This gruesome titled game was created by the French Surrealist painters and is not nearly as scary as it sounds!
Watch the video or read the instructions below for how to play. Then learn how to change it up and take it further.
Anyone who can come up with a sentance can play this game!
Have everyone but one person leave the room. This person will come up with the first line of the story. It can be a story about anything!
One by one players will enter into the room and add another line to the story.
But there is a twist! Each person entering the room should only be told the last line of the story before they add theirs. For Example, Player No. 2 will hear the first line of the story, but will only tell Player No. 3 the second line of the story.
The whole premise of this game is not being able know what has happend before your part.
Have Player No. 1 write down or record each sentance so you can retell the whole story accuratey once it's finished.
Once everyone has added a sentance, read through the whole thing and see what twists and turns it took!
Play this game like we did in the video and use zoom or another video confrence platform. Make sure that everyone mutes their audio so they can not hear the story until it's their turn.
On a piece of paper have each person write down the first line of the story. Once finished fold the paper and pass it to the next person. This person will only look at the line before theirs and add on the next sentence. Continue passing until you have a complete story. Then read them all out loud.
Did our story make sense?
How does this exercise change the way you think about writing stories?
What was surprising about our story? What was fun?
How did it feel to have others changing your ideas? Where might something like this happen in the real world?
Art it out: Try out the original version of this game and create a strange character one body part at a time. Watch THIS video for the steps of making a fun exquisite corpse flip book.
Move it out: Use the same method to create a dance. Have a player create the first movement and then add on one movement at a time only seeing the move before. Then put them all together for some amazing choreography!
This game highlights the skills of: teamwork, story construction, listening, and sequencing.
Use these variations to make school work fun:
Reading/Writing/Social Studies: This is a great exercise to explore story and sentence structure. Make observations about what makes a good or interesting story.
Science/Math: Start an exquisite corpse drawing of an animal or plant and see what it looks like at the end. Activate your anatomy vocabulary words through drawing.
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