Do you have the school holiday blues? Are you sick of “Muuuuum I’m bored” or “what are we doooooing today?” or “I’m sick of the iPad I don’t want device time anymore”… who are we kidding… no one ever says that!
But do you need a resource of fun, easy educational games you can play withyour humans at home? Well Marrzipan is here to save the day, we have put together the ultimate list of drama class games, tried and tested by all our awesome students and now available for YOU to teach your humans right in the comfort of your lounge.
These games focus on Marrzipan’s 5 elements of being a great performer and speaker: eye contact, facial expression, body language, voice and confidence! We know these skills come in handy in and outside of the classroom, which is why these games are great to have as a tool at home.
Game: Grandma’s Keys
Skills Practiced: Confidence, Improvisation,Quick thinking
How many humans: 2 or more
Pick one person to stand at one end of the room to be the grandma, get the rest of the players at the other end, these players are the grandchildren. Grandma places her keys in front of her feet and tells everyone to GO TO BED! When Grandma faces away from the players this is her sleeping, the other players will try to sneak up and steal the keys. However grandma can turn around at any second.
When she turns around you have to FREEZE. Grandma will go up to each player and ask them why they’re out of bed, this is when your quick thinking skills come in handy because you have to make up an AMAZING excuse on the spot. The more wild the better! E.g THERE WAS A MONKEY ON MY ROOF AND IT TOLD ME TO STEAL A PIECE OF CHOCOLATE FROM THE FRIDGE. If Grandma likes your excuse she’ll tell you to take a step forward, if she doesn’t like it then a step back and if she catches you moving you have to go all the way back to bed!
Game: Good Evening Your Majesty
Skills Practiced: Voice, clarity, volume, vocal expression, accents
How many humans: 3 or more
Set up a chair facing away from the crowd of royal subjects, this is Your Majesty’s Throne! Have the first King or Queen sit in throne, someone at the other end of the room has to say “Good Evening Your Majesty” in a totally different voice to their own.
The aim of the game is to trick Your Majesty into guessing the wrong person so you can take over the throne. This is an awesome game to try out any silly voices or accents, try and create a voice that you’ve never heard before. It’s pretty amazing what kind of sounds we can make.
Game: Dolphin Dolphin Fridge
Skills Practiced: Body Language, Quick Thinking, Imagination
How many humans: Best with a large group
This is a Marrzipan take on Duck, Duck, Goose! Everything is exactly the same, except the person who’s going around the circle gets to choose what their Duck and their Goose is! For example… Dolphin, Dolphin, Fridge! When you pick your fridge, THEY have to run around the circle trying to catch you as a fridge and YOU have to run around the circle like a Dolphin!
The aim of the game isn’t really to tag the person to get them out, it’s about having fun with our actions and seeing how well we could embody a cupboard, or a bike, or a sloth, or a baby!
Game: AND THEN…
Skills Practiced: Storytelling, Quick Thinking, Imagination, Voice,
How many humans: 2 or more
This is a great Storytelling game, you have to find someone and ask for a location (beach, space, grandma’s house, a character (monkey, old man, baby), and 1 item of food (pickle, chicken wing, lollypop) You have to start telling a story by stating the 3 things you have been given. Remember when we’re storytelling we want to connect with our audience so practice your eye contact here!
Eg: Once upon a time there was a Monkey sitting on the Beach with a Pickle in his hand
You have to keep continuing the story until someone else yells “AND THEN” because that person then has to jump up and continue the story from where you left off and keep going until someone else butts in! You’ll be amazing at all the fun directions a story can go. Sometimes this is how we create our Marrzipan plays. This one is an awesome way to have fun at the dinner table and once you start getting good at this you can try incorporate all 6 elements of drama into the story.
Game: PICTURE PERFECT
Skills Practiced: Facial Expression, Imagination, Character building,
How many humans: 1 human or more!
Write the following on a piece of paper: Age, Occupation, Emotion, Colour.
Find some friends or family members to fill out the list, the answers can be anything, the crazier the better! Your first mission is to run around your house and find a costume that works for the character.. Give yourself a time limit as it makes it way more fun, I suggest 3 minutes!
Your second mission is to take some amaaaaazing photos for your character, you can use a mirror for this if you don’t have a camera. You want to really use that face of yours to get right into the character. We don’t want to see aaaany of your regular self peeping through your costume and awesome facials.
There’s heaps of ways to express that we’re happy, big teethy smile, little smile, a smize. Think of all the different ways you could portray one emotion through your face. And parents, these will make great 21st photo’s later down the track!
Parents, we’d love to see you trying out these games, feel free to send videos or photos through to our Marrzipan facebook page or website. Remember role-modelling is the best way for a child to pick up something, so let your hair down and get right amongst it. These games are just as fun for little humans as they are for big ones!
Have a great Holiday playing these games and if your kids are still begging to play when you go back to work, book them in to our holiday drama workshops and our online or in school drama classes where they’ll be able to enjoy games like these and more! Wanting to know more about Marrzipan? Check out our post on top 8 things to expect from a Marrzipan drama class to help you decide! See you there!!!
