Title: Zip Zap, Zop

Description: invite students to stand in a circle. Ask the group to repeat

the words Zip, Zap, Zop three or four times, all together. Introduce the
activity: Imagine that I have a bolt of energy in my hands. To start the game, I will send the bolt
out of energy out of my body with a strong forward motion straight to someone else in the circle
(use hands, body, eyes, and voice to make contact across the circle) and say, Zip. Explain that
the next person takes the energy and passes it immediately to someone else saying Zap. That
person passes it on to another participant with a Zop. The game continues and the Zip, Zap,
Zop sequence is repeated as the energy moves around the circle. Encourage all plays to use
their whole body to send energy and to make eye contact. They can send the energy to whomever
they want but the goal is to include all players. Practice the game. If there is a mistake,
encourage students to simply resume playing without discussion. The group challenge is to go
very quickly and stay consistent in rhythm; if students struggle pause the game, discuss strategy
and try again
Discussion questions:
On a scale of 1-10, how successful were we at this strategy?
What strategies did you use to be successful?
How can mindfulness be used within this game?
How did you use your whole body to help with clear communication? How might we apply these
ideas to our larger inquiry or work together?

Title: Freeze Tag

Description: Get your group into a circle.
1. A student enters the circle and begins a solo improvisation. Get the group to help come
up with a scenario.
2. Then say freeze at an appropriate moment.
3. Some else from the group gets into the circle and starts a new improvisation, inspired by
the other persons frozen pose.
4. Let the improvisation run for around 30 seconds then say freeze when the students are in
an interesting position.
5. A new person from the group then goes into the circle and tags out the one who has been
in the longest.
6. They then take up the exact position of the frozen person and start a new scene, inspired
by the combined frozen image.
7. Keep going until everyone has had a go or the group starts to become disinterested
Discussion Questions:
Through this activity did you feel the need to practice mindfulness?
How did you feel before this activity? How do you feel now after participating in this activity?
If you could alternate this activity, what would you do differently?

Title: Honey, if you love me, would you please smile for me?
Description: The group sits in a circle facing inward. One member of the
group is 'it.' The objective is for this person to make another smile. He goes
around the circle, picks a person, kneels, and asks him/her, 'Honey, if you love me, will you
please smile for me?' The person must respond with, 'Honey, I love you, but I just can't smile for
you,' without smiling. If he/she smiles, that person becomes 'it', replacing the first. If the person
'it' does not convince a person to smile, he/she must approach another until he/she does. The
person 'it' may do any gestures he/she wants to make the person smile (e.g. make funny faces, do
a stunt), but cannot touch the person. This is a circular game, meaning it does not end. A good
length for this game would be 20 minutes, or when most of the group has been 'it.'
Discussion questions:
Was it hard to stay mindful throughout this game?
Did you find it difficult to not smile or to make others smile?
What were your thoughts and feelings when being the one not trying to smile?

Title: Greeting your Majesty

Description: Greetings Your Majesty
1. Get the students to sit in a line.
2. Place a chair facing away from the students.
3. One student is chosen to sit in the chair. He/She must then shut
their eyes.
4. Students are then picked from the line to sneak up behind the student in the chair, and in a
weird or different voice, they say: Greetings Your Majesty.
5. This student then returns to their seat in the line.
6. The student in the chair must guess which student it was.
7. If the student in the chair gets it right they stay in the chair and this will continue until
they get five rights in a row.
8. If they get in wrong, however, the student who tricked them becomes the one in the chair.
9. This continues until the game tires.
Discussion Questions:
In order to get the correct answer did you feel the need to be mindful?
How can mindfulness be important in this game?
How would you alter this game? Would you keep it the same?

Title: Wink Murder

Description: Have everyone stand in a circle and close their eyes. One person must sit out each
round. This person will pick the murderer and the detective. The non-player will walk around the
circle and tap a player once on the head to indicate they are the murderer. They will then tap
another player on the head twice to indicate that player is the detective. The players can now
open their eyes. The non-player must now wait out the round. The detective should move to the
middle of the circle and try and figure out who the murderer is through a asking the players
questions. Meanwhile the murderer will 'kill' people off by winking at them, without the
detective catching them. If a player is killed, they should die dramatically and then leave the
circle. The detective only has three chances to guess correctly who the murderer is; if they fail,
they must remain detective for the next round. If they guess correctly, the murderer is the
detective the next round.
Discussion questions:
What was easy about this game? What was difficult?
Was being mindfulness used in this activity?
Were you successfully able to guess the murder?

Title: Taxi Driver

Description: Set up one chair for the "taxi-cab driver" and several
chairs for the "passenger seats. One performer plays the role of the cab driver. He/she starts the
scene by pantomiming driving. Feel free to develop a funny, quirky "cab driver" character. After
a few moments of "driving," the performer spots a customer. The passenger hops into the back of
the cab. Now, here's where the game begins. The second performer playing the role of the
passenger should have a distinct personality.
Some examples:
A secretive British agent.
A snobby Opera singer.
A hyper 4 year old.
A friendly, overly talkative old woman.
Here's the gimmick: The cab driver adopts the personality traits of his customer. When a new
performer (a new passenger) enters the scene, the cab driver and the other passengers emulate the
new personality/behavior.
Discussion Question:
What type of emotions did you feel while playing this game?
Was it difficult to create various characters?