Making Machines Activity Your participants work in concert for this teamwork-based activity. Teams use movement, concentration, and shapes to build collaboratively. This activity can be used to emphasize the body, shape, voice, sound or aesthetics. We created several lessons around the machine concept for different ages.
Body Systems Lesson (Part 2): Working with Science Objective: students will use drama to replicate living systems. This continues from Part 1 with students transforming their bodies to simulate organs or other body systems (part of the fourth grade objectives). Systems (actors and organs) must work in tandem and create a story. The actions of … Read more
Body Systems Lesson (Part 1): Working with Science Objective: students will use drama to replicate living systems. Students working in small groups will transform their bodies to simulate organs or other body systems (part of the fourth grade objectives). Systems (actors and organs) must work in tandem. The actions of one impact the actions/reactions of … Read more
Making Machines Lesson Objective: students learn how actors and directors work together. In this lesson, fourth grade students will practice building collaborative machines while taking turns as an actor and director (part of the fourth grade objectives). Students will gain a better understanding of the roles of actors and directors through practical experience. This lesson … Read more
Team Machines Lesson: Collaborating with a Prop Objective: students combine the primary tools (body, mind, voice) with a support tool (prop) and with the skills of collaboration, concentration, transformation, audience behaviors, to create a drama. Drama and machines have much in common. Students collaborate to complete a task of building an interactive machine using their moving bodies … Read more
Pass The Object (PDF) This activity has participants working as a group and requires various objects.