Early years drama activities (part 4)

This is the final part of my collection of drama games for early years settings. I hope you will try them out and let me know how you get on. You can download a free pdf containing all 13 games here.  

The Sun Shines on

Great game for verbal literacy and awareness of others.

1. All the children sit in a circle(ideally on chairs), with one child (or yourself initially) in the middle.

2. The person in the middle says ‘The sun shines on….’ And then ends it with whatever they like (eg ‘…everyone with brown hair’, ‘…everyone who likes chocolate cake’, ‘…everyone who eats their vegetables’, ‘…everyone wearing trainers’)

3. Everyone who the statement is true for has to get up and sit in a different sit in a different place. The last person seated is in the middle next time.

Martha’s game

Fantastic for raising awareness of relativity and layers of stories. Don’t be put off if children don’t grasp this straight away – even if they are spiderman every single time, they are still embracing the imaginative

concept of the activity!

1. One person starts o_ the game by moving into the middle of the circle, making a statue of something with their body and announcing to the group what they are ( “I’m a tree”, whilst standing tall, arms above head.)

2. The next person comes into the space and joins the tableau (freeze-frame). They may for example say “I am a dog underneath the tree” and then make the statue of the dog next to the person who is the tree.

3. Person 3 joins in a similar manner (“I am the person walking the dog”) and so on until all members of the group are part of the tableau.

This activity can be extended by bringing the tableau to life with sound or movement .

The Chair Game

Great for imaginative role play, using props, building confidence, developing

complex language skills.

1. Introduce the game by explaining that there is an invisible door behind you and through that door is the most exciting place in the whole world (chocolate grows on the trees, it’s sunny every day, everyone is happy etc etc)

2. The only rule of the amazing magical land of joy is that there are ‘no chairs allowed’.

3. Children have to try and get into the land by persuading the ‘guard’ on the door that the chair is not a chair (“it’s a dog”, “but this is my wheelbarrow”, “it’s a buggy”)

4. Once they are ‘allowed in’ they then take on the role of ‘guard’ and someone else tries to get in.

Machines

Lovely activity to start exploring physical theatre and repetitive movement. Encourages children to work together as a team and use their imaginations.

1. Explain to the children that you will be creating a machine today.

2. Ask them to choose what the machine will make (at this point if they chose a dinosaur or the colour pink or bubble gum…anything…it doesn’t really matter – humour them and validate their ideas.)

3. Ask what we need inside the machine and ask them one at a time to add in an action for the suggestion they make.

4. Encourage them to repeat their actions (and sound effects?) over and over again, all at the same time.

5. Play with speeding the machine up and slowing it down.

Lindsay is a freelance creative practitioner and community artist www.lindsayjanehunter.co.uk