By Taya Beattie, Early Elementary Teacher
Here are three tried and true improv games that you can play with your family near and far! These games are awesome conversation starters, great ways to take a break from work, and are sure to leave you in stitches.
Game One:
THREE THINGS!
This game is quite simple and you can play as many rounds as you would like.
Ask someone in your group a question starting with the phrase “What are three things that…” and finish it with whatever might come to mind.
Example of this could be:
“What are three things that you like to eat?” or “What are three things in this invisible hat?” “What are three ways a monster might sneeze?”
After each response you yell out what number “thing” it was.
Example of this would be:
You’ve asked, “what are three things you like to eat?”
They say, “Noodles!”
You and everyone else responds “ONE!”
They say a second answer, “Shrimp”
You and everyone else responds “TWO!”
They say a third and final answer, “Crackers!”
As this is the last response you all shout together “THREE THINGS!” and then someone new asks a new question of three things.
And that is it. Super simple, super fun, and really hilarious once you start thinking of VERY silly things that there could be three of.
Game Two:
Seven Sentence story is truly an awesome way to get the creative brain flowing. It makes storytelling accessible, easy, and LOTS of fun. All you have to do is fill in the blank.
- “Once upon a time…”
- “And every day…”
- “Until one day…”
- “And because of this…”
- “And because of that…”
- “Until finally…”
- “And ever since that day…”
Stumped for what to say next? Have your kid fill in the blank! Don’t know what the story should be about? Look around the room. Sometimes the stories that start with “Once upon a time there was a spoon…” can have the silliest of results.
BONUS: You can also turn this into a little bit of a mad libs game by writing down several answers to the endings and reading those instead. Seven sentence story is also a great way to warm up your creative writing brain!!
Game Three:
Mystery Pass
This is a simple game of pass but with a twist. Instead of passing something real, like a ball, you pass invisible items! Throw a pike place market fish, a heavy bowling ball, a feather. The person that you pass it to should receive the item as it was given. (If you’re throwing a bowling ball, the recipient should act as thought they are catching a bowling ball.) They can then continue the game by passing a new item back.
BONUS: Use sound effects instead of words!
