Posted in creative arts, Drama Activities for children, Drama for children, drama for kids, Drama strategies, Elements of Drama, English as a second language, English teaching games, Esl, Esl Drama, expressive arts, Mime, Mime for all ages, Mime for children, Mime for kids, Movement activities, Movement stories for children, Role playing stories, Still image, Storytelling, Storytelling in the Early years, Storytelling techniques

Mime Workshop for all ages

Mime theme image 2

Main objective of workshop: Mime encourages confidence and awareness of self and of others. It encourages physical control, simplicity of thought and movement and more importantly it stimulates the imagination.

Sub aims:

  • To introduce relaxation exercises and understand their role in a drama class.
  • To promote group work and co-operation.

Relaxation exercises

Be a star: Lie sown on your back and spread your arms, palms up to the side and open your legs. Stretch the limbs all together. Feel you are making a four pointed star. Suddenly the star collapses. Feel the tension disappear.

Be Hercules: In the same position, imagine that the body is being pushed down by a heavy weight so that all parts of the body are being pressed into the ground suddenly the weight is removed. Feel yourself float on the ground.

Shake off the ants:  In the same position, imagine you are tied to the ground but you can wiggle. A colony of ants finds and begins to crawl over you. Commence to wiggle the body until the last ant leaves you. Then collapse.

Be a rubber puppet: Imagine you are made of rubber and there are strings attached to your shoulders which someone can pull from above. You are being pulled up and you find your limbs fly out in all directions. Even the feet can be pulled off the ground at times, finally the strings are cut and the body relaxes.

Mime Activities:

What’s in the Box: All the students sit in a large circle. The teacher asks them to imagine there is a magic box in the centre of the circle. The teacher can ask what size is it? What colour is it? Ask can everyone see it. This is a fun mime game. Everyone sits in a circle. Ask the children if they can see the box in the centre of the circle. Ask them what colour it is? What shape it is? Tell them it can be a different shape and colour, depending on where you are sitting in the circle. This is because it is a magic box.  The teacher goes into the centre of the circle first and mimes opening the box and taking out an object. She then mimes holding the object and the class must guess what it is. When the children guess correctly the teacher mimes putting it back in the box and closing it. The child who guessed correctly takes a turn at taking an object out of the box.

Pass the object: This is a follow on from the Magic Box game. The teacher mimes taking an object out of the box, for example a mouse, a rotten egg, a cream cake, chewing gum, lipstick or a puppy, and the children guess what it is. When they have guessed she passes the object around the circle. The children should react as if they were holding the actual object in their hands. Eventually the last child in the circle gets rid of the object and the teacher goes to the box and takes out a new.

Locomotion: Get the students consider the ways that people walk. The teacher gets the children to walk around the room. Then call out different ways of walking

Walk like  a …..

•           Toddler

•           child in high heels

•           child wearing heavy wellington boots

•           child splashing in a puddles

•           child stuck in mud

•           child walking on stony beach

•           child walking on hot sand

•           someone walking on fire

•           someone walking wearily

•           an old frail person.

Chain Mime: Divide the class into 2 or 3 groups. Have at least 6 in each group. Number the students from one to six. Get each member of the group to leave the room except for number one. The other groups stay in the room. You then give number one an action to mime. You then call number 2 into the room and number one mimes to number 2. They do not talk. Number 2 can not say anything and she has to do mime exactly what she saw to number 3, then number 3 comes into the room and watches number 2 very carefully. Number 3 does the mime for number four and so on. When number 6 comes into the room she has to guess what the original mime was. This is like broken telephone but it is done through mime. Here are some suggestions for mimes:

•           Riding a horse

•           Skiing

•           Washing dishes

•           Eating hot food

•           Counting money

•           Telling someone you love them

•           Eating spaghetti

•           Singing

•           Playing tug of war

•           Washing your dog

•           Ballet dancing

•           Moon walk

•           Playing basketball

•           Singing opera

•           Walking in the desert

•           Playing tennis

•           Making pancakes

•           Opening a present that you do not like

The other groups watch how the mime changes with each person. This is a fun game and helps with observation skills.

Basic Situation: Divide the class into small groups and they must use body language and facial expression to 5 ways of showing that their are

•           Cold

•           Hot

•           Surprised,

•           Frightened

Meetings

The class gets into pairs. Each pair stands back to back. When the teacher calls out go they must turn around and pass their partner if

•           They were strangers

•           They were a casual acquaintance

•           Meeting some one they haven’t seen for 10 years

•           Meeting someone that owes them money.

Group Mime: Divide the class into groups and give each group one of the following outlines for a group mime. Allow the class 10 to15 minutes to prepare

The Concert   

  • Audience arrive for outdoor concert
  • Band enters with different instruments
  • Audience is very enthusiastic, claps, jumps up and down and waves hands in the air.
  • One person faints
  • Security arrives and removes him and her
  • No one takes any notice
  • Band plays on
  • Girl gets up on the stage and tries to touch members of the group
  • Security removes them
  • It starts to rain and after awhile everyone goes away disappointed

Hijack

  • Passengers board the plane
  • Welcomed by the air hostess
  • The plane takes off
  • One hijacker takes over the plane and an other one holds up the passengers
  • One passenger faints
  • This distracts the hijacker for a second
  • Pilot overcomes him
  • Airhostess holds him and the handcuff are put on him
  • Pilot overcomes the second hijacker and handcuffs him to hijacker 1
  • All the passengers have a strong drink and cheer the pilot as he brings the plane to land.

The Bank Robbery

  • Cashiers arrive bored and yawning they open up their desks and talk to each other
  • People come in and walk up to the cashiers and put in and withdraw money
  • Suddenly two robbers come in wearing masks
  • They make everyone lie on the floor and they hold up the bank clerks and make them hand over the money
  • Little old lady trips up robber and he falls and spills the money
  • Security guard then holds up robbers and takes off their masks.

Other ideas/themes for group mimes: Camping, The Circus, Christmas morning, The big mistake.

Starting  to use mime in a Drama session;

Start beginner groups on occupational mimes and later move to emotional mimes. Mime starts within and is then portrayed by the body. Never forget that through mime is that art of movement it is also the art of stillness.

Occupational Mimes: lift a bucket, box, brush. Place the same objects on a shelf or table, place them, carefully on top of each other. Use scissors, shears, pickaxes, fishing rod. Use activities such as sewing buttons, cooking, putting on clothes, painting, cleaning windows.

Character Mimes: Portray different types of character, the young girl, the old woman, the rich lady, beggar, clown. Watch people around you.

Emotional Mimes: These are the hardest to portray. Feel, understand, convey happiness at receiving a gift. Sadness at hearing bad news, shock, horror, love etc..,

More mime games

What’s the Chair?

Place a chair in the centre of the circle and particiapnts take turns to mime what they imagine it to be:, for example:  a post box, a kitchen sink, a dog, a naughty schoolboy, a new car.

The person who guesses correctly takes their place in the middle.

Take over

•           in a circle, walking on the spot

•           leader makes a gesture, in time, that the everyone else imitates

•           continue for 8 beats or so, then shout the name of a particiapnt and they must change or add to the action

•           this can continue until the group have warmed up

What’s my job?

All sit in a circle.  Give everyone an occupation (e.g. policeman, astronaut, postman, teacher).  Use each occupation twice, and make sure the occupations are kept secret.

Students use the space to mime their own occupation.  Their task is to spot the person with the same occupation as them.  When they have done this they should approach their partner, and without speaking, check that they are both miming the same job.

They should sit down in their pair when they think they have found them.

The game continues until everybody is sitting down.  The teacher should check they are all correct at the end of the game!

 

Posted in Creative Visualisation

A Creative Visualisation for children – Under the Sea

Coral and fish

 

This is a creative visualisation for children but before you use it make sure they don’t have a fear of water!

You lie down on the floor and relax….. Don’t hold your breath. Breathe in nice and slowly and then breathe out nice and slowly……. Breathe in and out gently and calmly…….. Now you are floating on the water. You are bobbing up and down. You look around and you are in the middle of the ocean. You feel safe and calm. You gently float up and down…… up and down…. up and down…….up and down ……up and down.

You see a mermaid swimming along side you. She is a beautiful mermaid and she has a stunning sparkling tiara on her head. She is a princess mermaid. She takes your hand and you go underwater with her. You can breathe easily underwater. You feel relaxed and safe with the mermaid. You swim down towards the sea bed. As you slowly go down you see multi coloured fish swimming in and out of the coral and hiding in and under the rocks. The fish are all different colours red, orange yellow, green, blue, violet, and indigo, they look like a moving rainbow. You see all types of underwater animals such as turtles, whales, crabs, lobsters eels and sea urchins. All the sea creatures smile at you. They are all really friendly towards you. You smile back.  You feel safe and happy.

You reach the sea bed and you walk along it. You feel like you are walking on a cloud. You gently float up and down…. up and down.  The princess mermaid wants to take you to her palace. You swim towards the palace with the mermaid. She holds your hand and guides you gently towards the palace gates. There is an octopus guarding the gate. He opens the gates for you and the princess mermaid. He is very happy to see you. He has a very kind face. You are amazed because you have never seen such a magnificent palace. It is made out of gold from top to bottom and it is cover with diamonds, emerald, rubies and other precious and semi precious stones. The whole palace is sparkling.  You feel really excited to be here.

You swim into a big long hall there are beautiful paintings of all different types of sea creatures on the wall and the wall is covered with amazing sapphires. You look around the palace. You feel so calm and happy here. You reach the end of the hall you go into a large courtyard. You see mermaids playing; they are happy, smiling and laughing. They see you and the princess mermaid they call you in to play with them. You look around the courtyard it looks like an enchanted place. There are beds of the most beautiful flowers all over the courtyard. The colours of the flowers are strong and vibrant. Everyone is happy and free. They are playing with a ball. One of the mermaids throws the ball – you jump, you jump higher then all the other mermaids and you catch the ball. You float gently back down towards the sea bed. Everyone smiles. You smile back. You feel so happy and relaxed here.

You are taken to meet the queen mermaid. She is in a massive hall. She is sitting on the most beautiful throne you have ever seen. It is made out precious gemstones. It is really shiny. She smiles at you and she looks really happy to see you. She takes your hand and guides you into a very large dining hall where there is a very long table. On the table is the most delicious food you have ever seen. It is all your favourite food. You are so happy and you sit down with the queen mermaid and the princess mermaid. The chair is huge and is very, very comfortable. You eat the delicious food and you feel satisfied.

You swim with the mermaid who guides slowly up the stairs of the palace. You reach the top of the palace. You can see all of the sea bed and all the beautiful colours of all the sea creatures. They are all playing with one another. You feel so calm. The mermaid smiles at you and then she dives down towards the sea bed towards a group of oysters. She comes back and she shows you a pearl. You then dive down towards the oysters. The oysters look so happy to see you and they open their shells with a smile. You take the pearl and swimming slowly up to the top of the palace. You dive down again and collect another oyster. You dive again………….. and again………. and again………… The princess mermaid gives you a pearl to keep. You put it in your pocket. You are so happy you can take the pearl home with you.

You wave goodbye to all the mermaids and the queen mermaid. The princess mermaid takes your hand gently and you both swim slowly towards the surface of the water. As you swim towards the top you see all the rainbow fish, you wave at them. Just as you get to the top the princess mermaid smiles at you and lets go of your hand. She then swims towards the bottom of the ocean bed. You smile and wave goodbye. You look up and can feel the nice warm rays from the sun as you break through the surface. Then you float on the ocean. You slowly bop up and down…….. up and down ………….up and down. You feel really relaxed…………… Now slowly open your eyes slowly. Whenever you want to return to this feeling of happiness put your hand in your pocket and gently rub your beautiful pearl