Video transcript
The Arts Unit @home Art Bites – Drama games K-2 – Movement and mime

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CHARLOTTE CONNOR: Hi, everybody. My name is Charlotte, and today I'm going to be teaching you some drama games that you can do while you are currently at home. All of these games are going to focus on using our body language and our facial expressions to either tell a story or to show how we're feeling. All of the games that I'm going to teach you today are really simple, and I'll take you through them step by step. You can follow along with me. And then later on, if you're feeling really confident with the games, you might even like to go and teach someone that you are living with.

OK. Let's have some fun. The first game that I'm going to teach you today is called Mirrors. Now we need to imagine what we see looking back at us when we look into a mirror. It's our own reflection. So in this game, we're going to pretend that I'm the person looking into a mirror doing some actions, and you are going to be my reflection, copying exactly what I do. Let's go.

So have a little think about which hand you might have to be holding up right now if you are my mirror, if you're looking at me like you are my reflection, what hand would you be using? Well done. I'll make sure that I'm going nice and slow for you so that you can concentrate. Going up, up, up. Now you might not be able to see all my arm, but stretch right to the sky. Well done. And back down we go.

OK, it gets a little bit trickier. Second hand. Now we're going to try to do both our hands at the same time. Have a little think to yourself what way is Charlotte moving, and what why do you need to be moving in order for you to be my mirror? Well done. Following along. Some of the actions might get a little bit trickier soon.

Now when we do action without words, we call this mine. So we can tell a story just using our body language and our facial expression without saying anything. Well done.

OK. Let's move on to something a little bit trickier. Ooh, notice how my arms are moving like this. So I have one arm stacked on top of the other. Now I'm going to start moving them. Notice how I'm not touching my arms. That's right. Can you keep up?

Now we're going to put on a speedy button. So you got to try to get it a little bit faster. Keep going. And a little bit faster. Well done. Try to go as fast as you can now. It's really tricky. You've got to concentrate a lot. Go, go, go, go, go, go, go. And slowing down. Well done.

And we slow it down into a pause. I wonder if you can go the opposite way. This one's a little bit trickier for me. I wonder if it's tricky for you as well. So start off slow. Can you pick up the speed now? Well done. Keep going. OK, keep going. This is the part where you go really fast. Go, go, go. You're doing such a good job. Fabulous, and slowing it down. And we're going to end up like this. Well done.

This time we're going to pretend to be blowing up an imaginary balloon. So we're still following like you're my mirror. Are you ready? We're going to blow up the balloon. [exhales]

Notice my arms moving. Keep moving. Ready for it to pop. Keep your arms there, and pop! Oh! Did you clap your hands together? I really like to trick my students with this one. Notice how mine didn't touch.

OK, one more time. Blow up your balloon. [exhales] Keep blowing it up. So full, nearly ready to pop. [exhales] Are you ready? In 3, 2, 1, pop. If you didn't touch your hands, then well done.

Now in Emotional Mirrors, we start using our facial expressions in order to show how we're feeling. Now when we're happy, we usually smile. When we're sad, we might have a frowny face. Or when we're angry, we might do this. So with Emotional Mirrors, we're going to make sure that whatever facial expression we're using to show how we feel that we exaggerate it. Now that big word 'exaggerate' means that we go really, really big and bold. So if I'm smiling, I'm going to make sure that I'm really smiling. Are you ready? Let's go.

Well done. I wonder if you can think about what types of emotions we just went through.

In Action Mirrors, we're going to start doing activities that you might do in your house every single day. I'm not going to be using my voice, so I'm going to be miming the action using my hands, my facial expression, and my body. Are you ready to follow along? Great. I'm sure at some point you're going to start realising what the action is. I'll make sure I go nice and slow for you, and you follow along with me. Let's begin.

What action was that? Well done. Brushing our teeth.

OK, second one.

Do you know what we just did then? That's right. Brushing our hair. I wonder what happened. Did the brush get stuck? Oh no. You've got to pull the brush through the hair. [sighs] Phew.

OK, next action.

Do you know what we just did? Putting on our hat and then putting on our jumper over our heads. Well done.

OK, the next game we're going to play is called Do This, Don't Do That. Now we just learned some miming games with mirrors where I was doing an action, and you were following along. We used our facial expressions and our body language to show how we were feeling and also to show what type of action we were doing. In Do This, Don't Do That, we're going to continue by copying. However, I'm going to use my voice as well. If I say for you to 'do this,' then you follow me. But if you hear me say 'do that,' then you don't do the action. It's a little bit like Simon Says. Let's have a go.

Do this. Do this. Do this. Do this. Do that. Don't do that.

Now at the end, we always join in together and say, don't do that. Let's have another go.

Do this.

We liked this one before, didn't we?

Do this. Do this. Do that. Don't do that. I wonder who of you knew to stop. OK.

Do this. Do this. Do this. Do this. Do that. Don't do that. Well done.

I wonder what other types of actions you could do with someone in your house where you get to be in charge of saying do this and don't do that. OK, let's have one more go.

Do this. Do this. Do this. Do this. Do this. Do that. Don't do that. Well done, everybody.

The next game I'm going to teach you today is called Shazaam! Shazaam's a little bit similar to scissor, paper, rock because we will have three options to choose from, and we want to try to think what our partner might be picking and beat them. This game is really fun because you don't know what the person you're playing against is going to choose. We're also going to use our imaginations and we're going to use our entire bodies to turn ourselves into different characters.

Now the three characters that we're going to choose today are either a giant, a ninja, or a wizard. Now if you decide to be the giant, you're going to stamp your feet, and move your arms like this, and say, fi-fi-fo-fum. Well done.

If you decide to be the ninja, you're going to have your arms like this, and you're going to say, hi-yah! Fabulous.

And if you decide to be the wizard, you get your magic wand and you wave it around in a circle as you say shazaam!

Let's have a little look at what character is going to beat what. So the giant is going to beat the ninja. Ninja beats wizard. And wizard beats giant. So now we know the characters, and which character beats which. We're going to verse one another. So I'm going to count down from three, and when you hear me say 3, 2, 1, go, I want you to turn into one of those characters at the same time as me. We're going to find out who wins.

Ready? Standing nice and still. Have a character in your mind. 3, 2, 1, go. Shazaam! 3, 2, 1, go. Fe-fi-fo-fum. 3, 2, 1, go. Hi-yah! 3, 2, 1, go. Hi-yah! 3, 2, 1, go. Fe-fi-fo-fum. 3, 2, 1, go. Shazaam!

Now you've played the game with me. I wonder if you can find someone in your house to play the game with. You can teach them just as I have, and this time, you can turn and face your back to one another as you play the game. So you can't see what the other person is about to do.

I hope you've had some fun playing these games today. I know I have. Bye!