DRAMA GAMES ENCYCLOPEDIA for KIDS
Listed Alphabetically
Discover more than 50 drama games and creative theater activities for young people listed alphabetically, making it easy to find a specific game by name. Each game includes step-by-step downloadable instructions and a teaching video. This resource is part of the free creative dramatics curriculum from Curtains Up Acting Studio.
Prefer to browse games organized by the acting skills and core concepts they teach?
Visit Drama Games Encyclopedia by Concept
SKIP TO:
The game leader names a random object and a team of 6-8 actors work together to represent the object with their bodies.
Students explore creating characters by walking with different parts of their body leading.
Students practice observation skills by identifying three small changes their partners make in their appearance.
Three character qualities are “painted” on an actor who then demonstrates them.
A concentration game played in a circle requiring students to move and clap with precise rhythm and rapid response.
A simple concentration warm-up that teaches focus and listening as a group.
With eyes closed, students count to ten as a group with only one student speaking at a time.
Students go from standing to lying on the floor and back on increasingly shorter counts.
E - H
A group of actors perform a scene in a series of emotional states supplied by the game leader.
Actors create three frozen scenes to capture the beginning, middle, and end of a fairy tale.
Actors pose to represent specific types of families suggested by the game leader.
Actors are given a category and must quickly name five things that fit.
Two actors improvise a scene until a third actor calls freeze, takes one of their places, and starts a new scene.
Students walking in a circle attempt to stop, start, and change direction at precisely the same moment without speaking.
Students in a group mirror the the rhythmic sounds and actions of everyone else in the group. When any group member changes the pattern of sound and movement, all change.
One by one, students form and add to a group sculpture based on a prompt from the game leader.
Actors pretending to ride in a car pick up the character quirks of one hitchhiker after another.
Actors adopt strong, specific characters and interact with a hotel desk clerk.
K - M
Students hold hands across a circle to create a human “knot,” and then try to untangle themselves to form a single circle without letting go.
Actors work together to create a single human machine with mechanical movements and sounds.
Students take turns transforming a piece of cloth into an imaginary prop and using it until others guess what it is.
A simple vocal warm-up exercise teaching projection and proper breath support.
Students take turns acting out an emotion without words for other students to guess.
In pairs, one student mirrors the movements of the other as precisely as possible.
Mirror Tableaux
Teams of students compete to see who can most quickly assume the exact positions modelled by a leading group.
Students receive and mimic a rhythmic motion and sound; then change or morph it into a different motion and sound before passing it on.
Actors are given three actions to perform on stage and must improvise the motivation behind each action.
N - R
A warm-up game for learning names in a group by connecting each student’s name with a specific action improvised by that student.
A concentration exercise where students must maintain frozen positions as statues while a “security guard” tries to catch them moving.
Students mime painting an imaginary wall, each using a unique and creative method.
Small groups of students create and perform an original scene, using three random objects given to them in a paper bag as props.
Using mime, students take turns opening an imaginary gift of their choosing.
As students pass a series of objects around a circle, they must use each one as an imaginary prop different from what it actually is.
A small group of actors improvise a scene, raising the emotional intensity higher each time the game leader adds a new complication.
Students in a line improvise loud, animated speeches on a given topic—maintaining focus despite everyone speaking at the same time.
S
Actors improvise a mimed scene that includes both characters and scenery, building it one actor at a time.
Students glide their voices from low to high and back, in order to warm up their full vocal range and develop breath support.
Actors instantly create a character based on a single adjective and a randomly assigned vocation.
A physical and vocal warm-up where students pass an imaginary ball around a circle with improvised sound effects.
Students imagine walking and moving through a series of suggested environments.
Students mime throwing water balloons and ducking, while learning names in this creative warm-up game.
A lesson in how to stand and move on stage in order to stay open and visible to the audience.
A lesson explaining the parts of the stage and the meaning of common stage directions—including stage left, stage right, upstage, and downstage.
In a circle, students tell a story as a group, with each student adding one sentence at a time.
T - Z
A step-by-step exercise exercise for teaching students how to create effective stage pictures using levels, point of focus, and interaction.
An energizing warm-up where students shake each hand and foot while counting down from ten to one, increasing the pace with each round.
Students practice projection and proper breath support as they imagine sending voices to the far side of the room.
Clarify the pronunciation of words and stretch the muscles you use to speak, in this warm-up using tongue twisters.
Students cross the stage embodying the physical traits of characters assigned by the game leader.
Two actors compete by instantly acting out the activities named by their partner.
Actors deliver the same line—each one performing it with the subtext appropriate for a character and a situation assigned by the game leader.
Students in a circle watch and imitate a hidden leader’s changing actions, while a student standing in the middle of the circle tries to identify the leader.
A pair of actors improvise a three-line scene by accepting and adding on to their partners ideas.
A fast-paced warm-up where students pass an imaginary car around a circle as increasingly complex commands are introduced.
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.
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