For All Teachers

Below you’ll find a selection of 80 drama games and activities for primary and secondary students. Feel free to browse for inspiration and adapt them. We’ve used these teaching English as another language. We offer teacher training if you’re inspired to use our other methods in your curriculum.

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AllActing ExercisesCompetitiveCooperativeImprovisationMovementQuoteSpeech & VoiceWarm Up Games
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Counting

Counting

The players stand in a circle with their eyes closed....
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Acting and Drama game for Improvisation

Starts With A…

Everyone sitting or standing in a circle. The teacher says...
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Acting Exercise - Adverb Game

Adverb Game

Form a circle with the entire group, facing the center....
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Acting Exercise - Producers

1. Ask 5-6 players to take the stage. Select one...
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Tongue Twisters 2

Tongue Twisters 2

Red Buick, blue Buick. Red Buick, blue Buick. Red Buick,...
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Acting Exercise - Status Number

Status Numbers

Explain to the class the difference between high status and...
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Acting Exercises - Group Juggle

Have all participants form a circle, facing the center. Use...
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Acting Exercises - 21

21

Everyone is in a circle, facing the center. Count to...
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Assassin and Triangles

Assassin (& Triangles)

There are two versions of this game. Triangles requires more...
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Acting Exercises - Story Spine

Story Spine

Most stories have a common structure. So common we usually...
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Acting Exercise - Bus Stop

Bus Stop (Silent Characters)

Have a hat or bowl with slips of paper. On...
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Acting Exercise - Slide Show

Slide Show

Have a group of five or six players. One is...
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Acting Exercise - Death in One Minute

Death In One Minute

Select 1-3 performers to improvise a scene in the prescribed...
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Sanford Meisner Quote

Sanford Meisner 1

"Acting is behaving truthfully under imaginary circumstances." - Sanford Meisner
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Acting Exercises -Acronyms

Acronym

Stand in a circle. One player says three random letters....
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Uta Hagen Acting Quote

Uta Hagen

"We must overcome the notion that we must be regular......
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Acting Exercises - Alphabet Mime

Alphabet Mime

Have all the participants form a circle, facing the middle....
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I Am A Tree (Level 2)

I Am A Tree (Level 2)

This game emphasizes cooperation and support of an idea. A...
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Sanford Meisner Quote

Sanford Meisner 2

"From the doing comes the emotion." - Sanford Meisner
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Acting Exercise - Alphabet Scene

Alphabet Scene

Give two participants a location/situation and characters to play in...
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Energy and Sound Ball

Sound & Energy Ball

This exercise emphasizes physicality and inclusion. participants have to receive...
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Acting Exercise - Whoosh!

Whoosh!

Everybody in a circle. Start with one person who waves...
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Acting Exercise- Hey Dude

Hey, Dude!

All participants are in a circle, facing the center. Tighten...
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Acting Exercises - Traffic Lights

Traffic Lights

The leader explains the three traffic light colors and the...
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Acting Exercise - Night Guard At The Museum.

Night Guard At The Museum

One Participant is chosen to be the night guard and...
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Accepting Circle

Accepting Circle

The point of this exercise is to have the participants...
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The Human Knot

Human Knot

This is a good ice-breaker and encourages physical movement while...
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Sanford Meisner Quote

Sanford Meisner 3

"Acting is not talking. It's living off the other fellow!!!"...
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Quote - Yoda

Yoda

"Do... Or do not... There is no try." - Master...
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Drama Game - Sneaking Up On Gradma

Sneaking Up On Grandma

One person is chosen to be grandma. This person stands...
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Acting Exercise - Q&A Story

Q&A Storytelling

Split the group in half. Half of the players leave...
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Acting Exercises - Foreign Cinema

Foreign Cinema

Choose four players. Two will be the actors in the...
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Acting Exercise - I'm Going On A Trip

I’m Going On A Trip

Select one participant to be the leader. This person must...
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Acting Exercise - Group Secret

Group Secret

Choose 4-6 players. Suggest a location and choose one of...
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Acting Exercise - Background

Background

Divide the group into groups of 5-8 players. Give each...
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Actng Exercise - Genres

Genres

Select a group of 3-5 performers and one moderator. The...
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Acting Ecercise - Chopstick Connection

Chopstick Connection

Participants are paired off. Pairs are given a single chopstick...
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Acting Exercise - 1 Sentence Story

One-Sentence Story

Have the entire group form a circle, facing the center....
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YMCA Improvisation

Y.M.C.A.

This is a good game for young people learning the...
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Acting Exercise - Here's Johnny

And Heeeeeere’s Johnny!

Start with the group in an audience area and a...
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Acting Exercise - Not What It Seems

Isn’t What It Seems

Start with a tabletop or tray filled with small, easily...
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Acting Exercise - Statues

Statues

Divide the group into pairs or groups of three. Ask...
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Stella Adler Quote

Stella Adler

"The actor has to develop his body. The actor has...
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Love, Anger, Fear.

Love Anger Fear

This is an "endowment game" where participants accept what other...
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Acting Exercise - Bippity Bippity Bop

Bippity Bippity Bop!

Start with the entire group in a circle, facing the...
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The Counting Ball

Counting Ball

Requirements: A volleyball. Using a standard volleyball, participants lightly pass...
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Acting Exercise - Lead Around

Lead Around

In pairs students will touch fingertips. They will start by...
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Acting Exercise - 3 Things

Three Things

Circle the entire group. Everyone chants “Three things!” The first...
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Acting Quote - Thornton Wilder

Thornton Wilder

"We live in what is, but we find 1,000 ways...
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Acting Exercise - Memory Game

Memory Game

Present the group with a tray containing a number of...
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Acting Warm Up

Zip, Zap, Zop (and Landmines)

The entire group is in a circle facing the center....
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Acting Exercise - Mirror

Mirror

Participants are paired and face each other. One of each...
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Acting Exercise -Three-headed Expert

Three-Headed Expert

Four players: one is the interviewer, and the other 3...
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Acting Warm Up Game - Tapping Circle

Tapping Circle

Have all participants form a circle while lying on their...
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Alien Tiger Cow

Alien Tiger Cow

Everyone in a circle. Three players go into the center...
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Acting Exercise - Group Pulse

Group Pulse

Have the group form a circle, facing the center. Demonstrate...
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Acing Exercise - Sculptors

Sculptors

Divide the class into 2 groups. Alternatively, have everyone find...
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Acting Quote - Alan Alder

Alan Adler

"Empathy is seeing with the eyes of another, listening with...
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Acting Quote - Oscar Wilde

Ocar Wilde

"I regard the theatre as the greatest of all art...
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Beach Boat Bank

Beach Boat Bank

Have the class line up along one side of the...
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Tongue Twisters 3

Tongue Twisters 3

A big blue bucket of blue blueberries. Borrowed burros bring...
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Acting Quote - Constantin Stanislavski

Constantin Stanislavski

"There are no small parts, only small actors." - Constantin...
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Tongue Twisters 1

Tongue Twisters 1

A big black bug bit a big black bear and...
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Acting Exercise - Group Hum

Group Hum

Have all players mill around the space. Eventually instruct them...
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Acting Exercise - Emotional Symphony

Emotional Symphony

Have 7-9 players take the stage and take up a...
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Acting Exercise - Invisible Super-Clay

Invisible Super-Clay

Start by having all the participants stand in a circle,...
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Quote - Rudyard Kipling

Rudyard Kipling

"Of all the liars in the world, sometimes the worst...
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Yes! Let's

Yes! Let’s!

The participants form a circle, facing the center. One student...
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Acting Warmup - Masterthief

Master Thief

Divide the class into pairs. Have 1-3 participants be a...
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I Anm A Tree

I Am A Tree (Level 1)

This game emphasizes cooperation and support of an idea. A...
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Letter Shapes

Letter Shapes

Divide the class into groups of two or three. Call...
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Acting Exercise - Soundscapes

Soundscapes

The leader asks the entire group to lay on their...
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Quote - Arthur Miller

Arthur Miller

"The theatre is so endlessly fascinating because it's so accidental....
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Acting Exercises - Story Story Die!

Story… Story… Die!

A conductor and up to 8 players are chosen. Players...
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