How to use the cards

STORYTELLING I

In case you use the Image cards, please mix up all of the cards of all four categories. If you’re using the word cards, the player who gets a card chooses which one of the four cues he or she uses. The first storyteller draws a card and starts a story with this cue. This storyteller can tell one sentence, but it can also be ten. Then it’s time for storyteller 2, who continues the story with their cue. Go on until everyone has had a turn.

STORYTELLING II

Divide the group into pairs. Give a different word card to each pair or four Image cards. Player A starts to tell a story and as soon as he or she uses one of the words on their card, player B continues the story ...and so on, until all four words have been used.

STORYTELLING III

Divide the group into pairs. Give a word card or four Image cards to player A. Player B is not allowed to see the card(s). Player A makes up a story in which all four words occur. After that player B has to retell the story. You could even make a relay race and see how many words are left in the story after 4, 5 or even 6 players. 

ACTING I

Split the group into 2 teams: team A and team B. Players have to use their acting skills to get the location (or character/action/emotion) across and they’re not allowed to talk. Players of team A alternate turns in pairs and the other players in team A try to guess the words. After three minutes it’s team B’s turn. The team who guesses the most words wins.   

ACTING II

Divide the players into groups of three or four hand out a word card or four Image cards  to each group. All of the groups prepare their scene in which they use all four cues. After each performance the audience guesses which WHO, WHAT, WHERE and HOW they recognize.

ACTING III

Divide the players into groups of two and give each pair two cards. Tell them to prepare a scene. In the beginning of this scene they’re feeling a certain way (HOW card 1) and in the end of the scene they’re feeling differently (HOW card 2). They also have to think of a reason why their mood changes. The audience have to guess which HOW’s they’ve seen and why the mood has changed.

ACTING IV

Choose a spacious place and draw a starting and finish line. The players walk from one line to the other, every time in a different way. HOW they walk is what you determine by drawing a different card each time and tell them which emotion / character trade they’re having. When you’re feeling angry you walk in a completely different way than when you’re happy, for instance. To make it more difficult you could also indicate the intensity of the HOW, where 1 is a little and 10 is a lot.

CREATIVE WRITING I

Divide the group into pairs and give them a sheet of paper. Now give a word card to each duo or four Image cards, and tell them to write a dialogue with all four cues. The pairs write a dialogue of at least eight lines. Once the dialogues are finished, the players can read them out loud, but with a little preparation time the dialogues can also be acted out in front of the rest of the group.

CREATIVE WRITING II

Give a word card to everyone or four Image cards. Now everyone writes a story in which they combine all four cues. You could assign a theme to the stories, such as 'haunted house', 'the future', 'an unusual meeting' or 'the farewell letter'.

IMPROVISATION

On the internet you can find a lot of different types of improvisation. For many of these improvisations you could ask your actors or audience for a WHO/WHAT/WHERE and/or HOW, but you could also use Drama Nerds cards.

MEMORY

Have you got two sets of WHOWHATWHEREHOW Image? Play memory!