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May 20, 2021 · It takes time for a teacher to build up a class to get them comfortable with improv but it is well worth the effort. Here's some improv games, activities and terminology to get your teen drama classes firing. Improv (or improvisation) in theatre terms is 'acting on the spot' or 'acting without preparation or rehearsal'.
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- What Are Improv Games?
- Improv Games For Kids
- Improv Games For Teens
- Improv Games For Adults
- Improv Games For Small Groups
- What Are The Benefits of Improv Games?
Improv games have their origins in acting and comedy schools, and they’re frequently used to warm-up actors and develop collaborative skills. Basically, improv games are activities in which participants act out or role-play a scene without using a script. Giving players prompts or rules for acting out a scene or interacting with one another is a co...
That kids are balls of fire – we already know. The challenge we face as adults is to find the right activities for them; the ones that spark their interest, keep them entertained, and also cultivate and develop valuable skills, such as communication, leadership, collaboration, spontaneity, and sharpness.
Act It Out
Just like ‘Knife and Fork’, this is one of the improv games for high schoolers that requires no talking. Start by coming up with a list of random words or phrases, then split your people into pairs. Next, ask your players to act the phrases out nonverbally. This sounds a lot like the Fishbowl, doesn’t it? Encourage players to use their creativity and to pay close attention to their partners when trying to communicate their ideas. Teens may use gestures, overacting, props, and even inside joke...
Job Interview
This is a great improv game for high schoolers since they’re about to join the workforce. Preparing them for real life, hence for a job interview, is one of the benefits of improv games for teens. Here’s how it works: pick a player who will be the interviewee. He must leave the room, while the rest of the class decides on the job they will be interviewing for. (*Note: You can also come up with a list of professions beforehand). The player must return to the hot seat and answer a range of inte...
Terrible Presents
We know… it’s hard to get the right gift for a teen and it’s awful to survive the look on their face if you get it wrong. Teens are great at judging terrible presents and they have quite some history with them. That’s what makes this activity the perfect improv game for high schoolers! Split the players into pairs and ask them to come up with rubbish gift ideas. Next, they have to convince their partner to accept it. They can be as creative as they wish – they can even draw the present if tha...
Expert Double Figures
You’ll need 4 people for this fun improv game for adults. 2 of them will act out a talk show, while the other 2 will kneel behind them, arms wrapped around each other. While the talk show guests are unable to use their arms, the players in the back will act as them. This will definitely deliver tons of laughs!
Remember That Team Building…
This improv game for adults is all about ‘remembering’ a fictional event they all attended. We thought of making it more fun by recalling something from a previous team building. ‘Remember that team building when Josh lost a tooth?’. Go around the group and ask each player to add nuance to the memory, to create a story about what you all did together. Invite everyone to add fun details and take unexpected turns, because that’s what a good team building story is all about.
World’s Worst
Come up with a list of professions and ask the adults involved in the improv game to think of lines that the ‘world’s worst’ would say. If you’re close to your players, make sure to include the ones they are performing. For example, for ‘the world’s worst teacher’, one of the lines could be ‘how do I spell philharmonic?’. This is a fast-paced improv game for adults so you can also think of it as a 5-minute activitybefore a big meeting.
Scenes From a Chat
This is one of the improv games for small groups that can be played both in-person and online. Players are free to make scene suggestions – live or in the chat box – and a moderator should randomly choose the most amusing scenario. Next, players have five minutes to act out the scene. Move on to another group that has to choose a prompt from the previous proposals. You can at any time ask the audience for new suggestions.
Sit, Stand, Lie Down
This one’s a classic fun improv game that works best for small groups of people. There are 3 players who need to collaborate to complete a physical action. One must always be standing, one must always be sitting, and one must always be laying down. The key is to switch positions frequently to keep everyone on their feet… or off them.
Two Truths and A Lie
It’s one of the most famous team building games out there and it works just as fine as an improv game for small groups or large ones. Players take turns in sharing 2 truths and 1 lieabout themselves. The audience must decide which statements are real, and which are inventions. It will be interesting to see how good players are at coming up with fictional stuff about themselves, and it will be a good way for people to get to know each other better.
It’s not a secret that on eTeamBuilding we LOVE creativity, and improv games are a great way to cultivate that. Moreover, quick thinking, communication, and team spirit are other skills tackled by improv games. Improv games are so popular because most of them don’t require special supplies, therefore they can be played almost everywhere. Are you lo...
- Wax Museum/Night Watchman. For Night Watchman, one person is designated as it (the Night Watchman) and everyone else will play as a wax statue. The Night Watchman will cover their eyes and count to 10 while everyone else strikes a pose somewhere within the room/playing space.
- Party Guests. For Party Guests, choose one player to act as host. Everyone else will be a guest at the party and must choose a celebrity personality or quirk to portray.
- Electricity. Players divide into two teams which sit in lines facing each other. One person not playing/not on a team sits at front of the two lines to flip a coin and act as the referee.
- Bang. Players stand in a circle and one player is designated it. That player puts their hands together to make a finger gun and points it at someone else in the circle (can't be the person directly to their right or left) and says bang.
- Alphabet Circle. Start with a low-pressure, low-stakes game to warm up and sharpen concentration. To play, have all your students get into a circle. One player – perhaps you – will start by ‘throwing’ the letter A to another player.
- True Truths and a Lie. Get into small groups or a large circle, and have each student say two facts about themselves, along with one lie. The rest of the group then works together as a team to sniff out the lie … while the person under scrutiny defends or explains themselves.
- Follow the Leader. Start by getting all your students – bar one – into a circle, with the singular student in the middle. Have that student close their eyes while the rest of you collectively choose a ‘leader.’
- Freeze. Begin by having two students start an improv scene. At any point, another student can call ‘freeze’ – tagging out one of the students and taking their place.
- Word at a Time Story. Students sit in a circle. Give them a title for a story. “The Best Birthday Ever.” The story is told one word at a time around the circle.
- Family Portrait. Divide the class into groups. Each group comes up one at a time and is given a title for a picture that revolves around a type of family.
- Foreign Film Dub. A scene for a group of four. Two players act out a scene in gibberish. The second two players are their English Language “Dubbers.” They translate the scene into English.
- Same Circle. Everyone stands in a circle. Person A makes a small gesture. The person beside them repeats the gesture and so on around the circle. The point of the exercise is to keep the gesture exactly the same.
Improvisation games from both music and theatre offer a fun, inclusive and dynamic way to foster creativity, self-expression and social skills among teens. At this page, you’ll find plenty of resources for designing your own workshop!
Feb 21, 2016 · Are you looking for ways to integrate drama games for high school? Get started with these three zero-prep improv games!
