Pantomime – Online Version
EnTeam Physical Game
Purpose
For students in different schools and classrooms to work online and have fun together.
Requirements
- Time: 30-50 minutes depending on the number of students
- Number of Players: no limit, but at least 4 — better with 20 or more
- Age range: Old enough to communicate an idea without talking
- Space: enough space for all partners participating to be about 6 feet apart
- Equipment: Internet access, online webcam device, tablet or smartphone connected to a breakout room, a list of prompts (see examples below)
- Prerequisites: experience with video conferencing
How to Play
- Set up teams with 8 or fewer students on each team.
- One team at a time has a turn acting out prompts.
- Each prompt has 3 parts. (see examples below)
- The team members who are acting out prompts stand in front of their classrooms where their webcam can see them.
- Students in all classrooms should be able to see all the team members who are actors.
- The facilitator sends the same prompt to a tablet or laptop that only the actors can see.
- When the prompt is sent, actors have 2 minutes to act out their prompt.
- Observers guess the prompt that the actors are trying to depict.
- Students watch either the screen of other classes or students in their class.
- If someone in the class guesses the first part of the prompt correctly, the actor gives a thumbs up to the correct guesser.
- If there isn’t a person from the selected team in a class, the students will guess what the team is acting out by watching the students act on other classroom smart boards. The teacher will score that round.
- The actor will then act out the second part of the prompt until it’s guessed correctly. If no one can guess it, go on to the third prompt if you are running out of time. You can come back to the one you skipped if you still have time.
- Scorekeepers turn in their class scores in the chat box shared with all classrooms.
- There can be up to 3 points per classroom per round: one point for each part of the prompt.
- All classrooms will join for a debrief together led by a facilitator.
- When all scores have been announced, the next team will be called to act.
Rules
- Actors have two minutes to complete their turn.
- Actors must stop acting when time is up.
- Actors must act without speaking.
Scoring
- Scorekeepers score one point for each part of the prompt that is guessed correctly in their classroom.
- Add all the points from all classrooms together to make the group score.
- If the group score improves in each round, observers and actors win together. If the score does not improve, everyone loses.
Examples of Prompts — each prompt has 3 parts
- Filling a glass with water, drinking from the glass, spilling the glass of water.
- Mixing a cake mix, baking it in an oven, putting frosting on the cake
- Climbing a tree, picking an apple from the tree, climbing down the tree
- Skateboarding, going down hill too fast, jumping off the skateboard
- Reading a book, reading a scary story, reading a funny story
- Swim, swim backstroke, swim away from a shark
- Playing a video game, winning a game, losing a game
- Paddling a boat, rocking the boat, tipping over
- Skating, playing hockey, scoring a goal
- Hiking, hiking up a mountain, running from a bear
- Playing soccer, throwing a ball, scoring a goal
- Flying a kite, getting it caught in a tree, losing the kite when the string breaks
- Painting a picture, painting a tree, painting a bird in the tree
- Skiing, getting on the ski lift, going downhill out of control
- Baking a cake, frosting the cake, eating the cake
- Gymnastics, on balance beam, landing or finishing
Debrief Questions
The purpose of debriefing is to develop strategies that will improve your performance and to recognize how these lessons apply to everyday life. To facilitate a successful debrief, facilitators must observe participants and ask engaging questions that spark thoughtful reflection. If we don’t debrief, we don’t learn!
What happened?
What did you see? What did you hear? What was the score?
What worked? What didn’t work?
How did people feel? What issue(s) came up? What issue(s) remain?
So what?
What did we learn?
How does this experience relate to other experiences?
Why are we doing this? How is it relevant to us?
Now what?
How could we improve our score in this activity?
How can we work together better?
How could we apply lessons learned outside of the game?
Digging Deeper
- Did anyone feel reluctant to share strategies?
- Why? Are you still in a win-lose mindset?
- If we are trying to improve collective achievement, who are you benefitting when you withhold strategies from other teams?
