9 Mime Games for Children

Mime games for children are excellent resources to develop body expression. Check out the suggestions we'll provide in the following article!

Reviewed and approved by the teacher Samanta Ruiz.

Written by Samanta Ruiz

Last update: 17 February, 2023

Body language is complementary to verbal language and a great tool for children to express themselves and work on their motor skills at the same time. And a good way to develop it is through mime games for children.

Here are ten suggestions for games so you can choose the one you like the most and let the fun begin!

Body expression games for children

The first objective of the game is fun, but although this is important, it’s not the only thing that little ones get from playing. In this case, they can also develop imagination, creativity, motor skills, and social communication skills. And like any playful activity, it’s a means of expressing feelings and emotions that allows children to learn to manage them in a healthy way.

So, grab a pencil and paper and take advantage of the rainy afternoon to play with your children and have a good laugh.

1. Guess… what animal am I?

Imitating animals is one of the things that children enjoy the most!

This game consists of preparing some papers with animal names and having each child draw one in turn. Then, they must imitate the animal by means of body expression and gestures.

Imitating how a kangaroo jumps, how a snake crawls, or how a hen flaps her arms are some of the suggested options. Finally, the group that guesses the animal wins a point.

2. The box of emotions

Miming the different emotions (anger, joy, fear, or surprise) is a fun and extremely useful game for children to recognize their own emotions and those of others.

All that you need is a box with pictures of emotions. The first child must draw a card and use body expressions and gestures to represent the emotion they’ve chosen. The rest must guess what emotion it is.

3. Today we’re going to learn…

This mime game can be adapted to different situations, such as everyday chores, whether they have to do with school or the household.

For example, you can pretend to cook, wash and hang clothes, tidy the room, or paint the walls of the house. Also, you can imitate the teacher as she teaches the lesson on the blackboard.

4. Do you like sports?

When it comes to mime games, one that has many variations is acting out sports. Swimming, basketball, soccer, football, handball, climbing, rowing, and so many others can make an appearance in your living room.

The best thing about this theme is that it allows children to work on their gross motor skills while imitating the movements of the different practices and exercises.

5. I have a feeling…

The senses are fundamental organs for establishing the connection between our body and the environment around us. And they also allow us to use them to create mime games.

The dynamic is simple because, while a child recreates the different sensations, the rest of the children must guess them.

Some of the funniest sensations are the following:

• Tactile: Cold, heat, pain
• Olfactory: The aroma of homemade food or that of a freshly picked flower
• Auditory: A barking dog, a loud beep, a baby’s cry
• Visual: A dazzling flash of light, a distant ship on the horizon
• Taste: A sweet, bitter, or sour taste.

6. A little play, what do you think?

This game is for older children, as the objective is for them to write a script and act it out with mimes. If you base it on a classic story or tale, you can ask the others to guess which one it is. Have fun!

7. Imitate shapes

When your little ones begin to learn geometric shapes, this is the right time to share an afternoon game and represent them with mime.

This type of entertainment stimulates physical activity and motor skills, as the idea is to recreate circles, squares, and triangles with the different parts of the body.

8. Complete the sentence

Imagine a story that begins with an interesting sentence but has no ending. For example: “On Saturday afternoon, I went with my brother to…” or “During summer vacation, we went as a family to visit...”.

The idea’s to finish the story with the corresponding mime so that the others can discover it.

9. Guess the movie

Children love this game! The idea is to mimic a character, a scene from a movie, or a favorite cartoon.

If there are elements to dress up and help with the characterization, the game becomes much more fun. Give it a try!

The benefits of mime games for children

Miming is a form of expression that involves facial and body movements to externalize feelings and emotions or even tell a short story.

It’s also a theatrical play activity that’s an excellent resource to stimulate overall development.

Here we’ll highlight the main benefits mime games offers to children:

• They encourage creativity: By depriving children of speech, mime games force them to look for other ways to communicate.
• Help develop motor skills: Active movements make children work with their bodies and thus improve their flexibility and agility.
• Activate the imagination: Miming encourages them to look for solutions to express what the game proposes so that others can guess it.
• Mime game increases self-esteem and confidence: Creating safe spaces to play makes children let go of embarrassment and express themselves freely.

For all these reasons, mime games go back to ancient times and remain popular to this day among children of any age. And they’re also a good option for adults, as they don’t require large stages or considerable expenses to play.

All you need is the desire to have fun as a family and laugh out loud together!