The Invisible Dress-Up Trunk
The teacher opens a trunk and pulls out invisible costumes: a witch hat, a pirate eye patch, astronaut boots or a flying cape. As soon as it goes on, the whole group moves like that character. It builds expressive movement, imagination and lots of different ways to travel.
How to play
- Kids sit in a circle around a big cardboard box, the trunk. The teacher opens it slowly: "What could be inside today?"
- The teacher pulls out an invisible witch hat and puts it on. Everyone puts one on too, grabs a pretend broom and flies around the gym for one minute.
- Back to the circle. Pirate eye patch: walk with a peg leg, limping and looking through the spyglass. One minute.
- Astronaut boots: slow, high jumps like on the Moon, with floating arms. One minute.
- Crown and horse: gallop like a horse, lifting the knees, waving to everyone. One minute.
- Finish: one child reaches into the trunk, pulls out a made-up costume and acts it out; the others copy. Repeat with two more kids.
Rules
- Put costumes on and take them off in the circle.
- Fly and gallop without bumping.
- On the Moon, jump slowly and land with soft knees.
- All costumes go back in the trunk.
Variations
Easier
For 3-year-olds, just the witch and the horse, with the teacher dressed up too.
Standard
For 4-year-olds, all four of the teacher's costumes.
Harder
For 5-year-olds, kids pull the costumes and the others guess the character before copying.
Adaptations
- Limited mobility: act out each character with arms, face and voice from the spot or moving in the wheelchair.
- Shyness: the child can be the teacher's helper opening the trunk, without performing in front.
- More skilled kids' pirates hop on one foot; less skilled kids walk normally and just do the gestures.
Learning goals
- Act out characters with the body and movement.
- Use imagination to invent new costumes.
- Travel through space in different ways.
Equipment for a class of 25
- cardboard box: 1
Teacher tip
Open the trunk with lots of mystery and take your time putting on each costume: that moment hooks the group. A decorated cardboard box is all you need.
PatioLab has "The Invisible Dress-Up Trunk" and 4199 more activities ready to drag into your lesson and run from your phone in the gym.
More activities like this
More warm-ups for Elementary
Across-the-Floor Gymnastics Steps
A gymnastics warm-up where students travel across the gym on the diagonal in small waves, using basic steps: tiptoe walk, side gallop, chassé, grapevine, and scissor…
Action Verbs and Adverbs Warm-Up
The teacher calls an action verb and students act it out in their spot; then an adverb is added that changes how it is done, like "row slowly" or "climb sneakily." It…
Active Blind Man's Bluff
A dynamic version of Blind Man's Bluff in which a guide uses only their voice to lead a blindfolded partner to tag classmates moving inside a small area.
Active Corners
Each corner of the space is marked with a cone and an exercise; the teacher calls a corner and students run to it to complete the exercise.
Add-On Dance Circle
In circles of 6, students take turns adding a four-count move, and the group repeats the whole sequence from the beginning with music, building a dance together.
Agility Ladder to the Beat
Quick-feet drills on the agility ladder following the beat of the music: every foot strike lands on a beat, and when the song's tempo goes up, the feet speed up.