Warm up games are used by actors of every age to get their bodies moving and their creative juices going. Preschool students will be entertained playing these various warm up games. Duck, Duck, Whatever is similar to Duck, Duck, Goose!, but in this version children choose any other kind of animal. Instead of running around the circle, they move around the circle as that animal. In Zip Zap Boing, students stand in a circle and "pass" energy to each other by saying, "zip" and gesturing to the right. Students can repeat "zip" and keep passing the energy right, say "zap" and pass the energy left or say "boing" and "toss" the energy across the circle.
Preschoolers are sure to laugh during "Freeze Dance." Play music and instruct the students to freeze whenever you turn the music off. They may begin dancing when you turn the music back on. Draw their attention to their crazy positions when they freeze. Teachers can also suggest dancing in certain ways, such as like a snake or like a monster. In a modification of Red Light, Green Light, the teacher gives the "Green light!" direction but also tell students specifically how to move. For example, "Green light! Hop like a bunny!" or "Green light! Slither like a snake!"
Encourage students to "act out" songs like "5 Little Monkeys," "London Bridge is Falling Down" and "I'm a Little Teapot." Teachers can extend this activity by having students act out the songs without singing the words, then encouraging the other students to guess which songs they are acting out. You can also have preschool students act out different kinds of music. Teachers can play marching band music, classical music, show tunes and rock songs, then let students move to match the music.
"The Tunnel Game" lets students crawl through a play tunnel and pretend to be transformed into another character when they emerge. They can pretend to be characters such as a princess or the Big, Bad Wolf, or pretend to be performing a task like carrying something heavy. Preschoolers also love to pantomime. Working alone or in small groups, they can silently act out everyday activities such as cooking dinner, going to the grocery store, brushing their teeth and cleaning up toys. After some practice, teachers can have other students guess what the pantomime is to play a modified version of Charades.