Curated OER
Mirror Exercise
Kids get up and act! To promote inventiveness, timing, and clowning, they pair up and act as though they are looking in a mirror. Child A does a move while child B attempts to mimic it as closely as possible. This is a fun activity that...
Curated OER
Tug of War Exercise
Learners hone their acting and imagination by playing tug-o-war with an imaginary rope. Each group works together and pretends to pull the other group over the imaginary line with an imaginary rope. This could be a good improve warm up...
Primary Resources
Drama Warm Ups and Circle Games
Circle games, energetic games, calming games, exit games. Whether used as ice breakers, warm ups, or exit strategies, or used in drama classes or content areas, the 28 games detailed in this packet deserve a spot in your curriculum...
Illinois Elementary School Association
Improv Exercises
Here's an eight-page packet that describes 70 different improv activities to use as warm ups for drama classes.
Curated OER
Pantomime Exercise
Learners of any age can learn to communicate using gestures and their bodies. They create a pantomime of a specific activity without using any words. This resource includes a link to an Off-Broadway Workshop for kids.
Learning to Give
Teaching Playwriting in Schools
The world is a stage, and so is your classroom! Hone the skills of the next generation of Tony® award winners with a set of exercises, reference pages, writing prompts, and excerpts from famous plays.
Curated OER
Theatre: Exploratory Techniques
Using various exploratory techniques, young actors work as an ensemble company to devise, perform and evaluate a piece of theatre for assessment. This outline provides an objective and a list of games and activities that stimulate skills...
New York City Department of Education
Theater Units for Lower and Upper Elementary Levels
Introduce middle schoolers to playwriting and the elements of drama with a six-session storytelling unit that encourages kids to expand their acting and writing skills. The 12-page packet includes overviews of the lessons,...
Curated OER
Act it Out
Students discuss racial stereotypes. In this racial stereotypes lesson plan, students develop a character from information given to them on an index card. Students give their character a race different from their own and...
Curated OER
Co-Operation: Drama
For some schools, character-counts lessons are a big part of the curriculum. This resource focuses on following directions and the importance of being a cooperative team player. Learners role-play a variety of situations by being...
Curated OER
Alicia Keys, Songs in A Minor
Need a musical lesson for your drama or performing arts class? VH1 has put together a really neat lesson, in which learners use biographical information about Alicia Keys to write and perform a one-act musical related to her life. This...
Curated OER
Drama: Inferential Thinking
Students anonymously answer a set of questions listing favorite activities and preferences. They exchange papers and attempt to determine certain characteristics of their "mystery" classmate.
Curated OER
Rhythmic Expression
Learners discover movement and expression to music/sound through a series of teacher-led exercises and role plays. This lesson is ideal for the middle school drama class with possibilities for adaptation to any level of drama or general...
Curated OER
Mirror Image
Second graders create and act out mirror images of their partners and the movements they make. They focus on spatial awareness skills associated with this activity, including exercising in large and small movements. Students observe...
Curated OER
Ivanov Goes to Moscow
Students complete a unit on the play, "Ivanov" by Chekhov. They read and analyze the play, write a short story, watch a film of the play, complete a data sheet, and conduct a debate.
Other
Learn Improv
This site is a place to learn about the art of improvisational comedy. "One cannot really learn improvisational comedy from a web page, however the list of exercises included here will definitely help."