Benefits of the game

 

This fun and fast theatre game is great for energising your group (as if they need help!) It practises listening skills and fast movement along with a little competitiveness. It’s great for all ages old and young. In fact adults love playing this one too!

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Good for all ages.           Good for medium to large groups.

 

How to play

 

Someone is the captain and they call out a command and the group does the action for that command. The slowest person/people to complete the action are eliminated. The winner of the game, who becomes the next captain, is the student that survives the longest.

 

The commands

 

Captains coming - Stand upright and hand to head saluting the captain.

Walk the plank - Lie on the stomach in a straight line making a plank of wood.

Climb the rigging - High knees running with arms going up and down to mimic

                    climbing a ladder or the rigging of the ship.

Scrub the decks - On hands and knees scrubbing the floor clean.

Telescope - Get down on one knee and put hands up to one eye to look

                    through the telescope.

Titanic** - Two people - One stand is front with the arms out to the sides and

                   the other stands behind them with their hands on the first person's

                  hips (or nearly touching. Making the famous pose from the film

                  Titanic.

Man overboard **- Three people - all three sit on the floor with the legs in the

                  bag of the other (like in a canoe) and move the arms to mimic

                  rowing a boat. 

Port - Run stage left.

Starboard - Run stage right.
 

** In these moves, if you have an odd student not in a pair or group, they are out of the game.

 

Tips for playing

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• If students make an error and do the wrong action they are eliminated too.

• Encourage students to go with different people for the moves that are in pairs and threes.

• Get each captain to use different voices or accents for some added fun.

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Love 2 Learn English also writes plays and shows for children/schools with no licence fees. Simply pay for the script and use it how you want.
Check out the Scripts & Monologue pages here.