The Activity Bank

The GIVE Activity Bank is a resource bank of short activities or skill-based tasks that already include supports and accommodations to meet a range of students’ needs. These activities can be easily added to your lesson—with small adjustments for your unique students and classroom—to make it more inclusive.

These activities have been submitted as is by New York City Teaching Artists from New Victory Theater, ArtsConnection, and Community-Word Project.

Submit site search

  • Give Peace a Chance

    Ages: Upper Elementary (3-5), Middle School (6-8), High School (9-12)
    Art Forms: Dance, Music, Theater

    This brain-break activity will help students to center their focus, and encourage them to express their feelings, as you set out to build your community inspir…

  • Group Mirror

    Ages: Early Childhood (PK-2), Upper Elementary (3-5), Middle School (6-8), High School (9-12)
    Art Forms: Theater, Dance

    This physical warm-up activity invites students to practice being a leader and a follower while simultaneously teaching parts of the body and actions. It’s a g…

  • Human Machine

    Ages: Upper Elementary (3-5), Middle School (6-8), High School (9-12)
    Art Forms: Theater, Dance

    This community-building physical activity helps your students develop collaboration, communication, and creative skills as they work together as a team to comp…

  • If I Were an Animal

    Ages: Early Childhood (PK-2)
    Art Forms: Visual Arts, Theater, Dance

    This activity activates students’ imaginations and incorporates making sounds and listening. It can be expanded to include movement.

  • Make a Wave Dance

    Ages: Upper Elementary (3-5)
    Art Forms: Visual Arts, Dance

    This activity strengthens social emotional skills in the classroom through co-generating ideas, celebrating individual creativity and imagination as your stude…

  • Movement Extremes

    Ages: Middle School (6-8), High School (9-12)
    Art Forms: Dance

    This activity invites students to think about size, speed, and specificity of movements in dance improvisation with a series of descriptive prompts. This lesso…

  • Names and Weather Patterns

    Ages: Upper Elementary (3-5), Middle School (6-8)
    Art Forms: Visual Arts, Theater, Music, Media Arts, Literary Arts, Dance

    This warm-up activity supports learning everyone’s names and pronouns,  bringing imagination into the room, becoming observant of the world around us, and lear…

  • Paint Your Space Warm-Up

    Ages: Early Childhood (PK-2), Upper Elementary (3-5)
    Art Forms: Dance

    This warm-up activity uses a guided improvisational structure. It can also be used to introduce the term "kinesphere" to older students.