500+ Amazing Improv Games For All Ages

Samurai

Goal: To practice physicality, focus, and commitment by portraying a samurai warrior in a series of scenes or exercises.

Level: Intermediate

Rules: Players take turns portraying a samurai warrior in a series of scenes or exercises, focusing on physicality, focus, and commitment in their performance. Players may choose to perform traditional samurai movements, engage in combat, or create their own samurai-inspired scenes.

Scavenger Hunt

Goals: To develop observation skills, enhance problem-solving abilities, and promote collaboration.

Level: Beginner

Rules: The teacher or facilitator hides various objects or pictures around the room or play area. The children are divided into small groups and provided with a list of items to find. The groups must work together to locate the hidden items, using observation and problem-solving skills. The game can be played for a set amount of time or until a group finds all the items on their list.

Skills: Observation, problem-solving, collaboration, and communication.

Scavenger Hunt

Goal: To practice observation, collaboration, and ensemble work by working together as a group to find hidden objects within a designated area.

Level: Beginner

Rules: Players work together as a group to find a series of hidden objects within a designated area, such as a room or outdoor space. The focus should be on observation, collaboration, and ensemble work, as players work together to locate the hidden objects and successfully complete the scavenger hunt.

Skills: Observation, collaboration, ensemble work

Scene in Reverse

Goal: To challenge players to tell a coherent story in reverse order, focusing on the cause-and-effect relationships between events.

Level: Intermediate

Rules: Two or more players perform a scene, beginning with the final event of the story and working backward through the narrative. Players must pay close attention to the cause-and-effect relationships between events, justifying each action or piece of dialogue by connecting it to the event that would have preceded it in a forward narrative.

Skills: Storytelling, cause-and-effect relationships, attention to detail, creativity

Scene Replay

Goal: To practice adaptability, focus, and character development by replaying a scene with new constraints or conditions.

Level: Intermediate

Rules: Players perform a short scene. After the scene is completed, the players must replay the scene with new constraints or conditions (e.g., in slow motion, as a musical, with each player swapping roles). Players should focus on adaptability, focus, and character development in their performance.

Skills: Adaptability, focus, character development

Scene to Music

Goal: To practice emotional and physical adaptability by performing a scene that changes with the music played.

Level: Intermediate

Rules: Two or more players perform a scene while music is played in the background. Players must adapt their actions, emotions, and dialogue to fit the mood of the music. The scene can change multiple times as the music changes.

Skills: Emotional adaptability, physical adaptability, listening, commitment

Scene to Rap

Goal: To practice rhythm, rhyming, and storytelling by turning a performed scene into a rap.

Level: Advanced

Rules: Players perform a short scene, after which they must turn the scene’s dialogue and actions into a rap, using rhythm, rhyme, and storytelling. Players should focus on maintaining the scene’s structure and characterisation while adding a musical element.

Skills: Rhythm, rhyming, storytelling

Scenes Cut From a Movie

Goal: To perform a series of short scenes that were supposedly “cut” from a well-known movie.

Level: Intermediate

Rules: Players perform a series of short scenes that are presented as having been “cut” from a well-known movie, which can be suggested by the audience. Players should aim to create scenes that are both humorous and consistent with the tone and style of the chosen movie, while also providing a fresh and unexpected perspective on the film’s characters and storylines.

Skills: Creativity, character work, storytelling, commitment

Scenes From a Hat

Goal: To practice quick thinking, creativity, and adaptability by performing a series of short, unrelated scenes based on audience suggestions.

Level: Advanced

Rules: Players take turns selecting a random scene suggestion from a hat (or other container) and then perform a short, unrelated scene based on that suggestion. The focus should be on quick thinking, creativity, and adaptability, as players must come up with a scene on the spot and perform it without any preparation.

Skills: Quick thinking, creativity, adaptability

Scenes on a Train

Goal: To practice ensemble work, character development, and creativity by performing a series of short scenes set on a train.

Level: Intermediate

Rules: Players perform a series of short scenes set on a train. Each scene should focus on different characters and situations, with the train setting providing a unifying theme. The focus should be on ensemble work, character development, and creativity, as players work together to create a diverse range of engaging scenes set on a train.

Skills: Ensemble work, character development, creativity

Secret Leader

Goals: To develop observation skills, enhance concentration, and encourage teamwork.

Level: Beginner

Rules: The children stand in a circle, with one child stepping outside of the room momentarily. The remaining children choose a “Secret Leader” who will initiate subtle movements (e.g., clapping, stomping, or head nodding). The rest of the group must follow the leader’s movements while maintaining a poker face. The child who stepped outside returns and stands in the centre of the circle, trying to identify the Secret Leader by observing the group’s movements. Once the Secret Leader is identified, a new round begins with a different child stepping outside and a new leader being chosen.

Skills: Observation, concentration, teamwork, and non-verbal communication.

Secret Word

Goal: To practice listening, focus, and creativity by incorporating a secret word into a scene.

Level: Beginner

Rules: One player is given a secret word or phrase by the director or audience, and must incorporate it into the scene without the other players noticing. The other players must try to guess the secret word based on the player’s actions and dialogue. Players should focus on listening, focus, and creativity in their attempts to both hide and guess the secret word.

Skills: Listening, focus, creativity

Sentences

Goal: To practice listening, collaboration, and storytelling by incorporating pre-written sentences into a scene.

Level: Intermediate

Rules: Players are given several pre-written sentences, either created by the facilitator or collected from the audience. Players must perform a scene while incorporating the sentences into their dialogue in a seamless and natural manner. The focus should be on listening, collaboration, and storytelling.

Skills: Listening, collaboration, storytelling, adaptability

Shadow Dance

Goals: To encourage physical expression, develop coordination, and foster creativity.

Level: Beginner

Rules: The teacher or facilitator sets up a projector or light source to cast large shadows on a wall or screen. The children take turns creating unique shadow shapes and figures using their bodies, while the rest of the group watches and tries to guess what the shadow represents. The children can also work together to create more complex shadow figures or tell a story through their shadow creations.

Skills: Physical expression, coordination, creativity, and teamwork.

Show-Stopping Number

Level: Advanced

Rules: Players perform a scene that includes a musical number designed to be the show-stopping moment. The audience can provide suggestions for the characters, setting, or context. Players should focus on developing their characters, exploring relationships, and creating an engaging and entertaining musical narrative that builds up to the show-stopping number.

Skills: Singing, dancing, character work, commitment, storytelling

Sideways Scene

Goal: To practice physicality, creativity, and adaptability by performing a scene on the floor as if it were a wall.

Level: Intermediate

Rules: Players perform a scene lying on the floor as if they were standing against a wall. They must use their creativity and adaptability to incorporate the new perspective into their scene, while maintaining their physicality and character development.

Skills: Physicality, creativity, adaptability

Whose Line 2013 - Sideways Scene (Episode 5)

Silent Scene

Goal: To enhance nonverbal communication skills, physical storytelling, and character development without relying on dialogue.

Level: Intermediate to Advanced

Rules: Two or more players perform a scene without using any dialogue, relying solely on nonverbal communication, physicality, and facial expressions to convey meaning and develop the story.

Skills: Nonverbal communication, physical storytelling, character development, emotional expression

Silly Statues

Goals: To encourage physical expression, develop creativity, and enhance concentration.

Level: Beginner

Rules: The teacher or facilitator calls out a theme or a category (e.g., “jungle animals” or “outer space”). The children must create a “silly statue” by striking a pose related to the theme, using their bodies to express unique ideas and interpretations. The teacher can introduce new themes or categories, and the children must adjust their poses accordingly. The game can be made more challenging by asking the children to hold their poses for longer durations or to create more complex statues.

Skills: Physical expression, creativity, concentration, and adaptability.

Simon Says

Goals: To develop listening skills, enhance concentration, and promote physical activity.

Level: Beginner

Rules: One child is designated as “Simon” and stands in front of the group. “Simon” gives instructions to the other children by saying “Simon says…” followed by an action, such as “touch your toes” or “jump up and down”. The children must perform the action only if it is preceded by “Simon says”. If “Simon” gives an instruction without saying “Simon says”, the children should not perform the action. The game continues until only one child remains, who then becomes the new “Simon”.

Skills: Listening, concentration, physical activity, and following instructions.

Singing Scene

Goal: To practice musical improvisation, creativity, and storytelling by performing a scene that incorporates singing.

Level: Intermediate

Rules: Players perform a scene that incorporates singing, either by singing their dialogue or by incorporating songs into the scene. The focus should be on musical improvisation, creativity, and storytelling, as players work together to create an engaging and entertaining scene with a musical element.

Skills: Musical improvisation, creativity, storytelling

Sit, Stand, Kneel, Lie Down

Goal: To practice focus, adaptability, and physicality by performing a scene while maintaining specific physical positions.

Level: Intermediate

Rules: Four players perform a scene in which one player must always be sitting, one must always be standing, one player must always be kneeling, and one must always be lying down. If a player changes their position, the other players must adjust their positions accordingly to maintain the sit-stand-kneel-lie down requirement. The focus should be on incorporating the physical positions into the scene while still creating engaging characters and stories.

Skills: Focus, adaptability, physicality, scene building

Six Degrees of Separation

Goal: To practice storytelling, structure, and ensemble work by performing a series of scenes that are connected by a common theme or element.

Level: Advanced

Rules: Players perform a series of scenes that are connected by a common theme or element, such as a prop, location, or character trait. The focus should be on storytelling, structure, and ensemble work, as players work together to create a dynamic and engaging series of scenes that showcase the connections between the various scenes.

Skills: Storytelling, structure, ensemble work, collaboration

Slideshow

Goal: To develop physical storytelling and creativity by narrating an imaginary slideshow.

Level: Beginner to Intermediate

Rules: One player acts as the “Narrator” and describes an imaginary slideshow to the audience. The other players form the images of the slideshow, striking and holding poses that represent the scenes described by the Narrator. The Narrator should give enough detail for the players to create the images, while the players must use their physicality and creativity to bring the Narrator’s descriptions to life.

Skills: Physical storytelling, creativity, narration, teamwork

Slow Motion Commentary

Goal: To enhance physicality and nonverbal storytelling by performing a slow-motion scene with a narrator.

Level: Beginner to Intermediate

Rules: Two or more players perform a scene in slow motion, using exaggerated physicality and facial expressions to convey the story. Another player provides commentary on the scene, describing the actions, emotions, and events as they unfold in slow motion. The performers must adjust their movements based on the commentary, while the commentator should adapt their narration to the performers’ actions.

Skills: Physicality, nonverbal storytelling, narration, adaptability

Slow Motion Race

Goals: To develop body control, enhance concentration, and encourage friendly competition.

Level: Beginner

Rules: The children line up at one end of the room or a designated starting point. The teacher or facilitator calls out “Go!” and the children must race to the other end of the room, moving as slowly as possible. The goal is to maintain slow, controlled movements while staying in motion. The first child to reach the finish line without speeding up or stopping is the winner.

Skills: Body control, concentration, friendly competition, and physical activity.

Song Styles

Goal: To perform an improvised song in various musical styles based on audience suggestions.

Level: Advanced

Rules: Players take turns performing an improvised song inspired by audience suggestions for both the subject matter and musical style. Players must quickly adapt to the different styles, showcasing their musical versatility and creativity while delivering an entertaining performance.

Skills: Singing, creativity, adaptability, commitment, character work

Song Titles

Goal: To practice committing to a character choice and exploring how it affects a scene.

Level: Intermediate

Rules: Each player is assigned a specific facial expression by the audience or an off-stage player (e.g. happy, sad, angry, surprised, etc.). Players must maintain their assigned expression throughout the scene and justify their character’s emotions based on that expression.

Skills: Commitment, character work, emotional exploration

Soundscape

Goals: To foster creativity, improve listening skills, and develop concentration.

Level: Beginner

Rules: The children sit or stand in a circle, and the teacher or facilitator introduces a theme or setting (e.g., a busy city, a jungle, or a beach). One child begins by making a sound that represents the chosen theme or setting. The next child adds another sound, layering it on top of the first. This continues around the circle, with each child contributing a unique sound to create an immersive soundscape. Once all sounds are established, the teacher can guide the children in adjusting the volume or intensity of their sounds, exploring the dynamics of the soundscape.

Skills: Creativity, active listening, concentration, and collaboration.

Soundscape

Goal: To practice listening, collaboration, and nonverbal communication by creating a cohesive auditory environment.

Level: Beginner

Rules: Players work together to create an imaginary environment (e.g., a forest, a busy city street, a space station) using only sounds. Players can use their voices, bodies, or found objects to create the sounds, and they should listen to and build upon the contributions of the other players. The focus should be on listening, collaboration, and nonverbal communication.

Skills: Listening, collaboration, nonverbal communication, creativity

Soundtrack

Goal: To practice incorporating music into scenes and adapting to changing musical cues.

Level: Intermediate

Rules: Players perform a scene while a designated person plays music in the background. The players must adapt their performance to the music, using it to influence the mood, tone, and pace of the scene. The focus should be on incorporating music into the scene and adapting to changing musical cues.

Skills: Adaptability, incorporating music, improvisational humour

Sound Ball

Goal: To practice focus, listening, and nonverbal communication by passing imaginary sound balls between players.

Level: Beginner

Rules: Players stand in a circle and create an imaginary sound ball by making a sound and a corresponding gesture. The player then “passes” the sound ball to another player by mimicking the sound and gesture. The receiving player must catch the sound ball by replicating the sound and gesture, and then pass it to another player with a new sound and gesture. The focus should be on focus, listening, and nonverbal communication.

Skills: Focus, listening, nonverbal communication, teamwork

Sound Circle

Goal: To practice listening, focus, and nonverbal communication by creating a soundscape within a circle of players.

Level: Beginner

Rules: Players stand in a circle and take turns creating a sound, with the goal of building a cohesive soundscape. Each player listens to the sounds being made by the other players and adds their own sound, either by echoing an existing sound or introducing a new one. The focus should be on listening, focus, and nonverbal communication.

Skills: Listening, focus, nonverbal communication, teamwork

Sound Effects

Goals: To enhance listening skills, promote creativity, and develop a sense of humour.

Level: Beginner to Intermediate

Rules: The teacher or facilitator prepares a set of cards, each containing a sound effect, such as “thunder”, “car horn”, or “squeaky door”. One child draws a card and must create the sound effect using only their voice or body. The rest of the group listens and tries to guess the sound effect based on the child’s performance. The game continues until all children have had a chance to create a sound effect.

Skills: Listening, creativity, humour, and communication.

Sound Effects

Goal: To enhance storytelling, creativity, and collaboration by incorporating sound effects into a scene.

Level: Beginner to Intermediate

Rules: Two or more players perform a scene, while one or more additional players provide sound effects to accompany the action. The players in the scene should react to and incorporate the sound effects into their storytelling, while the sound effects players should listen closely to the scene and add appropriate sounds. The focus should be on collaboration, creativity, and enhancing the scene through the use of sound.

Skills: Storytelling, creativity, collaboration, listening

Space Jump

Goals: To develop imaginative thinking, enhance storytelling skills, and encourage self-expression.

Level: Intermediate

Rules: One child stands in the centre of the room and starts to act out a scene from an imaginary story. The teacher or facilitator calls out “Space Jump!” and another child joins the scene, adding their own character and contributions to the narrative. The game continues with more children joining the scene as the story unfolds. The teacher can also call out “Space Out!” to signal children to leave the scene, adapting the story as necessary.

Skills: Imaginative thinking, storytelling, self-expression, and collaboration.

Space Jump

Goal: To create a cohesive narrative by connecting unrelated scenes through shared themes or ideas.

Level: Intermediate

Rules: Two players begin a scene. At any point, a player from the sidelines can call “Freeze!” and enter the scene, replacing one of the current players. The new player starts a completely different scene, but the scene must share a thematic or narrative connection to the previous scene. Players continue to jump in, creating new connected scenes as the game progresses.

Skills: Creativity, listening, storytelling, thematic exploration

Speech Jammer

Goal: To practice concentration, adaptability, and storytelling by performing a monologue or scene while listening to a delayed version of their own voice.

Level: Advanced

Rules: A player performs a monologue or scene while wearing headphones that play back a delayed version of their own voice. The player must continue speaking despite the auditory interference, focusing on concentration, adaptability, and storytelling to maintain the narrative.

Skills: Concentration, adaptability, storytelling, focus

Spelling Challenge

Goal: To practice spelling, memory, and quick thinking by engaging in a game where players must spell words backward and forward.

Level: Intermediate

Rules: One player calls out a word, and the other players must take turns spelling the word, first forward and then backward. The focus should be on spelling, memory, and quick thinking as players work together to accurately spell the word in both directions.

Skills: Spelling, memory, quick thinking

Spiderweb

Goal: To practice listening, focus, and nonverbal communication by connecting players in a web of imaginary strings.

Level: Beginner

Rules: Players stand in a circle and use imaginary strings to connect themselves to one another. One player begins by sending a nonverbal signal (such as a gesture or facial expression) to another player while “connecting” them with a string. The receiving player then sends a signal to a different player while connecting them with another string. The process continues until all players are connected. The focus should be on listening, focus, and nonverbal communication, as players work together to create a web of connections.

Skills: Listening, focus, nonverbal communication, collaboration

Spontaneous Broadway

Goal: To practice musical improvisation, storytelling, and ensemble work by creating and performing an impromptu musical.

Level: Advanced

Rules: Players collaborate to create and perform an original musical, complete with dialogue, songs, and choreography. The focus should be on musical improvisation, storytelling, and ensemble work, as players work together to create a cohesive and engaging narrative.

Skills: Musical improvisation, storytelling, ensemble work, creativity

Sportscasters

Goal: To practice comedic commentary, physicality, and teamwork by performing a scene as sportscasters and athletes.

Level: Intermediate

Rules: Two players take on the roles of sportscasters and provide humorous commentary on the actions of the other two players, who are performing as athletes in a fictional sport. The athletes must incorporate the commentary into their actions, while the sportscasters react to the athletes’ performance.

Skills: Comedic commentary, physicality, teamwork

Story Chain

Goals: To enhance storytelling skills, promote active listening, and foster teamwork.

Level: Beginner

Rules: The children sit in a circle. The teacher or facilitator begins a story with a sentence or two. The story then proceeds around the circle, with each child adding a sentence to continue the narrative. The goal is to create a cohesive and engaging story, despite the unpredictable nature of the storytelling process. If desired, the teacher can provide a theme or story prompt to guide the children’s contributions.

Skills: Storytelling, active listening, creativity, and teamwork.

Storyboard

Goal: To practice storytelling, collaboration, and creativity by constructing a story using a series of images.

Level: Intermediate

Rules: Players stand in a line facing the audience. One player steps forward and creates a frozen image with their body, representing the beginning of a story. The next player steps forward and adds another image, continuing the story. Players continue to step forward and create images until a complete story has been formed. Once the story is complete, players can discuss the narrative they created and the connections between the images. The focus should be on storytelling, collaboration, and creativity.

Skills: Storytelling, collaboration, creativity, physicality

Storyteller

Goal: To practice storytelling, collaboration, and adaptability by creating a group story with each player contributing one line at a time.

Level: Beginner

Rules: Players stand in a circle or line and take turns contributing one line at a time to create a group story. Each player should listen to the lines before theirs and build upon the narrative, ensuring the story flows smoothly and logically. The focus should be on collaboration, active listening, and adaptability as players work together to create an engaging story.

Skills: Storytelling, collaboration, active listening, adaptability

Story Time

Goal: To practice storytelling, collaboration, and ensemble work by performing a scene in which players take turns narrating a story.

Level: Intermediate

Rules: Players perform a scene in which they take turns narrating a story, with each player contributing to the narrative as it unfolds. The focus should be on storytelling, collaboration, and ensemble work, as players work together to create a dynamic and engaging story that is driven by their collective input and creativity.

Skills: Storytelling, collaboration, ensemble work

Strange Bedfellows

Goal: To practice character work and explore unusual relationships between characters in a scene.

Level: Intermediate

Rules: Players perform a scene where they are all sharing a bed or sleeping in close proximity. The audience can provide suggestions for the characters or relationships. Players should focus on exploring the dynamics between the characters and discovering interesting and funny situations that arise from the unusual arrangement.

Skills: Character work, relationship building, commitment, listening

Stunt Double

Goal: To practice physicality, focus, and collaboration by having one player perform the physical actions of a scene while another player provides the dialogue.

Level: Intermediate

Rules: Two players perform a scene in which one player provides the dialogue while the other player performs the physical actions. The players must collaborate and focus on timing to ensure the actions and dialogue sync up. Players should focus on physicality, focus, and collaboration in their performance.

Skills: Physicality, focus, collaboration

Superheroes

Goals: To foster creativity, promote self-expression, and encourage imaginative play.

Level: Intermediate

Rules: Each child creates an original superhero persona, complete with a unique name, costume, and special powers. The children then take turns acting out their superhero characters in front of the group, explaining their abilities and demonstrating their powers through movement and dialogue. The rest of the group can ask questions or interact with the superhero, engaging in playful and creative role-play.

Skills: Creativity, self-expression, imagination, and communication.

Superheroes

Goal: To practice character development, creativity, and storytelling by performing a scene involving a group of superheroes.

Level: Intermediate

Rules: Players take on the roles of various superheroes, each with unique powers and quirks. The scene revolves around their interactions and efforts to save the day. The focus should be on character development, creativity, and storytelling, as players work together to create an engaging and dynamic scene.

Skills: Character development, creativity, storytelling, ensemble work

Superpower Swap

Goal: To practice character development and physicality by giving and taking away superpowers.

Level: Intermediate

Rules: Players perform a scene in which they have a superpower. During the scene, players can “swap” superpowers with other players by touching them. Players must then incorporate their new superpower into the scene and adjust their physicality accordingly.

Skills: Character development, physicality, adaptability

Super Mario Scene

Goal: To practice physicality, creativity, and storytelling by performing a scene inspired by the world of Super Mario.

Level: Intermediate

Rules: Players perform a scene set in the world of Super Mario, incorporating elements such as power-ups, obstacles, and familiar characters. The focus should be on physicality, creativity, and storytelling, as players work together to create a dynamic and engaging scene.

Skills: Physicality, creativity, storytelling, ensemble work

Walk and Talk

Goal: To practice physicality, pacing, and listening by performing a scene while constantly moving.

Level: Intermediate

Rules: Players perform a scene where they must be walking and talking at all times. The scene should still have a clear beginning, middle, and end, with players focusing on physicality, pacing, and listening.

Skills: Physicality, pacing, listening

Weird Newscasters

Goal: To practice characterisation, comedy, and storytelling by performing a scene as news anchors with bizarre quirks.

Level: Intermediate

Rules: Players perform a scene as news anchors, with each player assigned a strange quirk or characteristic. They must incorporate their quirks into the scene while maintaining the structure and characterisation of a news broadcast.

Skills: Characterisation, comedy, storytelling

What Are You Doing?

Goal: To practice spontaneity, creativity, and ensemble work by performing a scene in which players must justify their actions based on an audience suggestion.

Level: Beginner

Rules: One player starts a scene by performing a specific action, and another player enters and asks, “What are you doing?” The first player must then justify their action based on an audience suggestion, and the second player must continue the scene based on the justification. The focus should be on spontaneity, creativity, and ensemble work, as players work together to create a dynamic and engaging scene that incorporates audience input.

Skills: Spontaneity, creativity, ensemble work, collaboration

What If?

Goal: To practice creativity, adaptability, and storytelling by improvising scenes based on hypothetical “what if” situations.

Level: Beginner

Rules: Players take suggestions from the audience for hypothetical “what if” situations (e.g., “What if gravity stopped working?” or “What if everyone could read minds?”) and then improvise scenes exploring these situations. The focus should be on creativity, adaptability, and storytelling, as players create engaging and entertaining scenes based on these unusual scenarios.

Skills: Creativity, adaptability, storytelling

What’s My Line?

Goal: To practice active listening, quick thinking, and ensemble work by incorporating randomly assigned lines of dialogue into a scene.

Level: Intermediate

Rules: Before the scene, players or audience members write random lines of dialogue on slips of paper, which are then distributed to the players. During the scene, players must incorporate their assigned lines into their dialogue at appropriate moments. The focus should be on active listening, quick thinking, and ensemble work, as players work together to seamlessly integrate the random lines into the scene.

Skills: Active listening, quick thinking, ensemble work

What’s The Scenario?

Goal: To practice quick thinking, creativity, and storytelling by creating scenes based on scenarios provided by the facilitator or other players.

Level: Beginner

Rules: Players create scenes based on scenarios provided by the facilitator or other players. The focus should be on quick thinking, creativity, and storytelling, as players create engaging and entertaining scenes.

Skills: Quick thinking, creativity, storytelling

What’s Your Excuse?

Goal: To practice thinking on your feet and coming up with creative explanations for unusual situations.

Level: Beginner

Rules: One player presents another player with an unusual situation, and the second player must come up with a creative and plausible explanation or excuse for the situation. The focus should be on thinking on your feet and coming up with creative explanations.

Skills: Quick thinking, creativity, storytelling

What’s Your Superpower?

Goal: To practice character development, creativity, and adaptability by performing a scene in which players take on unique superpowers.

Level: Intermediate

Rules: Players perform a scene in which they take on unique superpowers, either assigned by a director, chosen by the players themselves, or suggested by the audience. Players must maintain their superpowers throughout the scene and adapt their interactions with each other accordingly.

Skills: Character development, creativity, adaptability

Who Am I?

Goal: To practice character work, listening, and quick thinking by having players guess the identity of their own character based on the way others interact with them.

Level: Advanced

Rules: One player leaves the room while the others decide on a character for them to portray. When the player returns, they must interact with the other players in a scene without knowing who their character is. The other players should provide clues through their dialogue and actions. The focus should be on character work, listening, and quick thinking as the guessing player navigates the scene and works to discover their character’s identity.

Skills: Character work, listening, quick thinking

Who, What, Where

Goal: To practice establishing the basic elements of a scene (who, what, and where) and ensemble work by performing a scene in which players quickly establish the characters, situation, and setting.

Level: Beginner

Rules: Players perform a scene in which they quickly establish the characters (who), situation (what), and setting (where) within the first few lines of dialogue. The focus should be on establishing the basic elements of the scene and ensemble work, as players work together to create a clear and engaging scene that is grounded in a strong foundation.

Skills: Establishing the basic elements of a scene, ensemble work

Whoosh

Goals: To promote quick thinking, enhance concentration, and foster physical expression.

Level: Beginner

Rules: The children stand in a circle. The game begins with one child making a “whoosh” sound and passing an imaginary energy ball to another child in the circle using their hands. That child must accept the energy ball and pass it on to another child with the same “whoosh” sound. The game can be made more challenging by introducing additional rules, such as reversing the ball’s direction with a “whoa” sound, skipping a person with a “zoom” sound, or passing the ball to a non-adjacent person with a “zap” sound.

Skills: Quick thinking, concentration, physical expression, and adaptability.

Whose Line Is It Anyway?

Goal: To practice incorporating pre-written lines into an improvised scene by engaging in a game where players must use lines provided by the audience or other players.

Level: Intermediate

Rules: Two or more players create a scene, but they must incorporate pre-written lines provided by the audience or other players. The lines can be anything from famous movie quotes to random phrases. The focus should be on integrating the lines seamlessly into the scene, making them feel like natural parts of the characters’ dialogue.

Skills: Incorporating external elements, quick thinking, dialogue

Word Association

Goals: To enhance vocabulary, encourage quick thinking, and develop listening skills.

Level: Beginner to Intermediate

Rules: The children sit or stand in a circle. One child starts by saying a word. The next child must say a word related to the first word, and the game continues with each child contributing a word associated with the previous word. The goal is to maintain a continuous flow of words and associations, with no long pauses or repetition. If a child cannot think of a word, they can ask for help or the group can move on to the next participant.

Skills: Vocabulary, quick thinking, listening, and communication.

Word at a Time Story

Goals: To promote active listening, enhance communication skills, and foster creative thinking.

Level: Beginner

Rules: The children sit or stand in a circle. The objective is to create a story, with each child contributing one word at a time. The first child begins with a single word, and the story proceeds around the circle with each child adding one word to the narrative. The goal is to create a cohesive and engaging story, while paying attention to grammar and sentence structure. If desired, the teacher can provide a theme or story prompt to guide the children’s contributions.

Skills: Active listening, communication, creative thinking, and collaboration.

Word at a Time Story

Goal: To practice listening, collaboration, and storytelling by creating a story one word at a time.

Level: Beginner

Rules: Players stand in a circle and create a story by contributing one word at a time, going around the circle. Players must listen carefully and build on the words of the previous players to create a coherent and engaging story. The focus should be on listening, collaboration, and storytelling.

Skills: Listening, collaboration, storytelling, focus

Word at a Time Expert

Goal: To practice listening, collaboration, and ensemble work by answering questions as a group, speaking one word at a time.

Level: Beginner

Rules: One player asks a series of questions, while the other players answer as a group, speaking one word at a time. The focus should be on listening, collaboration, and ensemble work, as players work together to create coherent and engaging answers to the questions.

Skills: Listening, collaboration, ensemble work

Word Association

Goal: To develop listening and quick thinking skills by rapidly responding to words with associated words.

Level: Beginner

Rules: A group of players stands in a circle. One player starts by saying a word, and the next player in the circle must immediately respond with a word that is associated with the previous word. The game continues around the circle, with each player contributing a word based on the previous word. Players should focus on quick thinking and making clear connections between words.

Skills: Listening, quick thinking, word association, focus

Word Ball

Goal: To practice listening, focus, and quick thinking by passing imaginary words in a circle.

Level: Beginner

Rules: Players stand in a circle and imagine they are holding a ball containing a word. One player “throws” the word ball to another player, who must “catch” the word and say it out loud before passing it on to someone else. The focus should be on listening, focus, and quick thinking, as players work together to keep the pace of the game moving quickly.

Skills: Listening, focus, quick thinking, collaboration

Word of the Day

Goal: To practice adaptability, creativity, and storytelling by incorporating a specific word into a scene.

Level: Intermediate

Rules: Players are given a word of the day, which they must incorporate into their scene in creative and meaningful ways. The focus should be on adaptability, creativity, and storytelling, as players work together to create a dynamic and engaging scene that highlights the chosen word.

Skills: Adaptability, creativity, storytelling, ensemble work

World’s Worst

Goal: To practice creativity, comedic timing, and ensemble work by performing a series of rapid-fire scenes showcasing the world’s worst examples of a given profession, activity, or situation.

Level: Intermediate

Rules: Players take turns performing short, rapid-fire scenes that showcase the world’s worst examples of a given profession, activity, or situation (e.g., world’s worst doctor, world’s worst date, world’s worst job interview). The focus should be on creativity, comedic timing, and ensemble work, as players work together to create a dynamic and engaging series of scenes that explore the humorous potential of each scenario.

Skills: Creativity, comedic timing, ensemble work, collaboration

Worst Day Ever

Goal: To practice storytelling and exaggeration by recounting an increasingly terrible day.

Level: Beginner

Rules: Players take turns sharing their “worst day ever,” starting with a mildly bad event and escalating with each turn. The story should become more and more exaggerated as it progresses.

Skills: Storytelling, exaggeration, creativity