From: 101 MORE Drama Games and Activities
Age: 9 to adult
Players: Pairs/Small Groups
Time: 10 minutes
Skills: Improvisation, Verbal Expression
Sometimes three words are just enough.
Ask for two volunteers to improvise a scene where they both have to speak in three-word sentences. For example:
“Cup of tea?”
“I’d love that.”
“Here you are.”
“May I sit?”
Director’s Tips
- Demonstrate the game with two or three pairs
- The players may find it difficult to keep going for long until they realise that they don’t have to talk the whole time
- Encourage them to allow plenty of action to occur in the scene so that they gain more thinking time
- Once they start to get the idea you can divide the class into small groups so that everybody can try it
Play Online
- This is easy to demonstrate online by playing with two students
- Have a competition to see who can keep going the longest
- Set a scene – who, what and where
- Pairs or groups can try it in breakout rooms then come back to the main session to demonstrate their ideas
- Want to try this game out? We play loads of games in our monthly Zoom Meetings which come as part of The Inspiring Drama Teacher course. We often come up with new ideas between us!
Count To 20
A classic concentration and focus exercise, where the group tries to count to twenty.
Daft Definitions
Put random words together to invent new concepts! Great storytelling warm-up.
Drama Games for Story Books
Two amazing drama activities for bringing story books to life through drama!
Family Portraits
Groups make family portraits by striking funny poses.
Fruit Salad
A fun game encouraging fast reactions and verbal dexterity by saying the names of fruits.
Grandma’s Footsteps
This classic playground game is perfect for exploring dramatic tension. Plenty of fun, surprise and cheating!
Groovy Image Factory
Quickly generate repeating actions and sounds or words
Guess Who I Am
A fun way of creating characters from any picture.
Imaginarium
An exciting and completely unpredictable way to quickly develop a scene
Night Watchman
The museum is closed for the night. The watchman is making his rounds. But something strange is going on...
One Word At A Time
A story is told by the group or in pairs, with each person adding one word at a time.
Open and Close
A brilliant method of performing a series of freeze-frames to tell a story in a drama lesson.
Pecking Order
Can you work out where you stand in the pecking order?
Poetry in Motion
Poetry can be explored and presented effectively through drama and movement
Random Sound Stories
A story is told by the group or in pairs, with each person adding one word at a time.
Sculptor and Statue
In pairs, create a still image where one of you has a higher status than the other and let others
Shoe Shuffle
Develop imagination and mime skills using everyday objects
Siren (Voice Warm-Up)
An effective and easy humming warm up for exploring and extending the vocal range.
Soundscapes
The group is conducted to create a sound picture or “soundscape” using their voices and bodies.
Status Pictures
In pairs, create a still image where one of you has a higher status than the other.
Story Orchestra
The group tells a story, with a conductor guiding the narrative
Ten Second Objects
Drama game - groups make the shape of an object using their bodies - in only ten seconds!
Three Changes
An observation and getting to know you game - with online version
Two Truths And A Lie
Play online or live - tell your partner three things about yourself – two of which are true and one
What Are You Doing?
Quick thinking and action is essential in this funny mime and spoken language drama game.
Where Do You Stand? (inc Online Version)
A fast and effective way of discovering everybody’s opinions about a subject - online or offline.
