Improve Concentration

• Improvisation helps kids improve their ability to concentrate especially when the exercise includes other people. A well known improvisation game is the Mirror Game. Each person has a partner. The two must stand facing each other as if one kid was looking at himself in the mirror. While maintaining eye contact, the two kids must move simultaneously to simulate what happens when you look in the mirror. The longer the game continues, the more the kids become able to predict and match their partner's movements. As soon as one partner loses their concentration, they also lose their ability to mirror.
  
  

Trigger Flexible Thinking

• Several improvisation exercises for kids assist them to use creative flexible thinking. Start with a prop like a comb, for example. Explain that the item you hold is not a comb and that each person will have to discover what it is and tell the group without repeating what someone else has already said about it. Pass the comb around the circle and watch as the game triggers more and more unusual but believable statements. Another improvisation exercise that stimulates flexible thinking is "My Ape". Two kids are chosen. One starts by giving a one sentence description of their ape like: "My ape has pink fur." The second kid must counter with a description of their own ape. The conversation continues with each person offering another sentence in turn about their personal ape. Part of the object is to improve the kids' ability to mentally describe and manipulate a visual image.
  
  

Develop Empathy

• Because many kids have difficulty understanding other people's points of view, improvisation exercises like role playing are helpful in getting them to develop empathy. One such exercise is called "Park Bench". Two kids are chosen to go first. One kid is told that they are sitting outside on a park bench although the setting could be adjusted to be a school bus, a cafeteria bench, or anywhere at all. The kid on the bench does not know who they are supposed to be until the second kid enters and, using dialogue, relates to the first kid in such a way that indicates that kid's identity. It forces the first kid to deduce who they are from the verbal cues and quickly figure out how to respond so that it will feel authentic to the audience.