Activities

Family Time Rocks! has partnered with Theatre Action Project to bring you this page of fun suggestions for activities you can do with your family and friends. Thanks to Karen LaShelle and TAP for their ideas and support!

Theatre Action Project (TAP) teaches more than 16,000 young people critical life lessons through the power of theatre and the creative arts. TAP offers a variety of in school, after school and evening based programs that address topics including: bullying, diversity, dating violence, low self-esteem, literacy and the environment in 6 Austin area school districts.

Here are a variety of games and activities pulled together by the TAP team that families can use to help them explore some of the  important social and emotional issues TAP programs address.

GAMES AND ACTIVITIES FOR SELF-DISCOVERY

Projects and Games

Hot Seat (for a group, any age): One chair is set on the stage and everyone has to take a turn sitting in the “hot seat.” While you are in the hot seat you have to tell about yourself for the full minute (or 30 seconds for younger groups). It doesn’t matter what an individual chooses to share or not share so long as s/he keeps speaking for the entire time that s/he is in the hot seat.

Storybooks (for groups or individuals, any age): Write and illustrate your own storybook that tells where you came from, who your family is, what your goals and dreams are.  Share and trade them with other kids to look at the similarities and differences.

Road Map (for groups or individuals, 6th grade and up): Make a personal road map that shows where and when you were born, significant events in your life, and where you would like your path to take you.  You can write, use pictures, create their own symbol legend, etc. Be creative in how you share your journey until this point.

Two Truths and a Lie (for groups, any age): Have a group of 3-10 kids sit in a circle. Each child makes three statements about themselves, two of which are true and one which is lie. Everyone else in the group has to guess which statement was the lie. Everyone takes a turn.

Discussion Questions

• Who are you?
• How are you like your family/ How are you different?
• How are you like your friends/ How are you different?
• How do you describe yourself?
• What characteristics do you like in you? In your best friend?
• How does what you see in magazines, on TV, or in the movies affect you?
• What is your culture?
• What are your beliefs?
• What are your dreams?
• What are your talents?
• What are your goals?
• What are your responsibilities to yourself, your family, friends, community, country, world?
• What do you need to do to help achieve your goals and the goals of the global community?
• How would you like the world to be when you are older?
• How important is reputation to who you are?  Why?
• What is a healthy choice, and how do you make healthy choices for yourself?

Suggested Reading

Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, Judith Viorst
Chrysanthemum, Kevin Henkes
I Like Being Me, Judy Lalli
I Like Myself, Karen Beaumont
My Many Colored Days, Dr. Seuss

GAMES AND ACTIVITIES FOR FRIENDSHIP

Projects and Games

Friendship Box (for groups or individuals, any age): Make a friendship memory box. Decorate a shoebox with images, words, poems, or objects that symbolize friendship. Put pictures of your own friends in it or use it throughout a school year to store finished projects.

Human Knot (for groups, ages 1st grade and up): Everyone stands in a circle and grabs someone’s hand that is not the person standing to you. Then take another person’s hand with your other hand. Without letting go, find a way to untangle yourselves.

Story-Writing (for groups or individuals, ages 2nd grade and up): Write a story about two animals who are different but become friends. If you have more than one child and access to a copy machine, consider photocopying the stories and binding them in a book.

Friendship Bracelets (for groups or individuals, ages 3rd grade and up):  Research friendship bracelets and, either alone or with a friend, use embroidery floss to make bracelets. Materials can be found at any crafts store, and all levels of patterns can be found at: http://www.knotcool.com/

Discussion Questions

• What is a good friend?
• What is friendship?
• How can I make a friend?
• How can I keep a friend?
• What if I lose a friend?
• When we have problems with friends how do we resolve them?
• Should I be a friend to someone I don’t like? Why? And how?

Suggested Reading

Baseball Saved Us, Ken Mochizuki
Best Friends for Frances, Russell Hoban
Bill and Pete and Bill and Pete Go Down the Nile, Tomie dePaola
Chester’s Way, Kevin Henkes
Freedom Summer, Deborah Wiles
The Giving Tree, Shel Silverstein
Horton Hears a Who, Dr. Seuss
A Letter for Amy, Ezra Jack Keats
The Other Side, Jaqueline Woodson

GAMES AND ACTIVITIES FOR EXPLORING FAMILY

Projects and Games

Family Tree (individual, any age):  Make your own family tree. In addition to drawing or cutting out a leaf for each person, include a story about each member of the family. This project can be as simple or as involved as you want it to be. Older kids may want to call relative up and conduct oral histories.

Family Vacation (groups, any age): Divide the kids into groups and assign each to be a family with a different characteristic: an alien family, a rock star family, a lion tamer family, etc.  The kids will discuss what makes their family unique, brainstorm appropriate vacation ideas, and use their bodies to create three to five images that depict what might have happened on their family vacation.  This may be planned or completely improvised, with each group sharing their images one at a time. While one group is sharing their images, lead those watching in a discussion about what they can tell about the families depicted.

Puppet Show (individual or group, elementary school): Create a puppet show or a play based on your family history or family dynamic, based on interviews of family members. You can make puppets out of socks, plates, or many other household objects, or used stuffed animals or other objects to represent each family member.

Family Crests (individuals or groups, elementary and middle school): For younger kids, explain what a crest is (the houses in Harry Potter might be a good reference point here). Trace a coat of arms or oval and divide it into three or four sections.  In each section, draw picture that represents something about your family. If in a group, feel free to share at the end.

My Name (groups, any age): People introduce themselves and tell stories about how they have their names. (“My mother wanted to name me after her great-aunt Helen who once climbed Pike’s Peak in high heels,” etc.). You can do this for first names, middle names, nicknames, and maybe even last names, depending on how much the kids know about their family history. Variation: Have kids interview each other about their names and then introduce their partners to the group.

Discussion Questions

• What is a family?
• What does a family look like?
• What are the roles in my family?
• How might my family be different than other families?
• What kind of different families are there?

Suggested Reading

Bigmama’s, Daniel Crew
A Chair for My Mother and A Chair for Always, Vera B. Williams
Circle Unbroken, Margot Theis Raven
Do Like Kyla, Angela Johnson
I Love You All Day Long, Francesca Rusackas
Julius, Baby of the World, Kevin Henkes
Oma’s Quilt, Paulette Bougeois
One of Three, Angela Johnson
The Patchwork Quilt, Valerie Flourney

GAMES AND ACTIVITIES FOR EXPLORING COMMUNITY

Projects and Games

Portraits (groups, any age): Split the group into two. In your own group come up with an idea for a place in your community (the zoo, swimming pool, school, etc.). Silently, one by one make a portrait of an activity that will show where you are. The other group will guess, and then it will be their turn.

Community Map (individuals or groups, any age): Create a map of your community. What places should be included? How should they be categorized?

Ideal Community (individuals or groups, any age): Design a map of the ideal community.  What do you wish your community looked like?  What would your community include and why? Think literally or metaphorically.

Mural (group, any age): Paint a mural of your ideal school community that celebrates the different people who teach, work, or learn there.  You can use big sheets of butcher paper or poster board if you want to do this at home.

Questions

• What are different kinds of communities?
• How does culture affect a (diverse) community?
• What is special about where I live?
• How do I affect the community in which I live?
• How does my community affect me?
• What does it mean to give back to the community?

Suggested Reading

The Ancestor Tree, Obinkaram Echewa
Boundless Grace, Mary Hoffman and Caroline Binch
Cherries and Cherry Pits, Vera B. Williams
Little Cliff and the Porch People, Clifton Taulbert
Night on a Neighborhood Street, Eloise Greenfield
Sélavi, That is Life, Youme
On the Town, Judith Casely

GAMES AND ACTIVITIES FOR FAMILY FUN TIME

These games are great for family gatherings, birthday parties, sleepovers, block parties, and any other time you might have a large group of kids (or grown-ups!) hanging out together.

Circle Dash/Steal the Spot

Number of People: 6-15
Age Level: 8+
Space Requirement: open space
Time: 10 minutes
Energy Level: high
Materials: none

Description: The group stands in a circle, with one person volunteering to start in middle. The objective of the players is to make eye contact with someone on the other side of the circle and switch places with him or her. The objective of the person in the middle is to get out of the middle and into the circle, by “stealing” the spaces vacated by people on the outside.

Applications: This game is a fast-paced physical warm-up that builds concentration and non-verbal communication.

Lemonade aka New York, New York

Number of People: 8-20
Age Level: 6-10
Space Requirement: large open space or outdoors if group is large
Time: 15 minutes
Energy Level: high
Materials: none

Description: Divide the group in half and have them stand on opposite sides of the room facing each other. Each group decides among themselves a “character” to portray for the other team via a mimed action.  The group learns a chant:

A:  Here we come!
B:  Where from?
A:  New York!
B:  What’s your trade?
A:  Lemonade!
B:  Well, give us some, if you’re not afraid!

Side A starts to walk toward side B performing their mimed action.  If line A manages to walk all the way to side B and side B still hasn’t guessed their characters, they continue miming while walking backwards. Once someone from side B guesses the character, side A must run back to their side before being tagged by side B.  If tagged, they join side B.  Play resumes by having side B start the chant.

Applications: This is a great warm up for younger children. It also introduces mime and character work.

Treasure Hunt

Number of People: 6+
Age Level: 5-7
Space Requirement: open space
Time: 10 minutes
Energy Level: high
Materials: small objects that can be used as treasures

Description: Pick one child to be the treasure hunter and send him/her out of the room (obviously, pick someone who can handle this freedom). While the treasure hunter is out, pick another child to be the treasure hider. The rest of the kids are pirates.  In full view of the pirates, the treasure hider hides a small object (a feather, ball, marker, whatever.) somewhere in the room.  (Be sure the treasure hunter has seen the treasure before leaving the room so he/she knows what it looks like.)  Also consider setting up clear guidelines about which parts of the room are in/out of bounds before the game begins.

Once the treasure is hidden, the treasure hider becomes a pirate.  The treasure hunter comes back in the room and begins searching for the treasure.  The pirates’ job is to assist the hunter by signaling when he/she is getting nearer to or farther from the treasure’s hiding spot (much like the game “hot or cold”). The pirates signal proximity in two ways simultaneously: by arm movement and by vocal pitch.

All pirates begin with their hands at their sides and saying a neutral word (like “eeeeeeee”) on a low pitch.  As the treasure hunter gets nearer to the treasure, pirates raise their arms out to their sides at about shoulder level and the sound gets higher in pitch.  When the hunter gets very near the treasure, pirates raise their arms over their head and the sound gets very high in pitch.  Teach the game by modeling.

Team Card Tower

Number of People: 2+
Age Level: 9+
Space Requirement: Open Space
Time: 15 minutes
Energy Level: Medium
Materials: One deck of playing cards per group

Description: Divide the group into smaller groups of two to four people each, giving each group a deck of cards. Instruct the group that their task is to build the highest tower of cards they can. When building the tower, each person may use only one hand and must place the other hand behind his/her back. The teams must start over each time the cards fall. It’s a good idea to set a time limit for this activity and see who has the tallest tower once the time is up.

• What was easy or difficult about this activity?
• What strategies did you use to work together successfully?
• How important would your teammate’s help have been if you all could have used two hands?

Variations:

• Start with both hands, then halfway through switch to one hand and compare the difference.
• Use your dominant hand part of the time and your other hand part of the time and compare the two.
• Try activity without any speaking.

Self portrait without a face

Number of People: 5+
Age Level: 8+
Space Requirement: Open Space
Time: 25 minutes
Energy Level: Low
Materials: Polaroid camera, Polaroid film, cork board or butcher paper (optional)

Description: Working in pairs, each person composes a self-portrait. Anything can be included in the photograph except the face. The person directing their portrait tells their photographer partner how they want to be photographed: angle, distance, cropping, etc. The pairs then sit down and tell each other the significance of their photos and something about themselves. After a few minutes, the group leader brings the entire group together and asks everyone to show the photo of their partner and introduce him/her to the group. These introductions are deeper and livelier than when people introduce themselves more conversationally.

Variation: Once everyone’s been introduced, ask everyone to tape their self portraits onto a large board or sheet of butcher paper. Thinking of the surface of the board as the group, ask them to place their photos according to where they see themselves within the group.