Try these middle school drama lessons and ideas.
When I first started teaching, I didn’t quite know how to approach the drama section of our art curriculum. We would do a few skits, occasionally play a version of Bus Stop where one kid had to make another laugh, and call it a day. I wanted to breathe some life into our drama activities and make things fun again. Improv games were a perfect fit!
Improv games for teens can warm up their acting and collaboration skills. They can enhance creative thinking and be used as icebreaker tools in new teen groups.
These fun drama games and activity ideas are sure to bring hours of fun and laughter to the drama team or department. These games can be used as warm-ups,
drama activities and games for elementary students
Our Acting Skills Poster is a great educational resource that will help you create relevant and engaging Drama and Theatre classrooms.
Want to learn and practice differet types of drama? Here's a list of 9 with an explanation of how to do each one. Great for drama class.
Our Studying Drama as Literature Poster is a great educational resource that will help you create relevant and engaging English Literature classrooms.
As the arts lose more and more of a hold in education, it becomes increasingly important for teachers to find ways to integrate the arts in their classes.
Breathe new life into your drama program with the best plays for high school — modern, traditional, and everything in between!
Our Acting Terms Poster is a great educational resource that will help you create relevant and engaging Drama and Theatre classrooms.
Drama games & activities in your classroom or drama club as warm-ups, ice breakers, or as fun activities to start any class!
Floor Slaps is a great drama game to focus your class' energy and can hold their attention for a long time.
4 Ready-to-print Elements of Drama Activities and a poster!*Elements of Drama Poster*Elements of Drama Match with Answer Key*2 Elements of Drama Scavenger Hunt (drama provided) with Answer Key*Elements of Drama Scavenger Hunt (to use with any drama)...
Our Creating a Theatre Set Poster is a great educational resource that will help you create relevant and engaging Drama and Theatre classrooms.
drama activities and games for elementary students
A fun, simple exercise to help students become comfortable performing in front of the class.
It's not often that the subject comes up here on the blog, but I own a private drama studio that operates out of my house. It's awesome ...
Teaching drama for the first time? Get this free 12 pages lesson plan from Drama Notebook. Here are the basic goals to cover while teaching your first drama class.
Our Stage Lighting Poster is a great educational resource that will help you create relevant and engaging Drama and Theatre classrooms.
We Are Thespians!
TWENTY-ONE RED HOT PROCESS DRAMA TOOLS FOR MORE EFFECTIVE AND EXCITING TEACHING! (Adapted from Patrice Baldwin’s The Drama Book) Process drama is a specific form of drama particularly suited to en…
It's always a good idea to keep a few acting exercises in your back pocket. So here are six powerful acting exercises for teenagers.
We Are Thespians!
I'm constantly sharing about my work-at-home Etsy business here on the blog, but I very rarely talk about my other job: teaching drama. I've been giving drama lessons to kids for almost ten years, and my little program has grown a lot. My typical class session is 8-10 weeks and features a performance at the end of the semester. Our shows are based on short stories, most of which I have adapted myself. This semester, I'm teaching five classes, which comes out to eight hours of teaching a week. I'm blessed to have two sets of grandparents who are happy to keep track of Lincoln and Addie while I teach - and equally blessed that so many people want to participate in my classes. When I started teaching, I had no idea what I was doing. I was a community theatre enthusiast and thought "well, I love it - so probably I can make it work." Yes, that was my strategy. Thankfully, people stuck with me in spite of my inexperience. I've come a long way since then, and am constantly incorporating new learning tools like improvisation games, projection exercises, and memorization bribes rewards. This year, I taught a short monologue memorization/recitation class, which inspired me to add in a Character Analysis Worksheet for my students this spring. A character analysis is useful anytime someone is portraying another character, and I think this exercise will help take some of my students to the next level as far as character development. Since I teach kids from ages 6-16, I see a wide range of characters in the final productions. Sometimes they blow me away with their true-to-life characters and sometimes, I think "well, at least their lines are memorized." I started searching for a good character analysis worksheet, but could not find anything that fit the needs of my class. So, I made my own! It's a one-page worksheet and features questions that will help even the youngest actor develop a character of their own. I am testing it out this semester and may add another sheet of more detailed questions for my teen students next time around. This is a little outside the realm of my "normal" free printables here on the blog, but maybe some other drama teacher out there will find this to be a useful tool! I hope so, anyway. If you use it, let me know what you think - are there any questions I need to include in an "advanced" version? You can download the Character Analysis Worksheet here! And make sure you grab my list of favorite free printable Tongue Twisters!
Teaching drama for the first time? Get this free 12 pages lesson plan from Drama Notebook. Here are the basic goals to cover while teaching your first drama class.
Mafia is a fan favourite drama game that encourages characterisation, strategy and storytelling. It can be played in person or virtually.
This FREE product is a preview for my 48 Mime Time Drama Scenarios A mime in drama is creating the illusion of objects around you with the use of body language and facial expressions without the use of speech. These 48 scenarios can be used during a formal drama lesson or a quick brain break which is essential for focus and learning. To make it easier for you to organize your students into groups, a number on the corner of each scenario card recommends how many should be in the group. Helpful hints on each scenario are included to help your students create quality performances. It is recommended to give the students at least 15 minutes to rehearse and then select all/some groups to perform.To encourage audience participation, allow your class to guess what they think the scenario was about. Also included is a black and white copy. If you would like to purchase the full product, click on the following link: 48 Mime Time Drama Scenarios
My school has been very fortunate to offer a drama residency to students. The PAC and district joined together to fund this. We invited Ted Sloan, a local celebrity, in to help us out. Ted was a local radio personality for 10 years. Ted has an acting degree from the University of Alberta and he's currently going to Capilano University to complete a diploma in backstage studies. We took the school and split everyone up into one of three weeks. Everyone gets 45 minutes a day with Ted for a week. My class was in the first week. This residency was excellent for students in so many ways. It was great to push some of my more serious kids out of their comfort zone. For my outgoing students, they were provided an outlet for their personality I unfortunately can't provide often enough. I also strongly believe in the importance of male role models in kids lives - there just isn't enough male teachers and kids can easily go their whole elementary career without having a male teacher. When he first arrived, there were some simple expectations put in place: 1) Respect (for yourself, each other, him) 2) Not my prop (essentially, if it's not yours, don't touch it) 3) Ask "is it safe?" (if it isn't, don't do it) He also shared with them a strategy he calls "Focus In, Focus Out". Often in drama you can get overwhelmed or over excited. He said that if he noticed this in the students he would say "Focus In, Focus Out". When they heard this they were to take a deep breath in and out to refocus themselves. I was so grateful for these expectations as they set the tone for the entire week. Ted started every day with a check-in. This was set up very similar to what I do daily, Circle Talk. (From Tribes Learning Communities). He passed a ball around for the talking person, gave the right to pass, and reminded students of the respect piece which meant they couldn't take information they learned at the check-in to use against people out on the playground. What he did differently, which I loved, was that he set some limitations on the words they could use. They were not allowed to use "good", "okay", or "awesome" unless they justified it. He also challenged them not to explain their feeling with a word someone else has used (if I say I'm fantastic, then you need to pick a new word.) By the end, my kids were starting to come up with some great vocab! Ted also threw in fancy words (ecstatic, loathe, detest, elated) which helped build the vocab for them. In this video, he is teaching them level one of a concentration game. (Sorry the quality is not awesome - they came off my iPhone and then I think compressed some more when uploaded.) Students have to switch places with someone else in the circle without speaking to them or touching them to indicate the place switch. They also need to do so fairly quickly. Once this is mastered, they play a game of Zap simultaneously in level 2. The levels get harder after that with a ball being passed around and other crazy antics. Here he is going over the parts of a play: 1) Status Quo 2) Problem 3) Solution 4) Did it work? with a fun made up story the kids improv-ed. He uses "Focus In, Focus Out" at the end of this clip. Finally, a clip from the "8 Count Shake Out" which I will totally be using as a brain break. I was a bit slow with my camera, so I start at 4. The shake out halves each time - 8, 4, 2, 1. I started filming at 4. Thank you Ted for coming to our classroom! It was a fantastic experience for the students and myself! Readers, what is your favourite drama activity? Share with me in the comments! Pin this post.
A study guide for assessment in Theatre Fundamentals! Covers creative drama, improvisation, theatre space, acting, the production process, playwriting, and theatre appreciation.
