Fun Improv Games to Play with your Family

No matter where your political opinions lie, the odds are good that you don’t want to discuss them with your family this Thanksgiving and Christmas. Or ever again, possibly. Fortunately, there are some simple improv games you can play with your family this holiday season.

Why Improv?

There are so many reasons to mess around with improv, and we’ve laid them out in the past. Improv helps people with social anxiety along with many other benefits for adults and kids.

Three Fun, Simple Improv Games for Families to Play on the Holidays

1. One Word Story

How to Play

1. Players sit in a circle.
2. The players decide on a title for the story, either by coming up with their own or by using a suggestion such as the following:
   • The Rainy Day
   • The Scary Castle
   • The Happy Turkey 
3. One player starts the story by saying a word. 
4. Players take turns adding a word to the story, going around the circle in order. 
5. The goal is to create a coherent story. 

Tips

• Start with a warm-up. If you’re playing One Word Story for the first time, you can start with a round of “Popcorn Stories” where players take turns telling a coherent story a few sentences at a time. 
• Have someone write down the story. You can ask one player to write down the story as it’s being told so they can recap if anyone gets lost. 
• Discuss the story. After each story, you can discuss what the group liked about the story and how to make it better. 
• Don’t worry about “mistakes.” If someone says two words instead of one, it’s okay! Move on!
• Don’t plan ahead. The better you can, try to just react to the word before you. Planning too far ahead is a recipe for disaster. For example, if someone starts the story with “Once,” don’t assume it’s a “Once upon a time” story. Because it might go, “Once…” “…there…” “…was…” and then when it gets to you, you’ll be more likely to not know what do say.
• There are no wrong answers. Don’t judge. It’s not YOUR story. It’s OUR story, and it can be about anything, from Thanksgiving to Christmas!
• Don’t worry too much about the title. The title is meant to get the story started. If the story makes sense with that title, great. If not, no big deal.

2. The Ad Game

How to Play

1. Make a group of at least 3 people.
2. The non-playing group suggests to the playing group a random item to sell, such as a pen, house, or spatula.
3. One player introduces the product. For example: “I have this amazing pen to sell you! This is the last pen you’ll ever need! This pen writes in every color you can imagine!”
4. Each player then takes turns to provide extra information about the item starting with “YES, AND,” adding more and more details until they’ve turned it into a revolutionary new product. For example: “YES, AND this pen never runs out of ink!” OR “YES, AND this pen knows the answer to any question that’s ever been asked!”
5. When the game is running out of steam or everyone has contributed, one player ends the game by introducing the name of the product. For example: “YES, AND it’s called the Pen 2024!”

Tips

• You can take the game a step further by getting them to create a tagline and identify a celebrity to endorse it.
• Remember that you’re trying to sell a product! Get enthusiastic!
• Don’t deny the reality that came before. So, if someone says that the pen can write in any color, don’t later say that it comes only in black and blue.
• You can get as fantastical with the features as you want to.
• Remember, you know this product, so don’t apologize and be confident!

3. Mind Meld

How to Play

1. Three or more players sit in a circle.
2. First we have to determine which two people will be the players for the round.
3. When one player thinks of a word to say, they let the group know by saying, “one.” This indicates to the group that the player is ready and looking for a partner.
4. When someone else in the circle thinks of a word they let the group know by saying “two.” Now we have the two players for the round.
5. Those two players face each other (keeping their place in the circle).
6. Together they say, “one, two, three” and where they would say “four” they say the word they have in mind simultaneously. For example: Player 1 says, “leaf” and Player 2 says, “sun.”
7. Now the group has a baseline. In the successive round (played the same way as the first round), the players try to find the middle or commonality between the two most-recent words. For example: Player 3 (thinking of “leaf” and “sun”) says, “photosynthesis,” and Player 4 says, “Christmas tree.”
8. Each round plays off the last round, so now the baseline is “photosynthesis” and “Christmas tree.”
9. When two people say the same word at the same time, that round is officially over! Do a little happy celebration dance and start a new round, if the group wants to.

Tips

• There are no wrong answers!
• As best as you can, throw out previous words and only think of the two most-recent words and what they have in common.
• Try not to repeat words.

If you have any questions about these games, don’t hesitate to reach out!