Work with others to guess a character and character trait.
Pantomime to act out a character and character trait.

","materials","

For each student:

Pencil
Notebook or writing paper

For the whole group:

Brown paper bag or similar container
Index cards or slips of paper

","preparation","

Read and familiarize yourself with the activity.

Write the name of a character from a story, fable, nursery rhyme, or folktale on an index card, as well as its defining trait. Alternatively, plan to ask students to prepare these cards. Consider these examples:

Anansi, trickster
Tortoise, slow and steady
Mouse, from Lion and Mouse, clever
Fox, from Fox and Grapes, hungry
Jack, from Jack and the Beanstalk, adventurous
Baby bear, Goldilocks and the Three Bears, surprised
Rapunzel, who lets down her long hair, determined
Little Red Riding Hood, innocent
Wolf, big and bad
Paul Bunyan, woodcutter, strong
King Midas, everything he touches turns to gold, greedy
Goose that lays golden eggs, unsuspecting

Put the index cards in a brown paper bag or other container.

","worksheets","","multimedia","steps","

Tell students that today they will play a version of charades.
Have a volunteer choose an index card from the container. Instruct this student to act out the character and its trait without speaking. Then, invite the rest of the group to guess the character and trait being portrayed.
Call on students to make their guesses and give simple hints if necessary. Both the actor and the guesser earn 1 point for correctly identifying the character, 1 point for identifying the trait, and 1 additional bonus point for identifying both the character and trait.
Continue playing the game until all students have a chance to act out a character and trait.
Discuss the game with these questions. Ask:
- What worked well in this game? What would you do differently if you were to play this game again?
- What character traits were difficult to act out? Which ones were easy? Why do you think this is so?
- Could you play this game with younger students? If so, how would you have to change the game to make it work?

","examples","versions","variations","

Have teams of 3 or 4 students sit at tables. One performer selects an index card from the container. Teams guess at the same time.

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Character Charades

Character Charades

Character Charades

Overview