Activities

The Lion King's court

This lesson was written to accompany an Indian folktale called The King's Choice and is designed for very young students.

Preparation

Everyone knows the lion is King of the Jungle. But every good King needs a court. A King needs to have people around him who are his friends, whom he can trust and upon whom he can rely. These people are called courtiers. What qualities should courtiers possess?

Discuss this question, pointing out particular adjectives: brave, kind, etc. Give each adjective a corresponding animal.

Playing the Game

You will now act out the selection of the King's court. Each student chooses an animal to portray. (It need not necessarily be one that was mentioned earlier, although of course most will be.) The teacher, in role as the King, calls each 'animal' forward. "You, animal. Come forward into the presence of the King." The animal moves forward. "What sort of animal are you?" The student announces what animal he or she is portraying. With older students I usually want them to use an appropriate animal voice. "Why should I have a (blank) in my court?" The student then describes the qualities of her/his animal that make that animal good courtier material. The King responds, "Wonderful! You may join my court." I usually have an area defined, around myself, for the "court," so that the students can physically enter my court. Obviously everyone must be invited to join- even snakes. You can end this session by having a parade of the King's court, with each animal moving according to its way. Then the whole group (if the walls are sufficiently thick) roars - each according to species-to announces the presence of the greatest royal court in the land.

Relevant themes

Friendship, loyalty, seeing the best in others, characteristic association

Three noses

A fun and silly game. Let everyone walk leisurely around the room. When you shout `three noses` the players must form little groups, each group consisting of three touching noses.

Use your imagination - as for seven left big toes, two earlobes, nine fingers, six elbows, five bellybuttons. Repeat till everyone is giggling.

Relevant themes

Introductions, humour, getting familiar, warming up

Day in the Life

The leader picks a member of the students and interviews this person about their average day. Questions asked may include `what grade are you in?'  'Where do you live, with who?' 'What are your hobbies?' 'How do you get to school?' 'Who are your classmates?', and more. The players then improvise a day in the life of this audience member, based on the elements provided by the interview.

Instead of playing a real day, play a nightmare, or a beautiful dream.

Relevant themes

Relationships, difference, individuality, commonalities, improvisation

Evil Twin

You need four players for this improvisation game. Two will improvise a scene. The other players are the other’s evil twins. At any point, the `twins` can shout `freeze` after which they tag out their twin, and continue the scene and do something evil. After that, they move out again, and the original twin brother needs to justify the evil, correct or repair the damage done and continue the scene.

Great setups for this game are things like first dates, or meeting your in-laws for the very first time.

Relevant themes

Alter Ego’s, invisible friends, good and evil, recovery improvisation, focus