4 Theater Games That Create Calm

As your students settle in at drop-off, transition between subjects, or return to class after lunch, try playing a mindfulness game inspired by theater education. Mindfulness is the practice of paying full attention to the present moment and connecting to one’s senses and surroundings in order to do so.

Research shows us that in early childhood settings, teachers can use mindfulness to build students’ executive functioning, thus laying a strong foundation for academic work. Furthermore, mindfulness programs can support students’ empathy, perspective-taking, emotional control, and even optimism.

There is a profoundly helpful overlap between theater arts and mindfulness practices: To deliver a truthful performance, actors must be attuned to their thoughts, bodies, and environment. Naturally, drama education prioritizes sensory games and techniques to help actors drop into the present moment. The following mindfulness games can, through imagination and play, inspire your students to be regulated and ready to learn.

4 Mindfulness Games That Support Emotion Regulation

1. Sculpture. Students partner up, one becoming the Clay and the other the Artist. The Clay stands in a neutral position, ready to be “molded.” Moving slowly, with intention, the Artist demonstrates a body position they want the Clay to adopt. Maybe it is one foot in front of the other, a hand on a hip, and the head tilted to one side. The Clay mirrors the gesture and then stays fixed in the posture.

After the body has been molded and the Artist is satisfied with the pose, they show a facial expression for the Clay to mirror. As kids play, they see their “reflection” in their classmates, and their mirroring neurons, which researchers say house empathy, are at work. They are mindfully observing each other, increasing their calm and their sense of belonging.

Use titles for the sculptures to take this game to the next level and give students even more inspiration. Adding this simple element can enrich vocabulary, reinforce concepts from literature, and tie in with your curriculum. Start simply by combining adjectives with animals (“The Grumpy Bunny” or “The Excited Turtle”), and then move on to characters in familiar books (“Anansi Plays a Trick” or “Ramona Is Frustrated”). Unlikely juxtapositions can make an instantly funny story and bring characters off the page in joyful ways.

Once you’ve demonstrated the game, students partner up (with half the class as Artists and half as Clay) and work simultaneously creating “sculptures.” After a few minutes, give a clear countdown when you want the Artists to have finished their masterpiece and step away from the Clay. Then, all the Artists can walk around the gallery and admire the other art. You will activate your students’ imaginations by having them pretend that they are in a museum, so they will be respectful and not touch the “art.” Like a docent, you can support the guided play by providing commentary about the pieces: “I can tell from her stance that this cheetah would move so fast if she were real! And, I love the disgust on this butterfly’s face!”

Tips for Molding

• Set the mindfulness tone with lowered lights and relaxing music. Once you establish the game, the roles, and the title, students can sculpt without using words.
• Slow and intentional movement is key. We don’t want to mirror too quickly, “trick” the Clay, or put it into positions that it can’t hold.
• Until you give the signal to step away, the Artist can adjust the positioning of the Clay, just as a sculptor might take many attempts to get their creation just right.
• The Artist can clap or wind a “key” in their sculpture’s back to bring the Clay to life. The Clay can make a simple movement, saying the title or a phrase or just making a sound, and returning right back to the shape in which they were molded.

2. Test Your Touch. Touch is an often-overlooked sense that can ground kids in the here and now. When students play Test Your Touch, they exercise focus and concentration, zeroing in on one of their senses and heightening their awareness through tactile exploration.

Preassemble objects that are fun to feel in different bowls. Blindfold a student or ask them to close their eyes. Have them describe what they are feeling and then venture a guess as to what it is. Make this a vocabulary-enhancing exercise, and ask students to use descriptive words to speak about the objects. Kids like the excitement of being “detectives” and uncovering the mystery of their objects.

3. Telephone. In Telephone, students have to pay close attention and listen to the whispered phrase from their neighbor. The whole class respects the quiet that helps the sentence pass around the circle with accuracy. To avoid the common (intentional) word changes for humor, give the class incentive/rewards if the sentence makes it back to the start of the circle just as it began.

4. Alien Newscaster. Students can imagine they are extraterrestrial newscasters, just dropped in from another planet. They talk about common classroom objects (a light switch, an eraser, a globe) for their alien viewers back home. This heightens students’ observation skills and leads to them perceiving their surroundings in a new light. It’s also helpful for developing their abilities as writers, since they must be specific about what they see.

Mindfulness at Play

When creativity is paired with mindfulness, students have more ways to stay centered. As they play, they practice a host of executive function skills such as impulse control, turn-taking, focus, and attention. Pretend play gives an empowering context that is proven to level up behavior. As students make believe that they are artists, detectives, or aliens, they are tapping into their imaginations and accessing a higher order of thinking.

When young people understand techniques for noticing what is going on in the present moment, they can better self-regulate, take in new information, and have stronger relationship skills. These playful strategies can support your day-to-day experience as a classroom teacher and pave the way for successful learning outcomes for your students.