Using Improv to Create Memorable Moments in MinistryThe Skit Guys bring you more than 200 skits to use in your youth group. Indexed by topic and Scripture reference, you can illustrate just about any lesson you want. Plus, each skit is ready to go and will allow all your students to participate in the teaching, whether or not they can act. They'll laugh, they might cry, and in the end, they'll learn something important.

Instant Skits: Using Improv to Create Memorable Moments in Ministry
Copyright © 2005 by Eddie James and Tommy Woodard (The Skit Guys)
Youth Specialties products, 300 South Pierce Street, El Cajon, CA 92020 are published by Zondervan, 5300 Patterson Avenue SE, Grand
Rapids, MI 49530.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
James, Eddie, 1970-
Instant skits : using improv to create memorable moments in ministry / by Eddie James and Tommy Woodard.
p. cm.
Includes index.
ISBN-10: 0-310-26568-1 (pbk.)
ISBN-13: 978-0-310-26568-9 (pbk.)
1. Drama in Christian education. 2. Church group work with youth.
3. Christian drama, American. I. Woodard, Tommy. II. Title.
BV1534.4.J34 2005
268’.67--dc22
2005024179
Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible: New International Version (North American Edition),
copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any
means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other—(except for brief quotations in printed reviews) without the prior
permission of the publisher.
Web site addresses listed in this book were current at the time of publication. Please contact Youth Specialties via e-mail (YS@YouthSpecialties.
com) to report URLs that are no longer operational and provide replacement URLs if available.
Creative team Will Penner, Erika Hueneke, Mark Novelli, Brad Taylor, and Anna Hammond
Interior design by Mark Novelli, IMAGO MEDIA
Cover design by Holly Sharp
Printed in the United States of America
05 06 07 08 09 10 • 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

The following games will help expand your drama team’s ability to
think on the move. As your actors become more profi cient at these
exercises, they will also develop the essentials your team needs to be
able to put together and perform on-the-spot skits.

20 INSTANT SKITS
This fast-paced game is a great way to get your team interested in improv.
The main idea behind this game is to see who can come up with the most
creative uses for the props; therefore, you’ll need to have a good selection
of props. Try to have some normal, everyday items, as well as some objects
that may be more diffi cult to identify. You can use the list in section 7.6 to
get you started.
Select two or more players to get onstage. Divide the players into two
teams. All props should be placed in a box at center stage. At your signal, a
player from team one pulls out a prop and has 10 seconds to come up with
any application for the item other than the object’s intended use. Once
fi nished, the fi rst player hands the prop to a player from team two, who
must immediately come up with a different use. When fi nished, the player
from team two will then pass the prop to a different player from team one,
who must do the same.
This continues back and forth like a Ping-Pong game until someone
can’t come up with a new idea. Whichever team can’t come up with a new
idea drops the prop, and the other team gets a point. Hand a new prop to
the last successful player and continue in the same direction. This game
can be a lot of fun and even more intense if you have a good buzzer to go
off at the end of 10 seconds each time.
Caution: This game could potentially yield some inappropriate
innuendos if you’re not careful. We want to encourage you to strongly
emphasize the importance of appropriateness to your game players. You
may even want to deduct points if teams are overtly inappropriate.

PROP ME UP, HERE
In this game, the director has made two sets of index cards. One deck describes
occupations, and the other deck describes different feelings. One
by one, actors pick one card from each deck and then proceed to present
a character combining the suggestions from the two cards. The audience
then guesses what the two cards held. You can fi nd a list of occupations in
section 7.3 and feelings in 7.5 to get you started.

THE BALL KNOWS ALL
Have your group sit in a circle with any type of round ball. The director
gives life to the ball as the group passes the ball around the circle. For example,
the director may say the ball is “heavy,” and the group acts as if they
can hardly lift it. The players can talk to or about the ball; however, they
may not use the same words the director used to give life to the ball. This
can also be a great game for involving audience members—have them try
to guess what the “life of the ball” is.
Here are some ideas to get you started:
• Fire
• Light
• Bright
• Feels like needles
• Knows what you’re thinking
• Thinks you’re cute
• Thinks you’re funny
• Freezing
• Thinks you think you know all
about the ball’s horrible past
• Feels like thunder
• Heavy
• Funny
• Knows what you did last summer
• Wet
• Slimy
• Smells like poo
• Allows you to see the future
• Feels like Jell-O™
• Feels like a warm blanket
• Prickly
• Feels like razor blades
• Light as a feather
• Stiff as a board
• Looks like your favorite dessert
• Makes you have allergies
• Sticks to your hands
• Filled with helium
• Splashes on you when you
catch it
• Causes you to shout your
feelings
• Causes you to laugh
• Causes you to cry
• Causes you to stop breathing
until you get rid of it
• Causes you to freeze everything
except your arms
• Fluffy like cotton balls
• Causes you to start singing
your favorite songs

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Excerpted from Instant Skits: Using Improv to Create Memorable Moments in Ministry by Eddie James, Tommy Woodard, James
All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.