Drama Games

 Wink Murder

This was a fun game that I loved! To start playing wink murder, everyone stands in a circle with their eyes closed. The teacher walks around the circle, and quietly taps one student on the shoulder. This student is the "murderer." The murderer must keep their identity a secret. All students then walk around the room, keeping eye contact with other students in the class, not on the floor. If the murderer winks at you, it means you have "died" and must act out a dramatic death onto the floor. After about five minutes, the teacher freezes the game, and asks if anyone knows who the murderer is. If they guess correctly, the game is over and a new student may become a murderer. If no one knows who the murderer is, the game continues, and so on, until all students have died or the murderer's identity is revealed. This was a fun activity. Our first round, the murderer stuck out his tongue instead of winking to kill people, since some students didn't know how to wink. However, this was a bit more obvious than winking, and the game didn't last as long, so we switched back to winking. Another challenge was making sure everyone was making eye contact with other students, instead of looking at the floor or ceiling. This prevents students from making eye contact with the murderer if they try to wink at them. I would just remind students of this rule if it is a problem. We thought of making other versions of this game, such as being zombies, to add more of a dramatic effect. Overall, it was and would be a really fun break from schoolwork!

 What's in the Box?

This was a really fun game! Everyone sits in a circle. One student starts with an imaginary box. That student mimes opening the box and taking an item out of the box. The group has to guess what the person is miming out. Once the class has guessed correctly, the student puts their item away, closes the box, and passes it to the next person in the circle. The game continues until all students have had a turn with the box. I really liked this activity because it was a nice icebreaker game to get students to become actors in a stress-free, comical game. It gave students a chance to be silly and laugh. I think this would be a great game in the classroom as a break after a lot of note-taking or test to ease tensions and incorporate drama in the classroom in a fun way.

Trust Circle

To play trust circle, break students into groups of five or six. One person volunteers to be in the middle. The other students form a close circle around them. The students on the outside start slowly and softly pushing the person in the middle to the other side of the circle. Then, they start swaying the person a bit faster, being careful to not let the person in the middle fall. You can tell by the name that this is a great exercise to invoke trust between students. It is fun to be the person in the middle and learn that you can completely let go of control over your body and trust your classmates to keep you on your feet. Make sure there is an adult monitoring this game to ensure that students are not being too violent with the person in the middle. If you have time, it would be fun to give as many students as possible turns to be in the middle.

I'm Brushing My Teeth

This game is a lot of fun! Everyone stands in a circle. One person starts by saying, "I'm brushing my teeth," while acting out a different action, such as tying their shoes. The next person says they are doing what there previous person was really doing, in this case, "I'm tying my shoes," while acting out a new action, such as jumping up and down. This continues all the way around the circle until each student has had a turn. This is a great game to incorporate memory, thinking, and drama. It is a time for students to be silly and creative, once again breaking tension and allowing an opportunity for students to get closer to one another. 

Make 'Em Laugh!

I can tell kids would love this game, and adults in our class did too! One person stands (safely) on a table or chair. The rest of the class does things to try to make that person laugh, such as making a funny sound or action, or telling them something funny, or just being goofy! This is a guaranteed laughing game! For most of the students in our class, it wasn't very hard to make the person laugh. It's a great way to get students out of their comfort zones and get closer to one another by sharing a funny experience together.

Tick Tock

This was such a cool game! Everyone sits in a circle. One person starts with an object, a key. They turn to the person to their left and say "It's a key." The person then responds by saying "What's that?" The first person then responds by repeating "It's a key," and passes the key to the second student. The second student who just received the key turns to the person on their left and says "It's a key." The third person looks to the second person and says "What's that?" The second person then looks back to the first person and repeats "What's that?" The first person repeats, "It's a key." The second person looks to  the third person and repeats "It's a key." The third person accepts the key, looks to the person on their left and says "It's a key." This process repeats until the key has made it across half of the circle. The teacher freezes the game, introduces a new object, a marker, and starts a new series of "It's a tock," starting with the original person and moving to the right. Eventually, try to get students to have both objects going around the circle at once. It's really cool when students get into the rhythm and you here "It's a tick, it's a tock, it's a tick, it's a tock." It is a challenge, but a great skill for students to practice-moving to the rhythm and beat. If the game is too easy, the teacher can start it again at a quicker pace. I can tell it is a game that students will want to ask to play over and over! 

Interrogation Game

This is another guaranteed favorite. The students sit in a circle. The teacher secretly places a mystery object in a small box. One student is chosen to be the interrogator. The teacher starts by looking in the box and saying "It's a ___." This is not the actual object. The teacher than passes the box around the circle. Each student, except for the interrogator, takes a turn opening the box and saying it is an object that it is really not. One person must tell the truth. This means students have to me listening carefully to what the other students are saying, because if two people say the same object that it really is, the interrogator knows what's in the box. Once the box has made it all the way across the circle, all of the students stand up and repeat what they said was in the box. The interrogator then gets to either make students sit down who he/she thinks is lying, and asks students to stay standing up who he/she thinks are telling the truth. This process continues until the interrogator has used his/her 3 guesses of what is in the box. The person who was telling the truth than reveals him/herself and opens the box! So fun! 

There's somebody at the door!

This is another great way to get students out of their comfort zones and become more confident and open to acting. Have two chairs in the center of the room (this represents their house). One student volunteers to start the game. Another student volunteer pretends to go up to the house and knock at the door. The first person opens the door and greets the other person. The other person has to make up and act out some reason that they have come to their house, such as "I have to use your bathroom," "Do you have any sugar?" "I'm here to babysit!" "I am selling cookies." The person invites the guest into their house and they sit down in the chairs and start some sort of conversion. Another student then walks up to the house and knocks on the door. The original house owner leaves the house and the first guest becomes the new owner of the house, and opens the door to greet the new guest. This process continues until all students who want a turn get one. Very fun and a way for students to be creative and add humor to their acting!

Pass Me the Mime

Everyone sits in a circle. The teacher asks students to pretend they are in front of the sink. The teacher mimes washing their hands. They then hold their hands up and pretend to pass an object around the circle. Each student does something new with the object or mimes a new object. This game strengthen's students creativity and is a stress-free way to become more comfortable acting in front of one another. This is a great icebreaker game.