A group of young people lead by a teacher, all standing in a circle pointing at the center

CONCENTRATION
POINT

CURTAINS UP ACTING STUDIO

CONCENTRATION POINT
A Simple Drama Warmup to Help Kids Focus

 
 

Introduce students to the concept of concentration and ensemble awareness with this simple theater exercise.

 

Watch a Demonstration of
Concentration Point:

 
Download Printable Instructions

Step-by-Step Instructions

  • Stand in a circle. After explaining the concept of concentration to the students, tell them this is a simple game that will test their concentration as a group. 

  • Explain that you will point to the center of the circle and whisper “There!” They should try to point and say “There!” at exactly the same time as you do–so if someone were to walk into the room, they wouldn’t even know who was leading. Then lead the group in a series of points, varying the time interval between the points. 

  • When they have mastered this simple mirror exercise, tell them: “Now any one of you can do what I just did–point to the center and whisper ‘There!’ and we’ll all point with you. Don’t try to fool the group. Try to get them to point with you. And once you’ve had a turn, don’t point again. Also–let plenty of time pass between points, so the group has a chance to settle back to stillness before the next point.” Continue the exercise with the students leading.

  • Encourage the students to concentrate and use their side-vision to take in the whole circle at once. And again, stress that the object is to be so together as a group that an outsider wouldn’t be able to tell who was leading.

MORE WARM-UPS AND THEATER ACTIVITIES YOU MIGHT ENJOY:
CONCENTRATION CLAPS - A concentration game that develops group focus through synchronized clapping.
MIRROR - Actors takes turns mimicking each other’s actions as precisely as possible.
ZOOM CAR - Students pass an imaginary car around a circle as increasingly complex commands are introduced.

 
 
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Curtains Up Creative Dramatics Curriculm
 


© 2023, Friends of the Groom Theater Company

 

Curtains Up Curriculum by Friends of the Groom Theater Co. is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Curtains Up is a training program designed for young actors sponsored by Friends of the Groom Theater Company.
It is available to the general public for free under the terms of the Creative Commons License above.