DRAMA

WARM UP AND COOL DOWN GAMES

Drama
Warm up and cool down games

Warm - up /name games

Play the following games to warm up the group and to help you to begin to learn their names.

1. The name game

Each person jumps into the circle and makes a gesture whilst saying their name. (start with
yourself)
The rest of the group copy action and say the persons name.
The first time round say name normally, then whisper, then shout, then angrily, then happily.

2. The initials game

Each person has to think of something they like to do, which matches their initials e.g. Im Jessica
and I like jumping (everybody jumps around with her). Use surnames as well to extend the game

3. The enthusiasm game

Take it in turns to suggest an activity which can be quite mundane, but the whole group has to
shout enthusiastically Yes! Lets! in response to any suggestions, then you all do the activity
together. This will work best if you suggest the first two or three things then let others shout them
out.

e.g. teacher - Lets touch our noses

class - Yes, lets! (all touch noses enthusiastically)
teacher - Lets clap our hands / turn around / lie on the floor / hop on one leg etc.
class - Yes, lets!

Make your final suggestion Lets all sit quietly in a circle boy- girl- boy - girl

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WARM UP AND COOL DOWN GAMES

Games to mix the class up!

1. Who likes Boyzone?

All sit in a circle. Choose someone to stand in the middle and take their chair away.
The person in the middle makes a statement such as Change places if you like Drama The seated
members of the group must swap seats with someone else if the question relates to them. The
person in the middle has to find a seat too! The result is that there is always someone left without a
seat. They then make another statement like Change places if you have blond hair and the game
continues.

Note: It is important to discourage pushing in this game, and for reluctant pupils, statements to do
with facts (like blue eyes, blond hair etc) work better!

2. Fruit Salad

An old favourite with many variations!

Sit in circle. Choose 4 or 5 fruits and go round the circle giving each person the name of a fruit
in order, e.g. orange, apple, banana, kiwi
Choose someone to stand in the middle and take away their chair. This person then calls out
the name of a fruit. Students who are that fruit must change their seat while the person in the
middle tries to find a seat too. Whoever is left over becomes the person in the middle.
Carry on using different combinations of fruit and even saying fruit salad which means
everybody must swap places at once.

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WARM UP AND COOL DOWN GAMES

Games to develop group co-operation

1. The numbers game

The aim of this game is for the group to count to 10 or 20 or 10 and back to 1 without two people
speaking at the same time.

all stand in a circle. Wait for silence

someone says one and sits down
the people on either side of this person are now excluded from saying two but anyone else in
the circle can
keep going until two people try to say a number at the same time or until someone tries to
follow the number said by the person next to them
if someone goes wrong, the game starts again
give them five or six goes to reach the target you have set, you will find that they become very
focused
discourage anyone who tries to instigate a pattern
if someone tries to follow the person next to them, they should miss a go but that is at your
discretion

Variations: sitting in a circle with eyes closed, sitting in circle facing out, standing rather than
sitting when saying a number, odd numbers, missing out numbers divisible by 3, 5...

2. Follow the leader

All sit or stand in a circle. Begin the game when everybody is sitting in the same position as
you.
Lead the circle through a series of moves for the first practice run. The class must follow each
move you make as smoothly and as accurately as possible. Example: Stand up. Cross your
legs. Put your hands on your lap etc.
Once they have got the hang of it choose a volunteer to be the detective. They should leave the
room while you choose another leader. When the detective returns he or she stands in the
centre of the circle and is allowed three guesses at who is leading the moves.

3. Get organised race!

Put the class into groups of 4 6. Ask them to organise themselves into a line as quickly as
possible. The order they should be in can vary from very easy (tallest to shortest) to more
complicated (e.g. birthdays, number of pets, number in the family etc).

Variation: Give the whole class a similar task!

4. Tallest shortest circle

All stand on chairs in a tight circle

Their task is to get into height order (so that the tallest and shortest are standing next to each
other). Only one person can move at a time and no-one is allowed to touch the floor.

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WARM UP AND COOL DOWN GAMES

Games to develop mime skills

1. Whats the Chair?

Place a chair in the centre of the circle and pupils take turns to mime what they imagine it to be:,
for example: a post box, a kitchen sink, a dog, a naughty schoolboy, a new car.

The person who guesses correctly takes their place in the middle.

2. Kids take over

in a circle, walking on the spot

teacher makes a gesture, in time, that the everyone else imitates
continue for 8 beats or so, then shout the name of a pupil and they must change or add to the
action
this can continue until the class and the teacher have warmed up

Another way of taking the impetus away from the teacher is to nominate different people to bring a
warm up to each lesson (but have a standby ready just in case!).

3. Alert Walking

Everyone moves around the space at a steady walking pace. On a given signal they move in a
directed style: Practise freezing also. Ideas for walking styles: slow motion, on the moon, in
treacle, very hot shoes, on ice etc.

4. Whats my job?

All sit in a circle. Give everyone an occupation (e.g. policeman, astronaut, postman, teacher).
Use each occupation twice, and make sure the occupations are kept secret.
Pupils use the space to mime their own occupation. Their task is to spot the person with the
same occupation as them. When they have done this they should approach their partner, and
without speaking, check that they are both miming the same job.
They should sit down in their pair when they think they have found them.
The game continues until everybody is sitting down. The teacher should check they are all
correct at the end of the game!

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WARM UP AND COOL DOWN GAMES

Games to develop speaking skills

1. Just a minute!

Another old favourite.

All sit in a circle.

Choose one person to be the first speaker. (It helps to have a neutral timer too).
Give the speaker a topic to talk about (e.g. fruit, school, holidays, football). The speakers aim
is to speak on that subject for 1 minute without hesitating, deviating or repeating themselves.
The rest of the class are free to challenge by putting their hands up and saying whether the
speaker has hesitated, deviated etc.
If the judge (you!) decide the challenge is fair the speaker and the challenger swap places and
the challenger has to try to keep talking until the minute is up.

Variation: Split the class into teams and make it a competition for points.

2. Voice warm up

All sit in a circle.

Give a simple statement such as I like walking in summer or Collecting all of the Pokemon
cards is difficult.
Get everybody to repeat the statement a number of times (all at once).
Now ask them to say it different ways, for example as if:

- You are talking to a toddler

- You are shouting across the playground
- You are bored of saying it so many times
- You are coming around after an operation

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WARM UP AND COOL DOWN GAMES

Cool down games

1. Guard the keys

All sit in a circle

Choose one person to sit in middle of circle, blindfolded, with keys placed close to them.
Select others to creep up on the guard and try to steal the keys without being heard (you might
need to set rules like they must go round the outside of the circle first). If the guard points at
the thief, they must sit down and someone else should try. If a thief is successful, they change
places with the guard.

2. Chinese Mime

A variation of Chinese whispers!

All sit in a circle
Choose a pupil to begin the mime. They should choose a short mime of a simple action, such
as making a cup of tea or cleaning their teeth.
Everybody sits with their eyes closed (it helps if they are facing outwards to avoid the
temptation of peeking!). The first person taps the person on their right and shows them the
mime, once. The second person taps the person to their right and shows them the mime. Once
they have shown their mime they should close their eyes again!
Continue around the circle until the mime has reached the last person, seated to the left of the
first person. They show the final mime to the whole class, followed by the first person who
shows the original mime.

3. Pass the pencil!

All sit in a tight circle

Send one person out of the room to be the detective and give a pupil in the circle the pencil.
The detective comes back in and stands in the middle of the circle. The pencil should be passed
around the circle without the detective seeing it. The detective has three goes at guessing who
has the pencil.

Variation: Make it easier with a smaller object or a tighter circle! Make it harder with a larger
object / circle.

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