Make a circle sitting on chairs
One person stands in the middle and must say something about themselves.
i.e. "I am wearing red shoes."
Everyone with red shoes must change places without letting the person in the middle sit down.
The person who cannot sit down then becomes the person in the middle.
And so on.
Variation
A condition can be put on the game like, Only share something that happened to you last week, or tell the group something you dislike.
If there is no condition put on the game it is interesting to see how much people disclose about themselves and cit an give you a good indication of the level trust within the group.
Comment: I found this a useful game when working with excluded pupils recently to guage how far they were willing to open up. I also repeated it at the end of the term to see how far they had come.
Friday, 27 February 2009
Wednesday, 18 February 2009
Ali Ali Ali !
Group stand in a circle with one person in the middle.
The person in the middle must say someones name three times before they can say their name once.
If the person in the middle succeeds then they join the circle.
The person on the outside who failed then goes into the middle.
Comment: A good game when the group is familiar at least a little bit with eachothers names. However the person in the middle can always ask people in the circle their names to remind themselves. This also builds up tension as that person ios then expecting their name to be said
The person in the middle must say someones name three times before they can say their name once.
If the person in the middle succeeds then they join the circle.
The person on the outside who failed then goes into the middle.
Comment: A good game when the group is familiar at least a little bit with eachothers names. However the person in the middle can always ask people in the circle their names to remind themselves. This also builds up tension as that person ios then expecting their name to be said
Wednesday, 11 February 2009
Playback Theatre 2
Retell in a group of 3 how you came to school/work this morning
Other members of the group listen and hold on to 3 images that come out of retelling.
Create 3 images for each persons story in the group
Each group of 3 should have a total of 9 images to show.
Create a stage with a chair to one side where the person who told the story sits.
His/her partners present the 3 images that represent their story, but the author in the chair cannot speak.
You can ask the audience to comment on what they saw or even suggest ideas as to what they think happened.
Each group of 3 takes it in turns to get up and perform their stories and images
Music can be used as an accompaniment to the stories
Variation
The author retells their story out loud to the audience and the partners perform the 3 images at the appropriate time in the story
The author is not allowed to make any additional comments.
Comment: I found this exercise quite moving especially where quite personal stories were shared. It is as if the story tellers story is being valued by the others acting it out and they could show something that the person might want shared but find it too hard to speak about. I was recently doing a project in Manilla with Street Children where we talked about using this exercise to tell some of their stories. Unfortunately it didn't happen but I will keep it up my sleeve for another time.
Other members of the group listen and hold on to 3 images that come out of retelling.
Create 3 images for each persons story in the group
Each group of 3 should have a total of 9 images to show.
Create a stage with a chair to one side where the person who told the story sits.
His/her partners present the 3 images that represent their story, but the author in the chair cannot speak.
You can ask the audience to comment on what they saw or even suggest ideas as to what they think happened.
Each group of 3 takes it in turns to get up and perform their stories and images
Music can be used as an accompaniment to the stories
Variation
The author retells their story out loud to the audience and the partners perform the 3 images at the appropriate time in the story
The author is not allowed to make any additional comments.
Comment: I found this exercise quite moving especially where quite personal stories were shared. It is as if the story tellers story is being valued by the others acting it out and they could show something that the person might want shared but find it too hard to speak about. I was recently doing a project in Manilla with Street Children where we talked about using this exercise to tell some of their stories. Unfortunately it didn't happen but I will keep it up my sleeve for another time.
Tuesday, 10 February 2009
Alphabet
In groups of 3 make a letter of the alphabet.
Show them to one another and try to guess them.
Choose one group of 3 in turn and the rest of the group brainstorm out loud any words, shapes images or stories they see.
Each group create a short scene using the ideas given with their shape as a component of it.
Variation
You can join groups (shapes) together to create a short scene where they either go together or offer a contrast.
Comment: I did this recently in a school with primary children and it worked a treat. It is something that they had a lot of fun doing without having to think too much, but it opened up a whole load of ideas when they started to look at one anothers shapes.
Show them to one another and try to guess them.
Choose one group of 3 in turn and the rest of the group brainstorm out loud any words, shapes images or stories they see.
Each group create a short scene using the ideas given with their shape as a component of it.
Variation
You can join groups (shapes) together to create a short scene where they either go together or offer a contrast.
Comment: I did this recently in a school with primary children and it worked a treat. It is something that they had a lot of fun doing without having to think too much, but it opened up a whole load of ideas when they started to look at one anothers shapes.
Friday, 6 February 2009
Football clapping tribes
Clap out the rhythm "dada, dadada, dadadada, dada."
Split into two groups and set first group off clapping once through
Then bring in the second group after the first "dada".
While the groups are still clapping give them instructions.
i.e. cross over, walk around the room, sit down etc
You can also split the main group up into smaller groups (tribes) and set them off clapping at different times.
Stand in a circle and call each tribe into the middle to perform their clap.
The leader can act as a conductor raising of lowering the noise level and stopping or bringing different groups in.
Comment: A cracker of an exercise so long as the leader has the rhythm and timing to bring everyone in. I did this with Ali Campbell at Goldsmiths and you literally can lose sense of time and get lost in the rhythm. It is also interesting to seee how you start to relate to each other through facial expresiion and body gesture.
Split into two groups and set first group off clapping once through
Then bring in the second group after the first "dada".
While the groups are still clapping give them instructions.
i.e. cross over, walk around the room, sit down etc
You can also split the main group up into smaller groups (tribes) and set them off clapping at different times.
Stand in a circle and call each tribe into the middle to perform their clap.
The leader can act as a conductor raising of lowering the noise level and stopping or bringing different groups in.
Comment: A cracker of an exercise so long as the leader has the rhythm and timing to bring everyone in. I did this with Ali Campbell at Goldsmiths and you literally can lose sense of time and get lost in the rhythm. It is also interesting to seee how you start to relate to each other through facial expresiion and body gesture.
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