Easy drama exercises

  • Pass around an ordinary object such as a pencil or pen; have each child imagine it is something else and show us without words what it has become.
  • Have the class stand in a circle. Move across the circle with emotion such as joy or anger, give emotion to another person. That person takes the emotion into circle then changes it to something else and passes it to the next person. Always choose someone who hasn't participated yet.
  • At a bus station, church social hour, or other large-group situation, hand each child a card with a description of a person and what that person is thinking or feeling. When the children enter the group, they become that person. No one else knows what identity they have been given. This activity could be used with specific situation from curriculum.
  • Perform choral readings. The leader writes out a poem or reading with parts for all the children. Repeat certain words for emphasis, echo others, or have two children or all children read the same phrase. Read the piece through once or twice to practice.
  • Any story from the curriculum can be changed into a small play for the children to act out. Keep the story simple, and have parts for everyone.
  • Read a story, then have the children become their favorite part of the story. They could be the chair a person sat in, or a character from the story, or the proclamation that was read. Repeat the story asking the children to stop the story when their part comes, and have them jump into the story.
  • When you read a story, have the children figure out the parts they liked the best or where they felt the same as the character. Have them tell the story their way.