Why Improv is a Parent’s Best Friend

One of the greatest things you can do as a parent is play improv games with your kids. Improv games are like the scissors in the swiss army knife of parenting tools. You will use them more often than you can imagine. 

Finding games to play with your kids is greatly rewarding.

You know all of those times when you’re in a restaurant and the food is taking a ridiculously long time to come out or a clueless kitchen decides to make your child’s food last? Improv games

Stuck in a waiting room for longer than either you or your child can stand? Play an improv game. 

Have hours to kill in an airport? Need to run boring errands where your child wants to touch everything or insist you buy them stuff? Stuck in traffic? Improv games to the rescue! 

Parenting is a wild ride. There are so many wonderful, incredible things about being a parent. But, to be honest, it’s also hard. For years, at a young age our kids are one step away from a meltdown in public eyes judging them and our parenting choices for how we deal with it.

Kids are put in situations that are too stimulating or boring for them to handle and they need something to occupy their attention so boredom doesn’t turn into destruction or tantrums.

As our kids get older, it becomes more challenging to keep them communicating and maintain a strong connection. Jokes, laughter, and creativity can be wonderful distractions and relationship strengtheners. It’s a great way to remind preteens and teenagers that their parents are fun in addition to lame and annoying. 

But improv games do so much more than bring joy to your family. They are a useful aide in teaching some of the most important skills parents are expected to teach – skills related to:

• healthy communication (including listening and appropriate responses)

• recognizing and managing emotions 

• decision making 

• problem solving 

• organizational skills 

• organizing ideas 

• literacy and creative writing

• taking turns

• Collaboration

• Being flexible and adaptive

With all of these benefits it’s a wonder that roleplay games are mostly encouraged for younger kids. Toddlers through elementary-aged kids are encouraged to play kitchen, doctor, or store. They are given the props to bring action figures, dolls, and plastic animals to life and have awesome adventures. 

As kids get older, however, they continue to need support with understanding their emotions and feeling connected to their adults through fun and laughter, not just being reminded of tasks on their to-do lists that aren’t getting done.

Here are some of my favorite improv games that I’ve used with my own child over the years that foster developing one or more of the skills listed above. They don’t require any props or materials. You just need willing participants and creativity. 

Gibberish

For ages 1 and up

Have a conversation with real emotion and hand gestures in a completely made up language. Your child will join in and will follow the cues to nod in agreement, raise their voice in anger, shrug their shoulders at a loss. It’s a fun way to blow off steam, especially if you feel yourself getting frustrated or impatient, but more often than not, will end up in giggles. 

Guess Who Called

For ages 2 - 4

This game is pure silliness and will make most toddlers laugh. Think about your child’s favorite toys and characters and their accessories. Then follow this format:

Parent: Guess who called? 

Child: Who called?

Parent: Winnie the Pooh

Child: What’d he say?

Parent: He wants his honey back.

It’s amazing when a child understands the format and starts making Guess Who Called jokes of their own. 

Word Association

For ages 2 and up

You say a word and then the next person says whatever word comes to mind. Once you get a rhythm down, this game can go on for a long time. It’s a nice way to break up playing endless games of 20 Questions and I Spy on road trips. 

This game is a subtle entrance into how your child’s mind works. It can be fun, but be warned, it can also become very gross. 

—-------------------------------------

Improv games can help develop literacy, creative writing, and persuasive writing skills. Here are three games you can use: 

Create a Story  

For ages 4 and up

This game can be played several different ways. You work together to create a story. You can do this by having each person say a complete sentence, or each person can say one word. You can include punctuation such as comma and period if you’d like your child to practice. This game requires focused listening, so it’s a great game to play to sharpen those skills, too. 

Narrator

For ages 4 (as soon as a child is able to tell a short story) and up

For this game it’s best to have at least 3 people of any age. One person is the narrator and the other two are the actors. The actors are not allowed to speak unless the narrator tells them what to say. The narrator tells an original story that the actors haven’t heard before. As the narrator speaks, the actors have to listen and simultaneously act out what they hear. Keep changing roles until everyone has had a chance to be the narrator and actor. 

Get Up!

For ages 3 and up

Two people sit next to one another. This can be two chairs in a row, a bench, sofa, etc. Person A has to convince Person B to stand up and give Person A their seat. Person A is not allowed to touch Person B at all. Person B doesn’t want to stand up, but has to react authentically to the situation.   

—-------------------------

The last group of improv games can be played with younger kids, but I highly recommend them for moody, broody preteens and teenagers (if you can still get your teenagers to play with you).

Death by Chocolate

For ages 7 and up

One person says Death by [fill in the blank with an inanimate object]. The other person has to act it out, showing instead of telling. For example:

Person A: Death by toothbrush

Person B: Mimes brushing teeth and choking on a toothbrush

The more ridiculous the cause of death, the more fun the game. 

Same Line, Different Emotion

For ages 5 and up

This is a great way to help kids name and recognize emotions. Choose a sentence for one person to say. Then choose the emotion they will emote when saying the line. Keep changing the emotion until the person is ready for a break. Then, it’s the next person’s turn. You can have all of the players say the same line, but it’s more fun if each player has a different line to say. You can use text from a play or work of fiction, or you can make it up. 

“Et tu, Brute” from Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Julius Caesar is a fun one to say with different emotions. 

New Choice

For ages 4 and up

The common way to play this game is with three people. Two people are creating a scene and the third person calls out, “New Choice” whenever they would like one of the players to say something different. For example: 

Person A: You are late.

Person B: I went to the store.

Person C: New choice.

Person B: I went to the bank.

Person C: New choice.

Person B: I went bungee jumping. 

Once your family is used to playing this game, it is incredibly helpful in everyday life. When you ask your child to do something and they say, “I’ll do it later,” you can reply with, “New choice.” It’s a way to keep things light and funny, instead of frustrated and power struggle-y. 

Just note, because kids are so smart, expect your kids to use New Choice on you as well. If you say, “It’s time for bed,” your kids may respond with, “New choice.”   

5 Things

For ages 5 and up

One person assigns a category to another person and asks for 5 things that fit that category. For example, “List 5 things you’d bring to a beach vacation.” The other person has the choice to give absurd answers or to answer seriously. Either way, this game is all about planning and thinking through what you would need or want. 

I can’t stress enough how helpful this game is when teaching kids how to get organized and plan ahead (executive function). Some categories that can help your child organize their thoughts and materials for activities throughout the day. 

Some suggested categories are: 

• List 5 things you need for soccer practice

• List 5 things you need to put into your backpack for school tomorrow

• List 5 things you want for lunch

• List 5 breakfasts you can make by yourself

You can also use 5 Things to gain insight into your child’s behavior. 

For example: 

• List 5 reasons you don’t want to do math homework

• List 5 reasons you get annoyed at your sibling

• List 5 reasons you love doing [fill in the blank] so much

• List 5 friends you’d want to hang out with

• List 5 things you like to do with your friends

There are so many improv games and, of course, you can invent some yourself. The point is to get everyone thinking, sharing, creating, listening, connecting, and laughing. The age ranges I’ve listed are suggestions depending on your child’s development. Some kids are verbal earlier than others and some kids get into playing with words earlier or later than what I’ve written. Do what works best for you and your family, change things to make it work even better. 

Have fun! 

Do you already use improv games in your home? Share which ones in the comment and let’s bring even more joy and laughter to our families!  

Afsaneh Moradian is a homeschooling and parenting coach who specializes in working with parents struggling to homeschool their neurodivergent kids.