Theatre Education: A Resource of Practical and Project-Based Warm-ups/Theatre Games for K-12

 What are you Doing?

Where we learned it: Acting class at NU
Ages: 3rd grade and up
 Materials: Large space


Process:

1. Either stand in a circle or ask two volunteers to stand in front of the group.
2. One student begins miming an activity (e.g., skiing). The student to her left asks, “What are you doing?”
3. The other student continues miming their activity (skiing), but says she is doing something else (e.g., taking a shower).
4. The student who just asked the question begins miming the new activity (taking a shower) and the student who is to her left asks, “What are you doing?”
5. The student continues her activity (taking a shower), but says she is doing something else (e.g., reading).
6. This continues either around the circle or back and forth between the two volunteers until someone can’t think of an idea or the group gets bored.
7. It is important to remind the students to continue to mime their activities while they say the new activity.

Variations:

1. Students may not repeat an activity that has already been mentioned.
2. Students have only a count of three to come up with the new activity.