Arts in Education Strategies

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Warm Ups:

MINI MAXI MIME
One of the best warm-up games for theatrical (and most especially improvisation) purposes is Mini-Maxi Mime. Pantomime an activity for the class, e.g., bowling a ball. Do it again, as if you were a giant and the world was very tiny, and the ball very small. Ask students to identify the change. This is''mini-mime:" everything is small and light, distances are short. Now do it again, as if you were ant-sized and the world huge and the ball enormous. Again, ask what the change is. This is "maxi-mime." everything is huge and heavy, distances are long. Now in groups, students pick a familiar activity in which they all handle some objects, e.g. eating a meal, making a bed, brushing their teeth. They do it once in mini-mime and once again in maxi-mime, but not normal size. The class watches one group at a time and guesses what their activity is. If you also want to connect to the curriculum, simply ask them to choose an activity from a story they are reading, historical period they are studying, or geographical region they are learning about, etc.

This strategy was taken from the book "Teaching Curriculum Through the Arts," available at http://www.creativeeducationalsystems.com/web_files/TeachingCurriculum.html

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