Animal Line
Participants form two lines, facing each other. Each participant picks an animal and walks down the center of the group, acting out the characteristics and vocally expressing that animal. Discuss.
Bibbity Bobbity Boo
Students stand in a circle. One person is "it." He/she goes from person to person to turn them into next "it" by using the phrase from Cinderella, "Bibbity Bobbity Boo!" Before the "it" person finishes saying the phrase, his/her target must say "Boo!" The "it" person can try to trick others by calling out charades that they and two people on either side of them must perform in the mean time.
Body Language
Have everyone count off by twos. Ones have to look everyone in the eye, and twos must only look at the floor. Everyone should then attempt to have a short conversation with each other. After about five minutes, end the game and discuss.
Circle Dance
Form a circle, holding hands, and spread out until maximum extension is reached. One player stands in the center of the circle. For a count of fifteen to twenty seconds, the center player will move/dance to the music while keeping one foot off the ground. The circled players mimic the dance while counting off. This cycle is repeated until all have had a chance to be a lead dancer.
Dancing as a Warm-Up
Put on music and let participants do one of bending their knees, swinging their arms, playing air guitar, walking in place, nodding their heads, etc. Allow each participant to lead the dance once. Do not force anyone to dance if he/she does not want to and do not let anyone have an extra turn.
Detective Game
Select one person to be the Detective and have him/her leave the room. Then, designate a leader for the remainder of the group. After the game begins, the Detective tries to guess who the leader is. At the same time, the leader performs a series of actions that the rest of the group must follow quickly to foil the Detective.
Fear
Everyone sits in a circle, writes what they fear most, and places it into a hat. Every participant randomly selects one from the hat and moves around the room at a pace that reflects the words on the paper. Ask the participants to move with those who are moving at the same pace they are. Afterwards, have participants run it off and journal about their experience.
Flocking
Participants form three-person triangles. At any time the most outward-facing person leads the other two in motion.
Hey Neighbor Game
Arrange a number of chairs in a circle equal to one fewer than the number of participants. The remaining person stands in the middle and asks a yes/no question prefixed with, "Hey Neighbor..." Everyone sitting in chairs that would answer yes to this question must get up and move to a new chair. At the same time, the person in the middle tries to steal one of the now-available chairs, if successful leaving a new person in the middle to ask a question.
Human Sculptures
Divide the group into pairs. One person is assigned to be the artist, the other the clay. The artists are told to "sculpt" their partner into a statue of their creation. After sculpting is complete, the sculptures should remain frozen. The artists should then view the sculptures as a gallery and discuss why they have created their statues in each particular way.
Lead-With Exercise
Have participants spread out through the space and walk about freely. Then ask the participants to lead with a specific part of the body, considering where they place their weight. Change the body part as the exercise progresses and alternate between this and normal walking to juxtapose the differences. Discuss how this compares to the way they move in daily life and have the participants choose one body part which was interesting to them. Have them develop a character around this movement structure.
Mosquitoes
Have participants walk around while squinting and contorting their faces. Say, "get the mosquitoes off your face," to have them pat their faces. Then say, "get the mosquitoes off your body," to have them pat themselves down everywhere.
Musical Stories
Select a musical piece and play the song once for the group. Then have them create a story inspired by the song without speaking.
Opposite Toe Tag
Divide the group into pairs. Have members face each other, and while holding each other’s right hand, attempt to tag each other’s left leg.
Polly Wants a Cracker
Arrange a number of chairs in a circle equal to one fewer than the number of participants. The remaining person must go around the circle, entreating each person face-to-face, "Polly wants a cracker," which the person kindly refuses. At the same time, others in the circle should try to switch places across the circle without the middle person stopping them.
Red Light, Green Light
Have one person as the caller standing at one end of the room and the rest forming a starting line at the other end. The caller faces away from everyone and yells "green light," allowing the participants to move forward towards the caller. The caller can also have the participants move with various characteristics as they close in. When "red light" is called, the participants must freeze in whatever position they are in, before the caller turns to face them. If a participant is caught in motion by the caller, he/she is sent back to the starting point. The participants attempt to tag the caller, sending the caller to the starting line, and becoming the new caller themselves.
The Snake
Begin with one person as "it." "It" must attempt to use a free hand to tag someone. When a person is tagged, he/she must hold hands with the original "it," and now he/she also counts as "it."
