Free drama activity of the month: Zip Zap Boing!
April 19, 2010
Revive your class’ concentration with this energetic game.
Zip Zap Boing is lively, fun and adaptable – and guaranteed to refresh the children’s focus in those afternoon lulls. You can try it out in different languages too.
1. Get the children to stand in a circle
2. Each word – ‘zip’, ‘zap’ or ‘boing’ – is called out in conjunction with an action:
Zip – swinging the arms to the left or right and pointing in that direction to pass the ‘ball of energy’ to the next person in the circle (depending on which way the ‘current’ is being sent around the circle).
Zap – bringing the hands together and pointing the index fingers at a person who is not directly next to you – sending the ball of energy to them. They then zip the current to the next person in the circle.
Boing – facing the person who has passed the ball of energy to you, lifting up both hands to head height and wobbling around like jelly. This reverses the current back the opposite way.
3. Send the ball of energy off around the circle – “Zip”! The children then pass the current to the next person in the circle by zipping, or they might decide to zap it across the circle, or boing it back the other way. However, you can’t return a zap with a zap, or return a zap with a boing!
4. The aim is to get the current going as quickly as possible, so concentration is vital. If you say the wrong word with the action, you’re out!
The words can easily be interchanged to fit with the topic of the class, or even changed into a modern foreign language. Perhaps ‘zip, zap, boing’ become ‘bleu, rouge, vert’, or ‘eins, zwei, drei’? Linking words with actions has proven to be a very effective way of learning MFL.
For further detailed ideas, book a Freshwater Drama or MFL INSET training session for your school and you will be given a toolbox of ideas to develop drama learning techniques in all areas of the curriculum.
Categories: Drama Activities
Posted by: Freshwater Theatre Company @ 11:41 am