player is the interviewer the other two the guest.
The guest must answer the interviewer's questions at the same time saying the same thing, trying to develop a "twin connection".
The group may suggest a well-known character to be interviewed and another option is to have three or four or the whole group as the guest.
Who am I?
Prepare ‘Post-its’ with the names of famous characters, fictional, historical or real. Place a ‘Post-it’ on the forehead of each player telling them that they have now acquired a new name and identity and that they have to find out who they are. When all players have been given their new identity they should walk around meeting other famous characters. To find out who they are players can ask each other questions that can only be answered ‘yes’ or ‘no’. When the answer is yes they may continue to ask questions of the same person, if the answer is no they must allow the other person to ask a question or search for another character to help them.
Typical questions can be pre-taught: Am I alive? Am I a woman? Do I have children? Am I real? Can I speak French? Etc.
Variation 1
Have your group prepare the famous characters by writing the living person they would most like to be, the person in history they most admire/dislike their favourite fictional character. Compile a list on the board or simply select your ‘Post-it’ characters from their lists.
True and false chairs
The teacher prepare some sentences (some of them true and some of them false). Two chairs in the front of the class (the true and the false chairs). The class is divided in two teams and put in two lines. When the teacher read one sentence, one player from each team must run and sit down choosing the true of false chair. The player who sits in the right chair is awarded with a point.
Digits
Players stay in the same tight circle. With eyes closed. One player starts counting ONE, another player continues TWO, etc… until the group get 30. Nobody knows who is speaking, so if two players say the same number at a time, they have to start counting again.
Introduce Gibberish
Gibberish is a made-up language. Gibberish can sound like other languages (i.e. Chinese or French gibberish) but its words have no actual meaning. The meaning of gibberish comes from the intonation and body language of the speaker.
Translate Gibberish
This is best played with an odd number of players. Everyone in a circle. The first player gives a gibberish word to her right neighbour, who translates the word. The next player provides the next gibberish word, and so on.
Variations
The receiver can provide both the translation, and a new gibberish word.
You may want to add the origin of the language along with the translation.
Notes
Any gibberish word might be translated as ’banana’ of course, but that is not the idea of the exercise. For your translation, use the first thing that comes to mind. You may be inspired by the whole sound of the word (it might sound like something ’known’), or parts of the word (only the vowels, or only the consonants), or by the intonation of the ’giver’, or even by her expression or body language.
Try gibberish in different ’languages’ or ’accents’.
Gibberish Expert
One player is an expert on a subject, often provided by the audience. Furthermore, he’s from a foreign country (perhaps also supplied by the audience). The expert gives a lecture in Gibberish C and a second player translates.
Variations
Have the expert tell a story or recite a poem, instead of giving a lecture.
Hello (warm-up)
Players mill about the room. At some point the workshop leader asks them all to greet each other by shaking hands. Greet one person and move on, greet another and so on. This continues for a while. Then endow each of the greetings with an element. For example, "greet each other like you are long lost friends". You can continue to endow the greetings with elements like: ex-lovers, someone you have a crush on, someone you are afraid of, someone you love, a smelly person, etc. The greetings can be embellished with emotions like: greet everyone angrily, greet everyone happily, greet everyone like you have a secret, greet everyone like you are a Scottish Chieftain, etc. Have fun with it, and keep the greetings short and superficial.
A Walk In The Park
Compile a list of all known greetings and put them into context. Ask the group to choose their preferred form of greeting and to walk around the park meeting and greeting. Next step is to ask the group to repeat the exercise, only this time in addition to the greeting the person who initiates the conversation must pay a compliment to the person he/she meets. The person being complimented should only reply ‘thank you’ and walk on.
Variations 1
Include handshakes or kisses or personalised physical greetings. Examples: “I like you eyes.” “I like your ears.” Divide the room into zones (morning, afternoon, evening – for example) and oblige them to use the appropriate greetings.
Zip, Zap, Zoom (warm-up)
This is another motion around the circle warm-up. In this warm-up one of the players points to another player to one side of them and says 'zip'. That player turns to the next player in the circle, points to them and says 'zip'. Thus the 'zip' zips around the circle in one direction. At any time a receiving player can say 'zap' to the person pointing at them. When they do the player that said 'zip' and was pointing at them must change direction of the pointing. This means that they must quickly turn around, point and say 'zip to the person that just pointed at them. Now the 'zip' can zip around the circle, but changing direction every time there is a 'zap'. Lastly the person that receives the 'zip' may elect to yell 'zoom' and point at someone anywhere in the circle. That player then restarts the 'zip' going in the direction of their choice. The group must really pay attention for this to work.
People Knot
Players stand in a circle, shoulder to shoulder. Placing their hands into the centre each player takes hold of the hands of the other players. It is important that players understand that they should not join hands with the player immediately beside them or join both hands with only one player. Without letting go of the hands they hold, players attempt to untie the human knot. They should speak to each other to unravel with up and down and round and under and over.
Have several attempts.
Comment: This is a fun, non-competitive exercise using co-operation and supportive physical contact. The act of touching loosens people’s inhibitions.
“This is a book … a what?… a book … a what? … a book … Oh a book!”
Concentration game that is more difficult to explain than to play. Everyone in a circle.
Teach this dialogue:
Person A: “This is a Book.”
Person B: “A What?”
A: “A Book.”
B: “A What?”
A: “A Book.”
B: “Ohh! A Book?”
Make sure that the group establishes a steady rhythm with this dialogue. Then the first person uses an actual book. After the line “Ohh! A Book?” player A passes the book to player B who then turns to player C on their other side and they repeat the dialogue. Practice around the circle once or twice and then introduce new objects. Put two objects in the circle one after the other to make it more difficult until every body is giving and receiving objects at the same time. This is great for building concentration.
What’s yours like?
One person is elected to leave the group or room for a 30 seconds while the group decides on an object that they each may possibly have or share in common. Then the person comes back to the group and asks each person one-by-one the question “what’s yours like?” to which they answer with a simple descriptive adjective or descriptive phrase. For example the group decides on the topic such as ”shoes” for which a reply to the question “what’s yours like?” might be “tied” or “brown” or “old” or even something like “need’s replacing”.
Power Station
Two teams of up to ten players line up in front of each other. The quiz leader and a helper stand at either end of the two teams. The quiz leader decides on the subject or topic based on categories, say, types of fruit and then says a name. The name could be true or false. The team that first identifies that a given name does (or does not – depending on how you play it) belong to the category must all join hands , raise their arms and shout ‘ELECTRIC!’. To win the point it is not enough for just one person to get the answer right, it must involve the whole team.
Directors Cut
In this activity we take a specific dialogue from a book or play and write a simple scene between 2/3 participants (in our case Romeo and Juliet) creating a very simple dialogue – the class reads the parts all together then they are split into 2 groups and they repeat etc until they get to know the text eventually the director chooses the actors and film crew who will perform the scene.
Waiting room
Four chairs in a row – a man walks in and complains(or shows symptoms of an illness).Another person comes in and sits beside him,making conversation and man asks the new person what he’s in for.The man says “i have a cough” – they both start coughing as if the first man has caught it. The next person comes in and the 2 people ask him what he’s in for he says he has a rash – they all start itching and scratching. Continue with other illnesses. When everyone is sat down they all need a reason to leave and not see the doctor.
Superheroes
Your planet is under threat from evil monsters. They all have special powers. Your group must defend the planet earth. You are being taken to a special laboratory where you will be given any special powers you want. You must decide on super powers that complement each other in the group and how you can protect each other. Each person must choose a superhero name with the same letter as your name eg. Petroleum pete, a special power, a special pose, and a superhéro noise. After 20 minutes show everyone your team powers.
Advert
Take a prop (in this case a sheet or blanket) any prop -in groups people perform an avertisement to show their product – it can be anything – use your imagination. To introduce this activity in pairs people design a new product and produce a billboard with a slogan which they introduce to the group the do the performance with the prop.
SONGS
Row, Row, Row Your Boat (A Round or An Echo Song)
Row, row, row your boat
Gently down the stream,
Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily,
Life is but a dream.
Mr. Moon
Mr. Moon Mr. Moon
You’re up to soon
The sun is still in the sky
Go back to bed and cover up your head
And wait for the sun to go by!
Hokey Cokey
You put your left arm in
You put your left arm out
In, out, in out
And shake it all about
You do the Hokey Cokey
And turn around
That’s what is all about
Oh,,Hokey Cokey (x 3)
Knees bent, arms stretched, ra, ra, ra...
You put your right arm,
You put your left leg, etc.
Boogie woogie washer woman
Down in the jungle where nobody goes
There’s a boogie woogie washer woman washing her clothes
With a rub-a-dub here and a rub-a-dub there
A boogie woogie washer woman washing her hair
I said.. a boogie a boogie a boogie yeah!
A boogie a boogie a boogie yeah!
A boogie woogie washer woman washing her hair!
Today’s Monday
Today’s monday , today’s monday
Monday’s washing day
Is everybody happy?
You bet your life we are.
Tuesday’s soup
Wednesday’s roast beef
Thursday’s shepherds pie
Fridays’s fish
Saturday’s payday
Today’s sunday today’s sunday
Sunday’s church (slowly)
Repeat rest of the days very fast
Is everybody happy?
(slow and sad)- you bet your life we are
Players stand in a circle. One player says his/her name and at the same time invents a matching action or movement. The player to the left then repeats the name and action and adds his/her own name and action. Then the next player does exactly the same, including the names and actions of the people before and so on around the circle. If any player makes a mistake, the action returns to the first player.
I feel … when…
Elicit all the adjectives (feeling words) from the students and write them on the blackboard. Students take it in turns to make sentences for example: “I feel... embarrassed when… I speak English in front of a lot of people.”
When all the adjectives are finished put the class into groups and give them 5 adjectives each on paper taken from the blackboard. The teams must then mime each adjective with the rest of the class guessing which feeling it is.
Key words.
Choose some words from a text or a story. Each word is given an action and a sentence. Write the words on the board and train the students to say and do the relative action when they hear the word. When all of them know what they have to do, tell them the story of read the text, pausing in the key-words. E.g. “Mount Everest, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White….
“What are you doing?”
Players stand in a circle with enough room to move their elbows. Player One steps forward and begins miming an activity, any activity such as shearing a sheep. Player Two, to the right asks player One, ‘What are you doing?’ Player One is to answer without hesitating with the first action which comes to mind OTHER than the one they are doing i.e. tying my shoelaces. Player Two then begins doing the thing announced by player One and is asked by player three ‘What are you doing?’
Comment: Teacher can pre-teach simple actions with flashcards/drawings and use these to keep the game fluid. Alternatively compile the actions beforehand form the kids suggestions.
Variation 1
Get players to speed up and start to eliminate if they hesitate, repeat or make a mistake.
Shapes
This exercise calls for instant reaction from the entire group to an order from the tutor telling them to form a shape. They must act as one unit, but nobody should speak, although members of the group may physically guide others to complete the required shape quickly. The tutor only gives the order once so that the group must listen and then move swiftly and silently into the shape. As soon as one shape is completed, the tutor gives the order for the next shape and so on. Speed, discipline and economy of movement are required.
Some examples are:
Square, equals sign, multiplication sign, question mark, exclamation mark, division sign, circle, the letter Z, the number 4, triangle, straight line.
Clumps
When the leader calls out a number, everyone must get in a group of the same size as the number.
Variation
Body Part Clumps. Same as above except leader shouts out number and a body part e.g. three noses, the players form groups of three and touch their noses together.
All Change. “All those wearing…”
Simple game where everyone is seated in a circle and the leader stands in the middle. When the leader says "all those wearing blue change" everyone wearing the colour blue must change seats; the leader will also try to find a seat so that one person will be left without a seat standing in the middle. Start the game focused on clothing e.g. all those wearing jumpers change, then combine items of clothing with colours, all those with blue bras etc.
Alternatives: all those with two sisters, all those with a dog, all those who like pizza, all those who have been to Benidorm.
Gift
Preparation:
Using the blackboard, get your group to make an exhaustive list of gifts received or given. To help, ask them to think of gift giving occasions. When do people give and receive? Valentine, birthday, anniversary, wedding, Christmas, etc. Get individuals to make their own lists, say of five things. Make it interesting the five best ever gifts you have been given. The five things you would give your worst enemy, the five biggest gifts they’ve been given and the five smallest gifts they have given etc what has given most/least happiness. When they have finished with their own lists compile a master list on the board.
Organise the group in a circle or horseshoe with chairs. Explain that you want each person to imagine a gift and one by one to enter the centre of the circle or the open end of the horseshoe and collect their gift. They should pick it up and return with it to their seat and in doing so describe to the rest of the group the weight and size of what they have got. When they get to their seat they may interact with their gift.
The object of the game is for the rest of the group to identify the gift through the mime. Stress that players should not immediately interact with their gift. I.e. if the gift is a fishing rod they should take it to their seat and assemble it before launching a cast.
Options: Allow the mime to take place in silence and at the end ask the question “what is it?” Another is asking controlled and repetitive questions during the mime such as, is it heavy? What shape is it? Is it big or small? Is it slippery? Is it alive? Etc. Another alternative is to allow people to volunteer answers during the mime but this can be chaotic and not give the performer the opportunity to finish what they have thought of.
Where are we, where have we been and where are we going?
Two players present a scene with dialogue where they demonstrate to the rest of the group 1) where they are, 2) where they’ve been and 3) where they are going without actually saying it directly. For example: two people ordering beers (they are in a bar) talk with excitement about the possible team selection available and what the weather will be like (they are going to a football match) and moan about the inflexibility of their boss regarding flexi-time (they’ve just come from work).
Who’s The Leader.
Leader of the orchestra or The Sports master.
In a circle or at the board compile a list of musical instruments or sports along with a mime of how to play them on the spot.
Get the players to form a circle. Practise the mimes. Explain that one player will be asked to be the leader. They lead the orchestra by miming playing an instrument and all the others follow suit. Demonstrate how this works taking the group through simple changes of instrument or sport until everyone has the idea. Then explain that one person will be asked to leave the room while a leader is appointed. The player leaves, a leader is appointed and a rhythm is established with changes of the instrument/sport. The player outside is invited back in to stand in the centre of the circle. They have three attempts to identify the leader.
Comment: This activity encourages quick responses and the players working together as a team.
Party Game
Similar to Encounters players are given an identity which may be an occupation or a personality. One player is chosen to be the host of a party. Guests arrive and should show who they are without saying it directly. The host should try to guess the identity of his/her guests.
Name Six
Players stand in a circle passing around a rolled newspaper. One player is in the centre with his/her eyes closed. When the player in the centre shouts stop, the player holding the newspaper must name six items in the category selected by player one before the newspaper makes a complete circle. If the player is successful then he/she moves into the centre and selects the next category. Categories can be for example, six breeds of dogs, six types of flowers, vegetables, and films with one-word titles.
Comment: Players have to think quickly and focus on the task of naming the items. It's interesting to notice that the players tend to take more interest in the moving of the newspaper and the countdown.
Name with a feeling.
Work through on the board a number of standard adjectives to describe feelings and teach the formula, also use the words that the students know. Ask them individually how they feel.
E.g. Happy, sad, cold, hot, hungry, angry, tired, bored, interested, optimistic, pleased, sporty, rich, poor,
Hi, I’m … and I’m wild!
Have each person in the circle introduce themselves with a walk appropriate to the feeling they use by walking into the circle. Then everyone should walk into the circle and use the third person, He’s … and he’s wild!
Family Portraits
Optional preparation: have players write five descriptive adjectives about other people in the group. Encourage long legged, short-sighted, hungry, rich, etc. Collect descriptions and request more as you compile a list on the board. Then explain that you are going to use these descriptions in Family Portraits. Organise the players into groups of three or four. Ask one group to create a "family portrait" based on a type of family indicated by the leader. After three seconds the players freeze in their portrait. Take a picture or pretend to. Quickly move on to the next group and form another portrait. After repeating several times get the whole group to call out the family they’d like to see represented.
The Stupid Family. The Enormous Buttocks Family. The Angry Family. The Elephant Family.
Mirrors
Players stand in pairs face to face and decide who will be player one and who will be player two. Player one is the leader and begins to move slowly, player two is the reflection and must try to mirror player ones movements. After a few minutes the roles are changed. Players should work towards the changes being impossible to see and therefore who is leading and who is following. This activity demands that the players see the "whole" of the other player, to concentrate and to work together. Another option is to state a place where the action takes place i.e. on the farm, in the changing rooms, at the hairdressers.
Vocal Mirror
In pairs the players perform the mirror exercise i.e. one player being the reflection of the other. The players then take the activity one step further by including vocal reflection by speaking at the same time and saying the same thing.
Comment: This activity makes the players really work together. They should start slowly and gradually try to increase the pace.
Option: Ask them to choreograph perfect simultaneous speech. Let them practice before leaving the room and coming back in to see if you can tell who the leader is and who is the mirror.
Interview Twins
Three players create an interview scene. One player is the interviewer the other two the guest.
The guest must answer the interviewer's questions at the same time saying the same thing, trying to develop a "twin connection".
The group may suggest a well-known character to be interviewed and another option is to have three or four or the whole group as the guest.
Who am I?
Prepare ‘Post-its’ with the names of famous characters, fictional, historical or real. Place a ‘Post-it’ on the forehead of each player telling them that they have now acquired a new name and identity and that they have to find out who they are. When all players have been given their new identity they should walk around meeting other famous characters. To find out who they are players can ask each other questions that can only be answered ‘yes’ or ‘no’. When the answer is yes they may continue to ask questions of the same person, if the answer is no they must allow the other person to ask a question or search for another character to help them.
Typical questions can be pre-taught: Am I alive? Am I a woman? Do I have children? Am I real? Can I speak French? Etc.
Variation 1
Have your group prepare the famous characters by writing the living person they would most like to be, the person in history they most admire/dislike their favourite fictional character. Compile a list on the board or simply select your ‘Post-it’ characters from their lists.
True and false chairs
The teacher prepare some sentences (some of them true and some of them false). Two chairs in the front of the class (the true and the false chairs). The class is divided in two teams and put in two lines. When the teacher read one sentence, one player from each team must run and sit down choosing the true of false chair. The player who sits in the right chair is awarded with a point.
Digits
Players stay in the same tight circle. With eyes closed. One player starts counting ONE, another player continues TWO, etc… until the group get 30. Nobody knows who is speaking, so if two players say the same number at a time, they have to start counting again.
Introduce Gibberish
Gibberish is a made-up language. Gibberish can sound like other languages (i.e. Chinese or French gibberish) but its words have no actual meaning. The meaning of gibberish comes from the intonation and body language of the speaker.
Translate Gibberish
This is best played with an odd number of players. Everyone in a circle. The first player gives a gibberish word to her right neighbour, who translates the word. The next player provides the next gibberish word, and so on.
Variations
The receiver can provide both the translation, and a new gibberish word.
You may want to add the origin of the language along with the translation.
Notes
Any gibberish word might be translated as ’banana’ of course, but that is not the idea of the exercise. For your translation, use the first thing that comes to mind. You may be inspired by the whole sound of the word (it might sound like something ’known’), or parts of the word (only the vowels, or only the consonants), or by the intonation of the ’giver’, or even by her expression or body language.
Try gibberish in different ’languages’ or ’accents’.
Gibberish Expert
One player is an expert on a subject, often provided by the audience. Furthermore, he’s from a foreign country (perhaps also supplied by the audience). The expert gives a lecture in Gibberish C and a second player translates.
Variations
Have the expert tell a story or recite a poem, instead of giving a lecture.
Hello (warm-up)
Players mill about the room. At some point the workshop leader asks them all to greet each other by shaking hands. Greet one person and move on, greet another and so on. This continues for a while. Then endow each of the greetings with an element. For example, "greet each other like you are long lost friends". You can continue to endow the greetings with elements like: ex-lovers, someone you have a crush on, someone you are afraid of, someone you love, a smelly person, etc. The greetings can be embellished with emotions like: greet everyone angrily, greet everyone happily, greet everyone like you have a secret, greet everyone like you are a Scottish Chieftain, etc. Have fun with it, and keep the greetings short and superficial.
A Walk In The Park
Compile a list of all known greetings and put them into context. Ask the group to choose their preferred form of greeting and to walk around the park meeting and greeting. Next step is to ask the group to repeat the exercise, only this time in addition to the greeting the person who initiates the conversation must pay a compliment to the person he/she meets. The person being complimented should only reply ‘thank you’ and walk on.
Variations 1
Include handshakes or kisses or personalised physical greetings. Examples: “I like you eyes.” “I like your ears.” Divide the room into zones (morning, afternoon, evening – for example) and oblige them to use the appropriate greetings.
Zip, Zap, Zoom (warm-up)
This is another motion around the circle warm-up. In this warm-up one of the players points to another player to one side of them and says 'zip'. That player turns to the next player in the circle, points to them and says 'zip'. Thus the 'zip' zips around the circle in one direction. At any time a receiving player can say 'zap' to the person pointing at them. When they do the player that said 'zip' and was pointing at them must change direction of the pointing. This means that they must quickly turn around, point and say 'zip to the person that just pointed at them. Now the 'zip' can zip around the circle, but changing direction every time there is a 'zap'. Lastly the person that receives the 'zip' may elect to yell 'zoom' and point at someone anywhere in the circle. That player then restarts the 'zip' going in the direction of their choice. The group must really pay attention for this to work.
People Knot
Players stand in a circle, shoulder to shoulder. Placing their hands into the centre each player takes hold of the hands of the other players. It is important that players understand that they should not join hands with the player immediately beside them or join both hands with only one player. Without letting go of the hands they hold, players attempt to untie the human knot. They should speak to each other to unravel with up and down and round and under and over.
Have several attempts.
Comment: This is a fun, non-competitive exercise using co-operation and supportive physical contact. The act of touching loosens people’s inhibitions.
“This is a book … a what?… a book … a what? … a book … Oh a book!”
Concentration game that is more difficult to explain than to play. Everyone in a circle.
Teach this dialogue:
Person A: “This is a Book.”
Person B: “A What?”
A: “A Book.”
B: “A What?”
A: “A Book.”
B: “Ohh! A Book?”
Make sure that the group establishes a steady rhythm with this dialogue. Then the first person uses an actual book. After the line “Ohh! A Book?” player A passes the book to player B who then turns to player C on their other side and they repeat the dialogue. Practice around the circle once or twice and then introduce new objects. Put two objects in the circle one after the other to make it more difficult until every body is giving and receiving objects at the same time. This is great for building concentration.
What’s yours like?
One person is elected to leave the group or room for a 30 seconds while the group decides on an object that they each may possibly have or share in common. Then the person comes back to the group and asks each person one-by-one the question “what’s yours like?” to which they answer with a simple descriptive adjective or descriptive phrase. For example the group decides on the topic such as ”shoes” for which a reply to the question “what’s yours like?” might be “tied” or “brown” or “old” or even something like “need’s replacing”.
Power Station
Two teams of up to ten players line up in front of each other. The quiz leader and a helper stand at either end of the two teams. The quiz leader decides on the subject or topic based on categories, say, types of fruit and then says a name. The name could be true or false. The team that first identifies that a given name does (or does not – depending on how you play it) belong to the category must all join hands , raise their arms and shout ‘ELECTRIC!’. To win the point it is not enough for just one person to get the answer right, it must involve the whole team.
Directors Cut
In this activity we take a specific dialogue from a book or play and write a simple scene between 2/3 participants (in our case Romeo and Juliet) creating a very simple dialogue – the class reads the parts all together then they are split into 2 groups and they repeat etc until they get to know the text eventually the director chooses the actors and film crew who will perform the scene.
Waiting room
Four chairs in a row – a man walks in and complains(or shows symptoms of an illness).Another person comes in and sits beside him,making conversation and man asks the new person what he’s in for.The man says “i have a cough” – they both start coughing as if the first man has caught it. The next person comes in and the 2 people ask him what he’s in for he says he has a rash – they all start itching and scratching. Continue with other illnesses. When everyone is sat down they all need a reason to leave and not see the doctor.
Superheroes
Your planet is under threat from evil monsters. They all have special powers. Your group must defend the planet earth. You are being taken to a special laboratory where you will be given any special powers you want. You must decide on super powers that complement each other in the group and how you can protect each other. Each person must choose a superhero name with the same letter as your name eg. Petroleum pete, a special power, a special pose, and a superhéro noise. After 20 minutes show everyone your team powers.
Advert
Take a prop (in this case a sheet or blanket) any prop -in groups people perform an avertisement to show their product – it can be anything – use your imagination. To introduce this activity in pairs people design a new product and produce a billboard with a slogan which they introduce to the group the do the performance with the prop.
SONGS
Row, Row, Row Your Boat (A Round or An Echo Song)
Row, row, row your boat
Gently down the stream,
Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily,
Life is but a dream.
Mr. Moon
Mr. Moon Mr. Moon
You’re up to soon
The sun is still in the sky
Go back to bed and cover up your head
And wait for the sun to go by!
Hokey Cokey
You put your left arm in
You put your left arm out
In, out, in out
And shake it all about
You do the Hokey Cokey
And turn around
That’s what is all about
Oh,,Hokey Cokey (x 3)
Knees bent, arms stretched, ra, ra, ra...
You put your right arm,
You put your left leg, etc.
Boogie woogie washer woman
Down in the jungle where nobody goes
There’s a boogie woogie washer woman washing her clothes
With a rub-a-dub here and a rub-a-dub there
A boogie woogie washer woman washing her hair
I said.. a boogie a boogie a boogie yeah!
A boogie a boogie a boogie yeah!
A boogie woogie washer woman washing her hair!
Today’s Monday
Today’s monday , today’s monday
Monday’s washing day
Is everybody happy?
You bet your life we are.
Tuesday’s soup
Wednesday’s roast beef
Thursday’s shepherds pie
Fridays’s fish
Saturday’s payday
Today’s sunday today’s sunday
Sunday’s church (slowly)
Repeat rest of the days very fast
Is everybody happy?
(slow and sad)- you bet your life we are
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