Make it up as you go!
You’ll need
- Chairs
- Slips of paper
- Pens
- Container or hat
Before you begin
- Use the safety checklist to help you plan and risk assess your activity. Take a look at our guidance to help you carry out your risk assessment, including examples.
- Make sure all young people and adults involved in the activity know how to take part safely.
- Make sure you’ll have enough adult helpers. You may need some parents and carers to help if you’re short on helpers.
Planning and setting up the activity
- Find a space with enough room to move around in and clear any obstacles for safety.
- Gather some basic equipment, such as chairs, pens and paper or props.
- You can have a few prompts ready to help groups get going. You can also get the group to write their own as part of the session.
- This activity should be fun for everyone. Having fun at someone else’s expense might mean that one person doesn’t enjoy the experience as much as another. Remind everyone to be respectful of each other and use appropriate language or suggestions. Always follow the Yellow Card and use Scouts’ anti-bullying guidance.
Running the activity
- Gather everyone together and ask if anyone's heard of improv. Explain that improvisation, often called improv, is a live performance in which the actors make up scenes, dialogue and characters on the spot. Sometimes they may take suggestions from the audience. It’s all about thinking quickly and working together. It’s also a great way to build confidence, use your imagination and be creative.
- You may wish to watch some improv comedy or acting at the start of this session. Make sure to watch the clip beforehand and check it’s appropriate for your group. Always follow the Yellow Card.
- If you watch a clip, you could ask everyone after about what made the sketch funny, if there was anything unexpected and what skills you may have noticed the performers using.
- When you’re ready, have a go and play some of these improv games:
Set up three chairs:
- One for the human (left),
- One for the alien (right),
- One for the translator (middle).
The alien speaks in a made-up, gibberish language. The translator must interpret what they’ve said and pass the message onto the human. The human responds, and the translator turns that into more alien-speak. Switch roles often so everyone gets a go.
In this challenge, three players should act out a scenario given by the audience. However, one person must always be sitting, one must always be standing and one must always be lying down. No one can be in the same position at the same time, and every change make sense in the scene.
An example scenario is:
• Characters: firefighter, grandparent, child
• Setting: garden
• Situation: someone’s stuck up a tree
One person is the party host. The rest of the group (around 5 people) are guests. Without the party host knowing, each guest is given a secret trait by the audience before entering. The guests can know each other’s traits. Some examples of traits are:
• Can only speak in song lyrics.
• Overreacts dramatically to the colour red.
• Is convinced they are slowly turning into a cat.
• Thinks they are a time traveller.
• Narrates everything they do like a documentary voiceover.
• Keeps mistaking the host for a celebrity.
• Has an uncontrollable urge to challenge people to dance-offs.
• Is allergic to compliments and sneezes every time they hear one.
Guests enter the party and start chatting to each other, while always doing their secret trait. The host must figure out what each guest’s quirk is. Once someone’s trait has been guessed, the guest leaves the party. Switch roles and try again.
You don’t need a hat, any container will do.
Everyone writes down funny or awkward scenarios on slips of paper. Some examples include:
- Things you wouldn't hear on a hike
- Odd Scout skills listed on a Scout resume
- Excuses for forgetting your compass
Once everyone's finished, fold them up and put them in the container.
One at a time, players pull out a scenario and step into the ‘spotlight’ to deliver a one-liner or quick skit inspired by the prompt. Keep it short and snappy, so about 10 seconds max.
Once they’re done, the next player hops in with their own spin on the same prompt.
Keep going until the ideas run dry, then draw a new one!
Reflection
This activity was all about improvising. Have you ever seen or heard of improv before? What did you think about it? It can be much easier to watch, than do. How did you find improvising? Which game was your favourite and why? And which game didn’t you enjoy and why? What was fun, hard or easy about improvising? Would you do it again?
You had to really rely on your teammates. What was it like not knowing what they were going to do or say? How did you prepare? What skills did you need to use? Improvisation is lots of fun, but it can also give us lots of useful skills for life. What skills do you think you used? Some examples are thinking on your feet, working as a team, staying calm under pressure, listening, and communicating clearly.
Safety
All activities must be safely managed. You must complete a thorough risk assessment and take appropriate steps to reduce risk. Use the safety checklist to help you plan and risk assess your activity. Always get approval for the activity, and have suitable supervision and an InTouch process.
You must run your activities in line with the Safeguarding Code of Conduct for Adults (Yellow Card) and report any concerns to the UK HQ Safeguarding Team.
- To make it easier, you could ask leaders and young leaders to demonstrate the games first to help everyone understand them.
- This activity involves improvisation or thinking of things on the spot, which some people can find difficult. You may want to provide question prompts or let people work in pairs if they want to.
- You may need to use subtitles or BSL-signed versions of films and videos, if available, to make sure everyone can access them. When attending a cinema or event to watch a film, remember to confirm and check any accessibility requirements. If a video isn’t necessary, consider running the activity in another way, such as reading out a story.
- Some people don’t enjoy acting, role play or performing, and that’s OK. People should only participate if they're comfortable to, and no one should feel pressured to take part. For those who prefer, smaller groups or pairs may be better, and they could also choose roles like narrator or prop maker while others perform. Make sure there’s a way to include everyone in this activity. If anyone doesn’t feel comfortable taking part in the activity, let them take on another role instead. Some examples are playing or stopping music, writing down ideas, or setting up the scenes.
- These games can be played standing or sitting, with those sitting either on the floor or on chairs. If anyone has problems with mobility or moving round, think about how the game could be adapted. For example, is there a way another person in the game can move around, rather than the person who may not be able to?
- If people don’t want to or aren't comfortable touching other people (such as holding each other’s shoulders or hands), that's OK. No-one should be forced to touch someone else. They could link arms or just walk closely together. You may need to remind everyone to not use contact during the activity.
All Scout activities should be inclusive and accessible.
