Game Bank

Coseekee

Improv freeze

Improv Two students go to the center of the circle and start acting out a simple scene, such as eating at
a restaurant, doing homework together at school, etc. At any point, someone from the circle can call out
“freeze”. The two people freeze while the person who called out goes into the center and takes the
place of one of the actors by putting his/her body in the exact same position. The two in the center now
act out a different scene that makes sense for the positions that they are starting in.

Space Freeze

have several players go to the center of the room, and number them one through
five. The rest of the group imagines a scenario for number one (for example, for
some intertextual gameplay, let’s say the player is a zombie). Player 1 performs
improv about that scenario (likely walking slowly with their arms out and mumbling
about brains).
After 15–30 seconds, the leader calls out, “Space jump!” Player 1 freezes, and player
2 joins them, using whatever pose player 1 is frozen in as inspiration for an entirely
new scene. The two actors portray the new scene until it’s “Space jump!” time again,
and actor 3 joins. Rinse and repeat for player 4 and 5. Upon reaching the final five-
player scene, when the leader calls, “Space jump!,” it goes in reverse order: Player 5
leaves the scene and it goes back to the scene that the 4 players were doing. This
continues until only player 1 is performing their initial scene.

Freeze, Dance, Justify

Freeze, dance, justify helps get the jitters out for any high-energy or high-anxiety
child actors while also fostering their improv skills.
Actors dance around to music, constantly contorting their bodies into amusing,
strange poses. The leader calls out, “Freeze!,” at a random time, causing all actors to
hold their pose. The leader points to another player and requests that they “Justify”
their pose. The key here is that the justification needs to be creative. A child frozen
with their arms entwined, for example, might say that they are turning into a tree
and the arms are their branches, or that they’re at a yoga class, or that their friend
just super-glued their arms together. The sillier, the better! After multiple kids justify
their poses, the leader unfreezes everyone, and the game starts anew.

Mine! No, yours!

One of the best theater games for kids, this game helps with the suspension of
disbelief necessary for theatrical prop work. It also nurtures children’s imaginations
and makes them listen to other people’s interpretations of the same experience.
To begin, break children up into teams of two and give each a small toy or stuffed
animal. Each player must act as though they either really want the toy (when they
don’t have possession of it) or as though they really want to get rid of the toy (when
they do have possession of it). Players should create scenarios that the toy is
something different to support their acting: just-excavated hidden treasure, a slimy
frog, a beloved family member, a diaper. The player who is the most convincing in
any one scene “wins.”

Bang

Want to spark creativity while also illustrating life’s infinite possibilities? No, we’re
not recommending taking children to see “Everything Everywhere All at Once”—just
yet, at least. Instead, try your hand at this imaginative game.
To play, choose any everyday situation—such as walking a dog, reading a book, or
working on homework—and ask players to perform that situation in as many ways as
possible. With walking a dog, for example, one scene might be an angry walk through
the city because someone else forgot to take the dog out; another might be a joyous
frolic through a grassy field; and still a third could be an anxious walk filled with ever-
increasing worry about getting lost.

https://www.literacymn.org/sites/default/files/gamesactivitiesbook_0.pdf