Explain to the children that they are going to create "frozen" pictures of a sporting event using their bodies. You are going to guess what sporting event they are depicting. Turn your back for 30 seconds and have the children create the tableaux depicting a sport. Students can freeze as competitors, spectators, announcers, photographers or coaches but they must work together to create a group pose. Count the 30 seconds out loud so that the children can gauge how much time they have to create their tableaux. After 30 seconds, turn around and view their group tableaux. Comment on what you see. Guess what sport they are depicting.
Divide the children into groups of four or six. Have students choose a sport they would like to depict again through tableaux. Give them 20 seconds to create a pose that portrays the climactic moment in a sports game where the winning goal is scored, the final point is tallied or the competitor completes a race. Have the children depict the reactions of the winners and losers in this pose. Once they have developed the pose depicting the pivotal moment, give them 30 seconds to develop poses that would have occurred in that game five minutes before and after the climatic moment. Have them practice and then perform these poses for the rest of the group to enjoy.
After splitting the children into groups of four to six, assign a sport for them to mime in fast motion. The skit needs to depict an entire game from beginning to end in under a minute. Have the groups practice their skits and then perform them for the rest of the group. Assign a new concept for the students to enact, such as cheating, humor or trick plays. Have them repeat their performances incorporating the new concept. Have the groups discuss how the short plays were altered by the new concepts that were introduced.
Choose two children to begin the improvisation game. Tell the pair that they are in a dressing room. Give them a scenario and have them improvise the scene. Scenarios can include a crazed fan breaking into a hockey player's dressing room, two football players discussing how they are going to turn around a bad game at half time, a paparazzi that broke into a golfer's changing room or a coach giving a pep talk to a boxer before he goes into the ring. Let all the children have a chance to improvise a scene.