Three students playing the improv game "Freeze Tag"

FREEZE TAG

CURTAINS UP ACTING STUDIO

 
 

FREEZE TAG: A DRAMA GAME for KIDS
Improvisation and Imagination

In this classic improv based drama game, two actors perform a scene until a third actor calls “freeze,” takes one actor’s place, and uses the frozen position to imagine and begin an entirely new scene.

 

Watch a Demonstration of
Freeze Tag:

Download Printable Instructions
 

Step-by-Step Instructions

  • Two actors start to improvise a scene with broad physical actions. 

  • At any time, another actor from the class can shout “Freeze!” and the acting pair must freeze in place. The interrupting actor must then tap one of the two frozen players on the shoulder and take their place–precisely assuming that player’s pose. 

  • The tapped actor exits, and the interruptor starts a new scene with the remaining actor–a  scene that makes sense of the frozen pose in a manner that is completely different from the previous scene. 

  • E.g., two actors, A and B, pretend to be sword fighting. Actor C shouts “Freeze,” –halting A and B in a pose where their arms are outstretched toward one another. C then taps A on his shoulder and takes his/her place. When A exits, C starts a new scene saying, “Come on, turn the rope faster!” while pretending to swing one end of a jump rope–thus justifying the outstretched arm pose. B immediately supports this idea and the two launch into a jump rope scene, which continues until a new actor shouts “freeze!”

MORE DRAMA GAMES AND THEATER ACTIVITIES YOU MIGHT ENJOY:
FIVE THINGS - Strengthen imagination, spontaneity, and improv skills as students name lists of objects without overthinking.
MAGIC CLOTH - Students take turns interacting creatively with a piece of cloth as though it were a prop other than cloth.
STORY CIRCLE - Students are given a title and must improvise an imaginative story as a group, adding one line at a time.

 
Browse Theater Games Encyclopedia
Curtains Up Creative Dramatics Curriculum
 

© 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.