Overview

Games featured here have been used by drama practitioners, educators, and artists in various formats for many years. If we have sourced a game from a specific website, it is credited at the end of the game description.

Most of these games can be adapted up or down with the right supports (e.g., supporting scripts or sentence stems for younger students). Use your professional judgment about whether these games are right for your group.

Notes:

  • It may be worthwhile to review procedures for participating safely in drama games before playing (e.g., be prepared to stop when the teacher needs your attention, etc.). Explicit rehearsal of procedures and routines are beneficial for all students and essential for some.
  • Games should include the right to pass and the right to return when students are ready and able to participate again. This honours the social and emotional access needs of students including the need for longer transitions and opportunities to observe before participating, and physical access needs including the need for rest if an activity is overstimulating or tiring. It also honours preferences if a game includes touch that does not feel safe or appropriate for a student (for any reason).
Game Name
Skill Focus
Recommended Panel

Yes Let's! & Environments / Oui, allons-y ! & Lieux

Sending and Accepting Offers, Mime, Generating Ideas, Establishing Setting & Roles

Any

Five things! / Cinq choses !

Sending & Accepting Offers, Generating Ideas

Any

I have... you have ... / J'ai ... tu as ...

Sending & Accepting Offers, Mime, Language Structures

Primary/Junior

Problems & Objects / Des problèmes et des objets

Sending & Accepting Offers, Problem-solving, Making connections

Any

What are you doing?/I see what you're doing / Qu'est-ce que tu fais ?/Je vois ce que tu fais

Sending & Accepting Offers, Generating Ideas, Mime

Any

What are you doing in my garden? / Qu'est-ce que tu fais dans mon jardin ?

Sending & Accepting Offers, Generating Ideas, Concentration

Primary/Junior

I am a Tree / Je suis un arbre

Sending & Accepting Offers, Generating Ideas, Establishing Setting

Any

The Advertising Game / Le jeu de la publicité

Sending & Accepting Offers, Generating Ideas, Collaboration

Any

Eyewitness Gibberish/Foreign Film / La charabia du témoin oculaire/Film étranger

Sending & Accepting Offers, Miming, Generating Ideas, Collaboration, Problem-Solving

Intermediate/Senior

Park Bench / Le banc public

Problem-Solving, Achieving an Objective, Developing Role

Intermediate/Senior

Three-Headed Expert / L’expert tricéphale

Sending & Accepting Offers, Active Listening, Collaboration

Intermediate/Senior

Mad, Sad, Glad / Fâché, deprimé, emballé

Blocking, Stage Direction, Levels, Concentration, Risk-Taking

Senior

Send and Accept / Envoyer et accepter

Non-verbal Communication, Collaboration, Group Mind, Concentration

Any

The Gift / Le cadeau

Sending & Accepting Offers, Miming, Raising the Stakes

Junior/Intermediate

Alien Greetings / Salutations extraterrestres

Non-verbal Communication, Risk Taking, Sending & Accepting Offers

Any

Tell That Story / Raconte cette histoire

Non-verbal Communication, Concentration, Risk Taking, Sending & Accepting Offers

Junior/Intermediate/Senior

Zoom & Word Ball / La balle du mot

Concentration, Accepting offers

Intermediate/Senior

Fast Burst Freeze / Gel en rafale

Mime, Accepting offers, Risk Taking, Non-verbal communication

Junior/Intermediate/Senior

Knight, Horse, Cavalier / Chevalier, Monture, Cavalier

Accepting offers, Risk Taking, Non-verbal communication, Active listening

Junior/Intermediate/Senior

Goalie & Free Association Games  Le gardien de but et des jeux d’association libre

Generating Ideas, Active Listening, Risk Taking

Intermediate/Senior

Circuits

Concentration, Active Listening, Ensemble building, Accepting Offers, Non-verbal Communication

Intermediate/Senior

Five Elements Drill / L'exercice des cinq éléments

Active Listening, Accepting Offers, Risk Taking, Generating Ideas, Collaboration, Establishing Setting & Roles, Building Tension/Raising the Stakes

Intermediate/Senior

The Johnson File / Le dossier Johnson

Accepting Offers, Risk Taking, Generating Ideas, Building Tension/Raising the Stakes, Establishing Setting & Roles

Intermediate/Senior

Yes, AND / Oui, ET

Accepting Offers, Risk Taking, Generating Ideas, Establishing Setting & Roles, Collaboration, Active Listening, Mime, Non-verbal Communication

Primary/Junior/Intermediate/Senior

This is not a … /All Imaginable Uses/Throw in the Towel / Ceci nèest pas un.e .../Tous usages imaginables/Jetez la serviette

Generating Ideas, Collaboration, Risk-Taking, Mime

Any

It’s for you! / C’est pour toi !

Collaboration, Risk-Taking, Offering Ideas

Primary/Junior

Red Ball / La balle rouge

Concentration, Active Listening, Mime, Accepting Offers

Junior/Intermediate/Senior

Most French translations and language supports were generously provided by Adriana Alfano, OCT.

Further Resources

For further information about teaching Improvisation, check out the following resources:

General resources:
  • Booth, David. Games For Everyone. Pembroke Publishers Limited, 1986.
  • Booth, David & Charles Lundy. Improvisation, Learning Through Drama. Harcourt Brace Jananovich, 1985.
  • Boal, Augusto. Games For Actors and Non-Actors. Routledge, 1992.
  • Neelands, Jonothan.  Beginning Drama 11-14.  David Fulton, 1997.
  • Rooyackers, Paul. 101 Drama Games: Fun and Learning with Acting and Make Believe. Hunter House, 1997.
  • Rooyackers, Paul. 101 Dance Games for Children: Fun and Creativity with Movement. Hunter House, 1996.
  • Spolin, Viola. Theatre Games for the Classroom: A Teacher’s Handbook. Northwestern University Press, 1986.
  • Swartz, Larry. The New Dramathemes. Pembroke Publishers, 2002.
  • https://www.childdrama.com/lessons.html

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