How to teach children
 

As part of my acting diploma that I'm currently doing, I have to teach children around the ages of 7-10 for roughly an hour for 5 lessons in a couple of weeks, and I find the prospect slightly daunting.

I'm trying to remember what games I used to play at school when I was younger but most of them are coming up as a blank. I currently have listed:

Biddi Biddi Bop
Duck Duck Goose
Simon Says
Stuck in the mud
Cat & mouse

I'm hoping to have a lot of fun with the kids but I've kind of met a mental wall and want to keep up the variety of activities I use for a warm up to stop them from getting bored out of their wits so any suggestions would be handy.

They might a little bit old for those games. You could try some theater sports maybe, like Spacejump, Death in a Minute, etc. You could also play Celebrity Heads.

Space jump sounds like fun except I've never played it myself. Rules? :D

Yeah, I've had a huge debate as to what is appropriate for their ages and my group really hasn't really defined what was too easy/too hard.

Well, someone is given a scenario they have to act out. So they go about their funky thing until someone yells out 'spacejump' and the person acting the scenario freezes (this is usually done while the person is doing some weird pose). Another person gets up, and from how the first person is frozen, has to come up with a new scenario that the two of them can act out together, until 'spacejump' is yelled again. The another person gets added in. When you get to about 5 people in, you go back in reverse and the actors have to try to remember the order of the scenes, until you're finally back to the first kid.

...if that makes sense.

Yup, that was pretty clear. I'll try to give that a go after I've met them and see if they're up to it. Thanks, katie. :)

Improvisation usually is a hit. When I had my practical exams (I'm actually a drama teacher, although I've never made anything out of it yet), we had to go to a school and teach the kinds there for a week or two; daily lessons, of course. I successfully arranged a live RPG (which meant tons of work for me, but it was fun), and we did a lot of regular drama exercises with them (although not the boring ones like walking around in the room - you'll have to spice up those, but even then they can be fun for the kids) and, of course, we did impro. Do impro with the children, they will love it and you'll probably howl with laughter (at least, so did I; my children were so imaginative and downright funny I couldn't help myself).

What's most important is how you behave towards them. If you become too strictly "teacher", they'll be afraid of you and won't perform as well as they could; if you're too much of a "buddy", they'll run out of control. Let the children see that you're also having fun, and if you're nervous, try to keep it in. Know what you want them to do, and show it to them in a clear, simple way. And don't underestimate them - children are a lot more intelligent than they get credit for.

Some standard drama exercises that I've found to work well with children:

- Mirror exercises (work in pairs standing to face each other, one child moves his hand(s) and the other tries to mimic this. Eventually, they swap roles. In the end, if they're really good, it will be impossible to see who's the leader.)

- Mime games (of the kind "what am I now" or "what am I doing now")

- Zip, zap, boing (circle game. This is a variant of the game. We played it like this, but instead of yelling "zoop" we said "boing" and would mimic the "zip" bouncing off of you and onto somebody else - eg. the one you're pointing at. Children seems to find the boing very amusing.)

Just as a last note, don't be scared to do classical drama exercises with them. It usually works quite well.

Ooh Ooh umm... Party Quirks! and the One Word Answer game!

and BANG! is always a hit

My Drama teacher made us play Cat and Mouse on the last day of term and everyone got really into it, which was alarming, considering we're all 14. 7 year olds won't be too old for it.

Minefield is another interesting one. Get the kids to sit in rows with gaps in between them and gaps in between each row, and get them to close their eyes. The other half of the class that you're teaching has to get through without being touched, and send them up in groups of about three or four each time or it just becomes chaos. The mines can only move their arms when the person is next to them, they can't hit in front or behind. If you open your eyes when you're a mine, you're out. It's basically about being quiet and about tricking people.

Heh, I'm 17 and my drama/theater group does Cat and Mouse all the time and it's good fun, albeit a little exhausting at times, some of the younger kids have a lot of spring in them.

Try anything from 'Whose Line is it Anyway', those games would work quite well.

Excellent, I'll certainly be trying these ones. I've already decided I'm going to teach them all improvisation, by getting them to perform their favourite cartoon character or movie character at various locations with certain problems and see how they overcome these. I'm quite looking forward to it.

Thanks a lot, everyone. And best of luck for you making something out of being a drama teacher, Minyaliel.

I'm 20 and I use Cat & Mouse as a warm up technique before a performance all the time. :D

Don't forget to flog 'em if they step outta line.

How about some Red Rover?

reminds me of the Trunchbull in Matilda.

Trunchbull: When at school, get the rod and beat the child, always been my philosophy.

give em each a gameboy and sit back n relax.