Knee tag

Find a partner and face one another
The idea is to try and touch your partners knee 3 times before they touch yours 3 times.
You can increase the difficulty by making each pair put an arm behind their back.
On the command "Change" You must find a new partner to do combat with.

Comments: Great to use with a new group especially as a way to get to know one another. This is also a good spacial awareness exercise as individuals are not just to watch their partners moves but be aware of those around them.

Mexican wave

In a circle one person sends a clap around the circle
Try to get the gap between claps as small as is possible.
First send it clockwise and then anticlockwise.
If you create 2 circles you can race to see which circle is faster.
Encourage people to be alert both with their eyes, ears and body.
You can make the circle tighter to increase the speed of the clap.

Comments: This is a fun one to use with a new group to introduce the idea of play and team work. It is good to use with a group who may be a little nervous about doing drama to loosen them up.

Aadu veedu (goat House)

The game starts with everybody creating a Goat House (two people stand holding arms up to create a house and someone sits down underneath to represent the goat).
If the leader shouts "Goat" all the goats have to change place.
If the leader shouts "House" all the houses change places to shelter different goats.
If the leader shouts “Goat House”, then everyone has to change and recreate Goat Houses with different people.
At the start make sure there are a few free goats, so that they have to compete with the rest when they change.

Nb: Aadu Veeda is the Tamil name version of this game. It simply means Goat House. In the UK this game is more commonly known as house, person, tempest

Variation
You can add to the analogy of house by saying "extension" Two people then have to create an extension each side.

Comment. I have used this game with a group that did not know each other well and it worked very well. I think because it is well structured and the children knew exactly whatt was expected of them. However it does encourage mingling as well

Conducting game

Divide the group into twos and instruct them to create a short sound or rhythm that they will be asked to share with the group.
Everyone shares their sound.
Explain to the group that you as the leader will be a conductor and as you point to a pair they must make their sound/rhythm until you point to them to stop.
As conductor you can bring anyone one in you want at any Time so everybody must be watching and ready.
The conductor also shows the group other signs such as increase or decrease volume using his hands. (or lengthen or shorten sound)
The challenge is for the conductor to create as rhythmical a sound as possible.
When the conductor has had enough he can pass the baton to whoever he wants and he then joins that pair.

Variation:
This can also be done with simple movement to create a dance piece
A outside pair of eyes can watch the action and look for narratives ion the movements. This can be fed back to the pairs and a scene could be devised out of this.
Shapes/movements/narratives can be paired off together to create something

Sparkle

Stand in a circle and get the group to rub their hands together
Then instruct them to rub different body parts
Ask the group if they can start to feel their hands or finger tips tingling
The idea is to focus this energy into a clap around the circle
As the clap comes to you simply send it on round the circle with as much energy and focus as possible
Give the instruction that the clap can be reversed around the circle
Also the clap can be sent across the circle.

Variations:
Try and play this game with your eyes closed, with the idea to not catch anyone out but rather keep the clap going.
(You will need a pair of eyes open to act as adjudicator)

Balloon Games

Sit on chairs or stand in a circle.
Introduce a balloon and instruct the group to pass it around the circle without holding it and without it touching the floor.
Introduce another balloon and tell the group that at any time a person can take hold of the balloon and walk to someone in the circle say their name and hand it to them after they have too said their name back.
You can add more balloons to the circle and if the passing of the balloon around the outside is too difficult to sustain at the same time then people can simply walk with the balloon to someone else and say their names.

Once there are a number of balloons in the circle the challenge can be given to the group to keep all the balloons up in the air without holding them for any time. Each time a balloon is batted up into the air the person calls out their name.

Variation
Have only one balloon in the circle and like the game above someone bats the balloon up into the air but then calls out someone elses name in the circle. They must then come in and stop the balloon hitting the floor while calling someone elses name in the circle and so on..

Injury tag

Everybody spreads out in the room
This is a simple game of tag but where ever the person is tagged they must hold that part of their body (as if it is injured)while trying to tag people.
The person on it can tag someone in more than one place so that that person is then on it having to hold on to two areas of their body

Person to Person body parts

Instruct the group to find a space in the room
The leader calls out two body parts.
The group must find a partner and put those body parts together. i.e. "Elbow to Head"
You can make things more interesting by adding the command "Stick" So that the pair stay together for the next command.

Name tag hug

This essentially is a name game and a good way to break down inibitions quickly.
One person is on it and everyone else must avoid from being tagged by that person.
However if te person on it calls out someones name then that person must stand still.
The person on it must now try and run to that person to tag him/her.
If two people are able to hug the person standing still then they are safe and cannot be tagged.
This game requires a certain amount of team play and watching out for one another

Tag and safety in twos

Everyone spreads out in the room and one person is chosen to be on it.
Instruct the rest of the group that they are only safe if they are hugging another person.
You are only allowed to hug for 3 seconds.
If someone is tagged then that person is on it.

Fear and Desire

Group stand randomly spaced out in the room
Instruct them to pick someone they are scared of and someone they are attracted to
On the command "Go!" they must try to get as close to the person they are attracted to, whilst also avoiding the person they are scared of.

Variation.
You can instruct the group to try and use the person they are attracted to as a shield
This is a good exercise to create a big ensemble picture.

French Telephone

Allocate each person in a circle to look at, so that everyone is looking at someone and everybody is being looked at by someone.
Instruct each person to really observe the person they are looking at and to imitate any movements they do.
Keep encouraging the group to stand still.
You will find that in the circle there is continual movement and it is almost impossible for it to be completely still for any period of time
Tell the circle to exaggerate any movements they see and the circle will quickly become very animated.

Stuck in the Mud

Somebody is it and their job is to tag everybody in the room, which immediately freezes them.
Once someone is tagged they must stand still with their legs a stride.
If someone else is able to crawl through their legs then they are free again.
Once the person on it has managed to freeze everybody then the game is over.

Progressions
To make it a bit harder for the runners you can use two or even three taggers.
You can also make the space smaller to play their game.
If you start with more people on it then you can limit them by making them crawl like crabs

Benefit
This is a great game for getting a group to work together as a team unknowingly and would work as a great warm up if the group had been experiencing division of some kind

Wa!

Group stands in a circle.
A person starts by pointing at someone and saying "Wa"
That person points arms upwards and says"Wa"
The people either side chop arms inwards to person reaching up and say "Wa"
The person pointing upwards then continues game by throwing the Wa to someone else in the circle.
The last two remaining in the game are the winners.
They can then play each other by holding their hands up opposite each other and playing the game as if their hands were people in the circle using the same principle - Chopping sidewards or pointing upwards.

Bang (Splat)

The group stands in a circle
Someone says the name of someone else in the circle
That person must duck.
Two people either side fire gun at each other and say "Bang!"
If the person ducking doesn't duck in time they are out.
Otherwise the person who fires last is out.
When you get down to the last 2 people they stand back to back.
An adjudicator then counts 1 to10 and the two pace away from each other.
When the adjudicator skips a number the first one to turn and fire is the winner

Trust run game

The whole group lines up at one end of the room.
One person then faces them on the other side of the room.
That person then closes their eyes and runs to the group stopping when they think they have reached the group.
If it looks like the person is not going to stop in time then the overall leader shouts stop (but several metres from the group).

Nb
It is important that the overall leader does not take part but observes from the side so their complete concentration is on the runner.

It is also good to give the catching group some simple guidelines for stopping someone i.e Hold arms out in front, stand with legs astride and receive the runner into you hands first, with your body weight forward on the front foot. Make sure your head is positioned to the side so your shoulder will take their weight.

Follow up
Ask the group how they felt doing the exercise and whether they surprised themselves or not.