PAT Bank
Freeze (4th grade +)
Author:
Brian Skinner
University of Lethbridge
Canada
Subject:
Dramatic Arts and Others
Objective:
A fun way to let kids perform various improv situations
Materials and Preparation:
Ahead of time have situations prepared for the younger
grades. Older grades will be able to handle situation
creation on their own. If the play "hangs" for
too long, a new pair of preformers go on the "stage"
and a new situation is announced.
Student Grouping:
2 teams (best if you have t-shirts in black for team
1 and white for team 2).
For the long term, if you want to take the show on the
road, have the kids design a team name and put the names
on the t-shirts in the front with acrylic paint, the kids
can put their last name on the back jersey style.
The Play:
- Split class up into 2 teams.
- One member from each team is called up to begin the
freeze game. They are given a situation (list of situations
at bottom) and they begin to act out the situation by
improving off the cuff.
- After a minute of so someone from from either team
calls "freeze" and the two actors freeze in
whatever body motion they are in.
- The person that called freeze goes up and taps someone
out, taking their place (and their frozen body position).
- The new player begins a totally new situation based
on the frozen body positions.
- The person who was tapped returns to their seat, and
the other actor reamins frozen until the new actor begins
to act in the new situation.
Rules:
- The two actors on stage (in the front of the room)
must comply with each other while acting. ie. Do you
want to go to the movies with me? Sure! I'd love to
your highness...(begins worshiping) [INSTEAD OF] Do
you want to go to the movies with me? Drop dead you
lunatic!
- The actors should be frozen every minute to change
the situations, the more change the more points can
be earned for their team. (I'll get to scoring later),
but they must have enough time to get the new situation
underway before someone calls freeze.
- The actors can't be stationary for too long, and their
bodies have to be in constant motion, making more and
more opportunities for the class to say freeze.
- No situations should be used the promote unsafe hands
on or fighting. If you can trust the students, during
a parent night have them start talking in slow motion
mode so the other actor knows that there is going to
be a slow motion physical skit.
Scoring:
Teams score 1 point for each time one of their members
freezes the act and taps someone out. It doesnt matter
if they tap a teammate out. They don't score 2 points
for having 2 people from the same team on stage at once.
This is why it is best to have the teams in their team
jerseys for easy scoring on the teachers part.
At the end, the teacher awards the team that made the
class laugh the most with 5 bonus points.
If profanity accidently slips out... the culprit's team
does not lose a point, instead the censor bag is administered...
The Censor Bag: Use your discression as some people might
be offended; however it is all in good fun. The censor
bag holds the same weight as the "dunce cap"
from yesteryears. It is made from a large brown paper
grocery bag, with the words printed CENSORED across it
in red. The actor slipping the offending word must wear
the bag over their head until the next freeze session.
***Dont force anyone to wear the bag, as I had one parent
who snapped at me for having her child wear it (for cultural
reasons) but I have had the students perform this game
infront of parents on parent night where one unlucky actor
had to wear the bag and the parents were in stitches laughing
so hard.***
Further Play:
This game can virtually go on forever, either at one
setting or over months of PATs. The students really look
forward to it and it builds great self esteem for the
shy students.
Samples/Examples:
- waiting in line for a movie, bus, taxi
- stuck in an elevator
- on a roller coaster
- being kidnapped
- playing any sport
- little kid being babysat
- two cheerlearders at a sports game (hilarious if
two boys are stuck in this one, but they will need to
be frozen soon)
- someone speaking a foreign language
- lost little kid at an amusement park
- at a bank robery
- getting food poisoning at a fancy restaurant
- in a aerobics class by mistake
- suddenly having a baby
- walking along and seeing something hideious
Comments or Variations:
Have fun and try and do it as a class show for parents,
or talent show night. It goes over REALLY well.
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