Help children express themselves with drama activities.
Introducing children and teenagers to drama activities has important benefits for their ability to appreciate dramatic theater, and it encourages them to express themselves. The following drama activities can be edited to fit any age range of students. They will help students learn to think on their feet, articulate and give speeches.
Improv
Gathering students together for an improvisational game teaches them to react spontaneously. The Encyclopedia of Improv Games has dozens of games that students enjoy depending on their age range. For instance, elementary school students can easily understand what the Alphabet Game requires them to do. Improv Encyclopedia recommends that a group of students construct a "scene consisting of 26 lines of dialog." A student begins the game by starting a line with a word that begins with the letter A. The next student begins their line with a word starting with B, etc. The important benefit of this game is that students learn to construct a play rapidly by brainstorming aloud with classmates.
Vocal Exercises
Bring students' awareness to their voices by getting them to to do tongue twisters. According to Arizona State University Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts, tongue twisters and tongue and lip warm-ups help improve diction skills. Students can try doing sets of repetitive rhyming words to warm up their voices. For instance, have them say "ma, may, me, mo, moo" several times. You can also have them repeat the words articulate and enunciate to encourage them to project to the back of the room. The skills they gain from doing vocal exercises helps them prepare for long speaking projects including monologues and presentations.
Prepared Scenes
Have students do monologues or a scene with a partner. They should memorize the scene and prepare to deliver it in front of the class. Ideal monologues for high school girls include Juliet and Anne Frank. Both plays have scenes that include boys, which means that they could present the scenes with a partner. Performing a scene or monologue prepares students to overcome their fear of being in front of the class. They learn skills that later help them give speeches in college and on the job. Coach them with positive advice by encouraging them to react to each other, and make sure not to give them negative criticism that might make their stage fright worsen.
Tags: drama activities, express themselves, front class, give speeches, have them