Hi All!! This is a great forum for advise and I'm hoping to pick your brains. I have been approached to teach a large group a little about clowning. Now the thing is here is that the kids will not have any props other than a wig. The goal is to incorporate what they learn into a small skit at the end of a reading week. I have about an hour to teach these kids a little something about clowning. I would appreciate ideas that require no props. I am at a loss because most of my 'stuff' is about props, magic, balloons etc... I am shooting for some 'easy' physical stuff but this will be on a hard floor & I don't need injuries!!

KiKi The Clown

How about a slap take.

Have one kid act like he is slaping another but doesn't make contact with the second kid. Instead the second kid (who has his back to the audience) claps his hands together at the same time as the slap misses him. To the audeince it looks like and sounds like he was slapped but noone was touched.

This will take up some time to teach and incorporate it into a skit, and should fill up your hour.

Keep Smiling
Looney Ballooney

Thanks!! I'll try it out and see how it goes. My luck the kids will be giving each other black eyes.

I feel for you Kikki. I too am teaching kids about clowning, but mine are teenagers.
I would be very cautious trying the slapping idea...kids will always be kids and there will be tears...no matter how much you stress safety there will always be one!
I would try some simple mime exersises and physical movement. Could try some funny walks and character voices...or if you can make juggling balls with balloons and birdseed...cheap, easy and they get instant pleasure. I did this with my kids and they loved it and now they all have juggling balls to practice with.

Zoltress

I might get a good joke book and do a laughin aproach. with kids telling one another jokes. As far as props go there are million thigs you can use. Have children bring house hold items and make ther own props.

MHRocky

How about the "Bubble Gum" skit. It takes 4 or 5 clowns. Just get some funny circus music for the background and off you go! Good luck!!!

How about the "Bubble Gum" skit. It take 4 or 5 clowns.
Just get some funny circus music for the background and off you go! Good luck!!!

I saw a great clown skit where all the clowns were lined up on a park bench. The first clown at one end of the bench started to giggle. Then the second clown started to giggle. And right on down the line, it was like a slow moving giggle wave. When the giggle got to the end of the bench that clown started to laugh and then it started a slow moving laugh wave going back towards the first clown that started the giggle. When the wave got all the way back to the first clown, now she started a gut-ripping laugh and more physical movement and such and start this gut-ripping laugh wave to go back across the bench thru all the clowns. When it got to the last clown , they all started leaving the bench, laughing as hard as they could, slapping each other on the back, falling over with laughter.
The funny thing is that furing this whole crecendo of laughter, 1) nothing funny ever happened to start the giggle 2) the audience was roaring with laughter too! It was an amazing thing to see the contagious nature of this first giggle!
anyhow, this is pretty easy to practice and you can use an unlimited amount of clowns and there are no props or script needed.

when we practiced this, we noticed that there needed to be some sort of small visual cue from the first clown to the next clown and all the way on down the line to actually hand off the laughter to the next clown. It was good to give each clown their own time to set their laughter in motion.

Hope you have fun at your event!
Esther
aka Peewee

wow! What a cute idea for any age and almost any where. Thank you for sharing. I am new clown almost one year but not doing a whole lot at this time. trying to collect fun stuff that I may be able to put together a cute skit that would include silly tricks. If you can point me into the right direction would really appreciate it. I will be working alone. Pixi :-)

Our kids do a different version of the Artist skil, where the artist is painting his thumb, can use a poster and a marker, we get one person from the audience and the other clown take turn reposing the subject while the artist has there back turned, the clowns come up with their own poses which as you can imagine can be very comical.