Similar to the Sound Design activity above! In this activity, you will create a soundtrack for a story you know.
Students & Teachers
Student Activities
Acting & Storytelling Activities
Below are a series of Acting and Storytelling activities that you can do at home! If you loved the activity, take a photo of you or your family in action and tag us @IRTLIVE or #IRTLIVE.
All Ages
Storytelling: Reading Aloud for Parents
Help your young ones practice reading aloud. This lesson assumes you will be reading the same story multiple times, but feel free to adapt to any story – any time! Reading a story multiple times will help children with comprehension and other skills.
Recommended Age: 4+
Acting: Developing Character Through Dance
Let’s dance! Taking time to understand how our bodies move and react is important to developing characters, and a great way to start is to discover how your own body moves with this activity!
Recommended Age: 5+
Acting: Developing Emotional Expression
When actors are playing characters onstage, they sometimes experience different emotions or feelings as those characters. In this activity, students will explore expressing emotions using their bodies, faces, and voices.
Recommended Age: 5+
Acting: Using Your Imagination
One of the many exciting things that actors do to put on a play is use their imaginations. The following activity will help you use your imagination to transform objects into other exciting things!
Recommended Age: 5+
Acting: Yes, Let's!
“Yes, Let’s” is an acting warmup that is great for getting the brain working. It can help reinforce positive attitudes, supporting the ideas of others, learning verbs, repetition, fostering creativity, and kinesthetic learning.
Recommended Age: 8+
Acting: Mirroring with a Partner
One of the most popular acting activities is mirroring. Mirroring is a paired activity that allows people to work on leading and following through collaboration and focus. This activity helps actors strengthen their ability to focus, attention to detail, and listening to their scene partner.
Recommended Age: 8+
Storytelling: Create an Original Short Play
Write an original short play! This activity will give you tips and inspiration to develop your own story. When you’re finished, act the play out with your family, play all of the parts yourself, or with toys!
Recommended Age: 13+
Storytelling: Create Your Own Shakespearean Sonnet
What is a sonnet? Learn more about traditional Shakespeare sonnets and create your own in this activity.
Design Activities
Below are a series of Design activities that you can do at home! If you loved the activity, take a photo of you or your family in action and tag us @IRTLIVE or #IRTLIVE.
Recommended Age: 5+
Build A Hand Puppet
A puppet is a movable model of a person, animal, or object that is controlled by something else. There are hand/glove puppets that fit over a person’s hand, marionettes that are moved by strings attached to sticks, shadow puppets created by holding a shape in front of a light source, and many more!
Try building your own puppet with materials you can find at home!
Recommended Age: 3+
'A Christmas Carol' Coloring Sheet
Color and Create with Carol. Use your imagination and bring this holiday-inspired coloring page to life! Submit a copy of your masterpiece to Megan Ebbeskotte at mebbeskotte@irtlive.com for a chance to be featured on our social media pages! Original artwork by Tasha Beckwith.
Recommended Ages: 5+
Make the Ghost of Christmas Past's Headdress from 'A Christmas Carol'
Create a costume piece from one of Indy’s favorite holiday traditions. This activity will guide you through making the headdress of the Ghost of Christmas Past so you can have one of your own!
Recommended Age: 5+
Make the Ghost of Christmas Present's Headdress from 'A Christmas Carol'
Create a costume piece from one of Indy’s favorite holiday traditions. This activity will guide you through making the headdress of the Ghost of Christmas Present so you can have one of your own!
Recommended Age: 8+
Create a Costume for a Character You Know
A Costume Designer supports the story the director wants to tell through what the characters wear on stage. In this activity, try being a Costume Designer and design a costume for a character you know!
Recommended Age: 8+
Create a Costume for a Character You Create
Similar to the Costume Design activity above! In this activity, you will create a costume for a character that you imagine.
Recommended Age: 8+
Observe How Lighting Changes the Mood of an Object
A Lighting Designer’s job is to help the audience see the story. They use light, colors, and shadows to affect what an audience sees and feels. This creates different moods or emotions.
Light changes in our own environments through the day, which can change our opinions or feelings about it. In this activity, see how light changes our perception of an object over the course of the day.
Recommended Age: 8+
Create a Set for a Story You Know
A Scenic Designer’s job is to design the physical world of the play, called a set. Be a Scenic Designer in this activity and design a set for a story you know!
Recommended Age: 10+
Create a Playlist for a TV Show or Book
A Sound Designer is responsible for creating the sound effects and music heard throughout the show. Sometimes that is the sound of a phone ringing or a bird chirping and other times it is a giant thunderstorm, airplanes, or something other-worldly. Try being a sound designer by creating a playlist for a story!