Fun "Punishment" Ideas

[fairfarmhand]

Today, my drama class was supposed to have their lines memorized for a certain part of the play. As a "punishment" to those who did not have them memorized, I brought marshmallows and everyone pummeled the non-memorizers. It ended up being a free-for-all and good fun for everyone.

 

I need a few other "non-punishment" punishments to help motivate people to follow through on these deadlines. They have to be non messy   since I want to be respectful of our space.

[TechWife]

That's strange. How about just dropping them from the play if they don't have their part memorized by the deadline? I'm not in drama, so I don't know how memorization schedules are handled. Public shaming isn't my thing, though.

[fairfarmhand]

No, no, no

 

It was not shameful at all. Everyone was laughing and enjoying it. I promise. It's a pretty small group and I know the kids well, so I am 100% sure that it was all fun for everyone involved. I wouldnt have done it otherwise.

 

I just like motivating people with interesting stuff.

 

and no, I won't drop anyone for not memorizing unless it's clear that they just don't want to be there to begin with.

[mathnerd]

In my previous job, my boss had a jar on his desk and everyone who came in late to work or to a meeting had to drop 2 quarters in the jar. When it became full, he bought a treat for the whole team with the money. The money was often not enough to cover the expenses and he paid for the remainder from his pocket. He was a good boss to work for. You could try something along those lines.

[UCF612]

Sounds like fun.  I could see my drama group doing that when I was in high school.  I haven't thought of anything though.  I think being dropped from the play would be more shaming than a funny punishment that everyone laughs off.  I'll come back and post if I think of anything!  

 

Kids in my drama club tortured me during one play.  We did The Crucible and I played a girl who had to lay in bed completely still almost the entire play (yeah I was a terrible actress so I got this part!).  They would all walk by and stick fingers in my ear or whatever they could think of just trying to get me to move.  It was a blast (well gross but fun!).

[Slache]

How fun. I had a teacher that used to throw toilet paper at us when we messed up.

[Beebug123]

What about making them wear birthday party hats. I would even pick out weird crazy ones like silly characters or baby's first birthday to make them even sillier to wear.

[yucabird]

How about turning memorization and play familiarity into a game?  Put lines from the play onto index cards and shuffle them.  Draw one and ask which character said it.  First to answer gets a jelly bean, etc.  Bonus questions might include which act the line came from or stating the line that comes next. 

 

Or you could read a line, and if the person who is playing that character can say his/her next line, then they get a small treat. 

 

My drama kids used to love a little teacher-student competition:  I’d put some lines on index cards and one would be drawn.  Either an individual student or the entire group had to do a goofy little dance if someone didn’t know the next line but I did.  If I couldn’t say the line, I’d do the dance.  This was ages ago….My memory was a heck of a lot better before having my own children!

[mom2bee]

Threaten to lock them up in a fungeon?

[Rockhopper]

What about "Worst Improv Ever"? Have the whole class make a list of the most horrible improv set-ups they can imagine, or "pretend to be a ..." set-ups. Then the non-memorizers have to pick one from the list. Should create a lot of laughs -- and be good practice, too.

[displace]

Maybe a version of head banz where they wear their line on their heads and try to guess their lines. That may be too "shameful" though?

 

Have them wear those big stickers given away for kids' appointments (cartoon characters).

Edited February 4, 2016 by displace