Imaginary Ball Toss

"Imaginary Ball Toss"- Drama Therapy Warm-up Exercise: Margaret Colmore
ETC Level: K/S, Cr
MDV Level:Unstructured, Low Complexity
Materials: None
Procedures
Therapist begins warm up by instructing group to form a circle.
Therapist may choose to give verbal instruction to begin, or they may lead by example by pretending to hold an imaginary ball or object, and then toss the ball to another person in the group.
The group continues to toss the ball from one person to the next.
* The therapist may instruct the group that they can use their imagination and change the ball into any shape or form that they choose.
Rationale
This activity allows for the group members or clients to become more free, relaxed, and open to the remainder of the group session.
It helps the clients become more aware of group dynamics,non-verbal communication skills and working with others as a group.
It allows for self expression.
Adaptations
This warm-up exercise may not be good for clients with schizophrenia or disorders with similar symptoms because this may be too much for them to handle; for those patients, a less aggressive warmup would be more suitable, such as simply handing a small object from person to person instead of tossing or throwing.
This warm-up could also be adapted into an entire intervention by becoming more structured and complex with more instruction from the therapist.
It could also be followed by reflection time so that the group can talk about such things as group dynamics and relationships and the use of non-verbal communication.