FAIRY TALE TABLEAUX: A DRAMA GAME for KIDS
Telling Stories in Frozen Pictures

Actors create three frozen scenes to capture the beginning, middle, and end of a fairy tale in this theater exercise for kids.

(DEMONSTRATION OF FAIRY TALE TABLEAUX BEGINS AT 2:46 ON THE VIDEO)

Step-by-Step instructions

• Once the students understand how to make a good tableau or frozen scene, divide them into groups of six to eight and tell them: “I want each group to create three frozen scenes or tableaux from a familiar fairy tale. Basically, you’ll be making a human slideshow that tells the story–with a beginning, a middle, and an end.” 

• Assign each group the title of a fairy tale (or let them pick their own,) and give the groups ten minutes to stage their tableaux. They should rehearse so they can move from one “slide” to the next quickly and smoothly. 

• After ten minutes, let the groups come back together and perform for each other. You can announce the title of each story before the students perform it; or you can let them perform first, and ask the other students to guess what story is being presented.
  

MORE DRAMA GAMES AND THEATER ACTIVITIES YOU MIGHT ENJOY:
EMOTIONAL FRIENDS - A group of actors perform a scene in a series of emotional states supplied by the game leader.
FAMILY PORTRAIT - Actors pose to represent specific types of families suggested by the teacher.
GROUP SCULPTURE MASTERPIECE - One by one, students form and add to a group sculpture based on a title.

© 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.