So this, in my opinion, is the best game to start with when working with a new group. I’ve seen it work with university students as well as with six year olds.
Whether you’re a drama teacher, director, or running a course, acting games are a fantastic tool. They help students get comfortable, warmed up and focused. Acting games also develop important skills required for acting and performing. Below is a number of my favourite drama games. For each game or exercise I have given a difficulty rating and a recommended age range. I have split the acting games into six sections to make it easier for you to find the appropriate games for your group/situation.
Moving Name
Difficulty: easy
Age Range: all ages
So this, in my opinion, is the best game to start with when working with a new group. I’ve seen it work with university students as well as with six year olds.
- Get your group into a circle.
- Say your name with a matching gesture and vocalisation. Samuel for instance could be signalled with two punches and spoken in a high pitched voice.
- Once you have performed your name, the whole group mimics you. They must try to copy the way you said your name as well as the physical movement.
- Continue this around the circle till each person has said their name.
Tip: the more whacky you set the standard the better result you’ll get from the students.
Tip: encourage the students not to think too much, but to jump straight it – looking stupid is mandatory.
Name and Go
Difficulty: easy
Age Range: 8 and above
I typically use this game after playing Moving Name. Hopefully the students have learnt a few names and it is a good way to solidify names for you and the other students.
- Get your group into a circle.
- You must make eye contact with someone in the circle, say their name and move to take there place.
- The person whose name you called must pick another person in the circle, say there name, and take there place in the circle.
- Continue this until each student has had a turn.
Tip: encourage students to relax and focus. If they get flustered and panic it disrupts the flow of the game.
Me to You
Difficulty: easy
Age Range: all ages
This is a really simple exercise for a large group which encourages connection and focus. It requires students to be hyperaware and really focus.
- Get your group into a circle.
- The person starting must make eye contact with someone else in the circle (working across the circle is best).
- They then must gesture to themselves and say “me” followed by a gesture at the other person in which they say: “to you”. It should seamless.
- If you are targeted you then accept the offer and continue in the same way to a new person in the circle.
- Once this has gone around the circle a few times, lose the words and get your students to simply use gesture and eye contact.
- If they are successful at this then drop the gesture and simply use eye contact.
Tip: encourage your students to be clear and direct. Also make sure that all the students get a turn.
Word Association with Clicks
Difficulty: medium
Age Range: late primary/high school
This game is played by professional theatre companies, and can also work really well with late primary and high school kids.
- Get your group into a circle.
- Firstly, teach your students the rhythm which they will make with their bodies: thigh slap, clap, then click (right hand), click (left hand)
- Get the group comfortable with this rhythm.
- When clicking with the right hand the student whose turn it is must say the persons before them’s word and then a new word that associates with that word when clicking with the left hand.
- The next person in the circle (work in a clockwise motion) must do the same. They must repeat the last persons word with the right click and then think of a new word when they click with the left hand.
- The thigh slap and clap gives the game a steady rhythm and stops students panicking.
- Continue this until you have done a few successful laps around the circle.
Tip: Stress the importance of keeping the rhythm steady. Groups tend to naturally speed up quite quickly. Students often find this game particularly funny, so try to keep them focused.
Tip: If the rhythm is too confusing, try a simple game of word association around the circle instead.
Add a Freeze
Difficulty: easy
Age Range: all ages
This games works as a great warm up for more extensive improvisations.
- Get the students into pairs.
- Student A must create a pose (a frozen image with his or her body).
- Student B must then, without thinking about it too much, create their own pose that compliments Student A’s pose. For example Student A may have posed doing a karate chop, and student B may then freeze in a scared/defensive pose.
- Student A then unfreezes and creates a new pose that compliments Student B’s pose that they are still holding.
- This then continues in the same way until you feel the group begin to tire. I have noticed that it works very well with high-school kids and older.
I would want to do more film work in drama and learn how to edit a video to make it more official as a film!