Contrary to the boring title, this is one of my absolute favorite games to play with all age groups. Why? It's a great way to assess abilities at the beginning of a class session. It stimulates their creativity and sense of play, and I can use it as a tool to immediately begin teaching the fundamentals of acting! This is also a great exercise for working with kids who are so young that they cannot yet "cold read". I hope this helps you in your next class!
*Build a Scene -
Give them a list of 3-5 items that HAVE to be included somehow in their mini-play (ex: the statue of liberty, a tsunami, Disneyland, my grandma, a ferret). Give them 5-10 minutes to create together and practice. They will perform it for you. Then you can "direct" it - give them more specific blocking using Upstage, stage right, etc...., Projection, cheating out, sharing the stage, not stealing focus, when to take focus, and why you should always say "yes" (the most important rule of improv!). It's a great tool for scene work (and if they're young and don't read well), plus they love to be creative!
More ideas for teaching acting to kiddos to come!
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