It encourages group participation while helping children practise listening, emotional expression, and improvisation.
By pretending to have phone conversations, children explore how to react naturally in different situations, show feelings through voice and body, and think quickly in the moment.
1. Set the scene
Pretend to get out your phone and call another adult.
Start a simple conversation where one person shares news and the other reacts emotionally.
For example: "I can't come to the cinema tomorrow."
"What? That's really annoying, I've already bought tickets!"
2. Choose volunteers
Select two children to be the callers.
3. Give roles
Give one child a piece of news to share and the other an emotion to react with.
For example, John tells Sarah he can't go to the disco and Sarah reacts crossly.
Or, John invites Sarah to the fair, and Sarah feels guilty because she's already going with someone else.
4. Perform the conversation
Have the pair act out their phone call, showing the emotion clearly through tone, facial expression and body language.
5. Repeat
Try different pairings, pieces of news and emotions so all children get a turn and practise expressing feelings.
This is a fantastic improvisation game for developing children's ability to react in the moment. It encourages quick thinking, emotional honesty, and helps them practise dialogue in a fun, imaginative way. I've found it?s a great way to boost confidence in speaking aloud and to introduce the basics of acting with emotion.
Lucy Quick, Principal of Perform.
