Roleplay Ideas
1. Bakery
Kids can create their own bake-house and bake goodies and sell them to other kids who would be their customers. You can make goodies like cookies and cakes using cardboard paper cutouts and crayons and double baking oven using bookshelves. You can also buy ready-made baking playsets for the same.
2. Fairy Tale Plays
Fairy tales are a great way to spark the imagination of children. Kids can easily relate to fairy tales, and enacting the same by making sets out of coloured cardboard paper can help them memorize the stories as well as inculcate the morals imparted by them. Renditions of ‘Three Little Pigs’ or ‘Goldilocks’ are excellent dramatic play ideas for kids to learn and memorize the story as well.
3. Flower Shop
Recreating a flower shop during spring is an excellent role-play idea for kids. The kids will learn about different flowers, the seasons they usually bloom in, and their alternative names too. Take this activity a little further by asking them to make flower cutouts and arrange them in beautiful bouquets with attractive ribbons. This role-play could also strengthen their math skills when they count flowers, and sell the bouquets to their customers.
4. Pizza Parlour
Kids love to eat pizzas! This role-play will help them understand how pizzas are made and delivered to their customers. They can make pizzas slices, ovens and the delivery boxes out of cardboard and coloured chart paper, and pretend to have ridden several kilometres to deliver the pizza on time. Children will be interacting a lot with each other for this activity. They will also learn how eateries and pizza parlours operate.
5. Soda Vending Machine
For this role-play, a soda vending machine can be made with a cardboard box cutout, styrofoam cups and some coloured tissue paper. This can be a great addition to various dramatic role-playing scenarios such as restaurants, pizza parlours, hospitals and so on.
6. Baby Care
Kids often imitate parents taking care of babies and they also care for their toy babies like they are real ones. They are very imaginative and can play with a stuffed toy or a doll, dress them, feed them, take them to school, etc. for hours altogether. This role-playing game doesn’t require a lot; just a doll or a toy and some imagination can help them build a perfect world for themselves. However, nowadays there are kits available in the market that come with dolls resembling babies and accessories that kids can play with. This is one of the most effective role-playing scenarios for kids for it teaches them how to care and protect.
7. Ice Cream Counter
Kids can make their own ice cream parlour with different flavours of ice cream by just using felt or playdoh (clay), some empty transparent plastic boxes, an ice cream scoop and a few cones painted out of paper. This helps children enjoy and understand different colours while pretending to eat one of their favourite snacks in the world. If they are old enough to operate their pretend ice-cream counter, they can even have their family and friends visit as customers and get some experience of selling ice cream and keeping accounts.
8. Castles
This one is the most famous role-playing game for kids. They can make their own castles out of bed linen, a few cushions and some sticks. This lets them enjoy the medieval times of being royals in their castles. Each kid can take turn ruling the kingdom, while others are either his courtesans or the people living in the kingdom. Take this a step further by telling them a historical story and allocating roles to enact in the make-belief castle. Sometimes, this game can also be used to teach kids to strategise, a life skill they will need when they grow up.
9. Tea Party
Kids can play with ready-made teacup sets and recreate a scene of high tea or a tea party with their parents, siblings, friends and even their toys. Encourage them to bring all their new friends home for a tea part. This way they will learn to communicate and make new friends. Sometimes, this game can also work as a stressbuster and encourage your child to share their feelings over a cup of their tea.
10. Dinosaur Excavation Site
This activity will bring out the palaeontologists in the kids. You can create this pretend play idea with just a large rectangular tub, some sand to fill it and some plaster of Paris bone replicas which can be buried in the sandbox. Dress them in cargo pants, cotton shirts and large hats to keep them safe from the harsh sun out there when they pretend to excavate the bones. Also give them some brushes to remove sand, dig out the dinosaur bones and have their share of fun and education together. This is one of the most fun role-play ideas for kids.
Roleplay Ideas For Friends
1. Guardian Angel
Person A has had many near-death experiences in their life. They should be dead but it’s as if something is protecting them. Then they meet Person B, their guardian angel.
2. Vampire Prince
Person A is a vampire Prince. They rule the kingdom and sit on the throne, but it’s all with reluctance. Every year a sacrifice is brought from a nearby village for The Vampire Royalty. They kidnap Person B and take them to the castle.
From here you can go in any direction you want! Person A can turn person B into a vampire, Person A can have mercy on them and send them back to the village, or maybe even keep Person B as a pet or something of the likes. This one is very open so just have fun with it!
3. Mental Hospital Patient/ Doctor
Person A is a mental hospital patient, put there for any reason you’d like. So far nobody has been able to make progress with Person A. That is until Person B comes along.
This one is good if you like getting deep into characters and their relations with others.
4. Western Universe
Person A is riding along the outskirts of their ranch when they see Person B on the ground. Person B has been shot and will soon bleed to death if they aren’t helped.
I left this one fairly open too. Does Person A take the risk and help Person B? What will it cost them if the do?
5. Werewolf Universe
I don’t really have anything specific for this one. I feel it’s a bit of an oldie but goodie. Similar to the Vampire one there are a lot of ways you could go. Are they both werewolves? Is one human? Does one of them get turned and the other has to deal with it? Are there two werewolf packs fighting? There are just so many possibilities with this one, just go for it.
6. Zombie Apocalypse
After losing all of their supplies, friends and allies Person A finds themselves lost and without any defense. That is until they run into Person B’s group. How does Person B react? Do they accept Person A with open arms or are hey hostile and wary?
7. Reverse!Verse
This one mostly applies to fandom related RP’s. Take the lead characters and reverse their roles. Make them the opposite of who or what they really are and see where that leads you.
8. Ghost and Haunted
Person A has just moved into their new home. (Apartment, Mansion, cozy town house, whatever you’d like) The first few nights are peaceful. Then things start to get crazy and the meet Person B. Person B inhabited the home once upon a time. They were killed some how and were stuck to their house as a ghost.
9. Memory loss
Person A and Person B have known each other for a long time. Person A gets into an accident, giving them head trauma and causing them to forget Person B, or even everything they’ve ever known. It’s up to Person B to help them remember and if they don’t remember, to help them figure out their life.
10. Body Swap
I feel like this is fairly self-explanatory. Person A and Person B switch bodies for a certain amount of time. Chaos ensues as they try to pretend to be each other and sort everything out.
Roleplay Ideas List
1. Pretend your boyfriend is a cop and you’re trying to get out of a speeding ticket.
2. Pretend that you’re his boss and are about to fuck him on his desk at work.
3. Pretend you’re a virgin who’s having sex for the very first time.
4. Pretend you’re at a sleepover and have snuck away to fuck your best friend’s brother.
5. Pretend you’re a student who’s trying to seduce her teacher in order to raise her grade.
6. Pretend you’re a nurse who is about to give her patient a sponge bath.
7. Pretend you’re a famous singer who’s about to have meaningless sex with one of her groupies.
8. Pretend you’re in a zombie apocalypse and you’re having sex one last time before the world ends.
9. Pretend your boyfriend has been away at war for years, and he’s finally come home to see you.
10. Pretend your boyfriend is a masseuse that’s going to give you a happy ending.
11. Pretend that you’ve just met your boyfriend and are going to have a one-night stand with him.
12. Pretend you’re his maid who wants to have a quickie with him before his wife gets home.
13. Pretend that you’re both porn stars on the set of one of your films.
14. Pretend that you both hate each other’s guts and are about to have rough, angry sex.
15. Pretend you’re a prostitute who’s only fucking him for the cash.
16. Pretend that he’s the pizza guy, and that he’ll let you blow him instead of pay him.
17. Pretend he’s your Uber driver that ends up fucking you in the back of the car.
18. Pretend that you’re a bored housewife who decides to sleep with the pool boy.
19. Pretend that he’s your yoga instructor, and he’s teaching you exactly how to bend over.
20. Pretend you’re an inmate in prison who’s trying to fuck another inmate without the guards noticing.
Roleplay Ideas For Students
1. International Space Station
Location: Participants are visiting or working on the International Space Station.
Personalities: Astronauts, of course, but add other types of people who might end up on the space station, such as:
A school teacher invited to give science lessons from space
A wealthy space tourist
A common man who has won the visit in a lottery
Situations: Being enclosed on a vehicle that travels at thousands of miles an hour at zero gravity can lead to some pretty odd situations:
Someone brought sunflower seeds to munch on and they’re floating everywhere
A piece of disgusting space garbage is floating outside the window
Someone sees an ET out the window
Cabin pressure drops and everyone has to find ways to fix the problem
Someone has lost something really big or small (not many places it could be!)
Preparation: Pick some odd things from your bag of props and encourage your students to pretend they are items appropriate to the locale and situation:
An old TV remote (Communication device)
A pocket watch (Calibration device)
A textbook (Handbook for fixing something on the station)
Language Used: Depending on the situation you present, your students may be able to use:
Critical language (Who brings a bag of seeds into space anyway?)
Descriptive language (It’s long and green, it’s got three eyes, it looks like…)
Instructional language (Try turning it to the left, you need to open the lid like this…)
Questions (Did you look under the control panel? When was the last time you saw it?)
Want to work from home? Maintain flexible hours? Make a positive impact? Be part of an empowering and collaborative community?
Click here to join our team!
2. Lost in the Catacombs of Paris
Location: Your students have strayed from the guided tour of the Catacombs of Paris into uncharted tunnels, full of humidity, bones, rats and spiderwebs.
Personalities: Besides the usual tourist guides and tourists, you could find a variety of other types of people wandering through the catacombs:
Ghost hunters
Runaway criminals
Sanitation workers
Police (Chasing those criminals, or searching for someone who’s lost)
Situations: Catacombs are cold, dark, humid places, and those of Paris are known for being a labyrinth. Some of the situations your students experience could include:
The lights suddenly go out
Water begins rising rapidly
Strange, out-of-place noises are heard
There are lots of crawly things
Preparation: Again, the prop bag can provide you with items that can serve you. You’ll probably want at least one flashlight, maybe with really weak batteries, so you can turn out the lights and create an eerie atmosphere.
Language Used:
Directional language (Turn left here! We should retrace our steps…)
Hypothetical language (It could be rats. That might be sewer water. We might find a way out…)
Emotional language (I’m really scared! Don’t worry, we’ll be fine. Be brave!)
3. Eating Out at the Freaky Fast Food Joint
Location: A fast food restaurant that happens to serve truly unusual and somewhat disgusting food.
Personalities: Because the place and the food is so weird, the people can actually be pretty normal:
A couple of friends on vacation to an exotic country
A native presenting a foreign guest to local cuisine
Owners of a competing freaky fast food restaurant checking out the fare
Situations: The situation is reacting to food that isn’t familiar. This shouldn’t be hard, as many students may find a foreign country’s food to be somewhat weird. Role play situations can be:
Reading the menu together and reacting, trying to decide
Asking the waiter to describe dishes that have ambiguous names
Sending plates back to the kitchen
Preparation: Set up a table as in a restaurant, or maybe an order counter as in a burger place. Your students can create odd menus, based upon bizarre foods you’ve introduced earlier, or they can use their imaginations and create entirely made-up food options.
Language Used: Besides usual restaurant language (ordering, paying, complaining), you could have students practice:
Descriptive language (Describing foods that are disgusting in an attractive manner)
Persuasive language (Convincing clients to try something that might seem unappealing at first)
Expression of surprise/disgust language (Oh my gosh, that’s really nasty! What on earth is that supposed to be? You don’t expect me to eat that, do you?)
4. The Interrogation Room
Location: A small, claustrophobia-inducing room with a table and two or three chairs.
Personalities: As in any crime drama, there will be cops and suspects. Some of the suspects may be guilty, some may be innocent:
Good cop
Bad cop
Guilty person
Innocent witnesses
Situations: Nearly any crime will suit for this role play, though you’ll want to be sensitive to your students and keep the details within cultural expectations.
A very elderly and wealthy man has been murdered and the suspects are his young wife, his stepson and, of course, the butler.
The city’s largest bank has been heisted. You’ve got three suspects, a bank clerk, an elderly sweet grandma type and a sketchy, unemployed guy.
The border police have stopped a person trying to enter the country with an unusual story.
Preparation: This role play will take a bit of teacher and student preparation. Begin by finding short videos of interrogations from crime films. Point out the different parts of the interrogation, as described in the informative link above.
You’ll need a number of personality cards.
One red card or token that you give to the guilty person (The cops only suspect, they don’t know who’s guilty!)
Evidence that the cops can slap down on the table
Language Used:
Leading questions (Why did you do it? Where were you at the time of the crime?)
Answering questions / avoiding answering
Denial language (I didn’t do it! I wasn’t there! I don’t know what you’re talking about!)
Past tense (I was in another place. I was doing something else at the time.)
5. Surveyed on the Street
Location: You’ve been there before. You’re walking down the street, someone comes at you with a clipboard and a smile and asks you if you have a few minutes to take a “quick” survey.
Personalities: The principle character will be the person taking the survey. The other participant will be any personality walking down the street, who should answer according to the character they’ve been assigned.
Situations: Surveys abound. Some of the most common surveys include:
Survey meant to attract people to join an organization (A community group, a religious sect, a pyramid scheme)
Survey meant to canvass for a particular product (Try our new chocolate bar and give your opinion; answer a few questions about your car insurance)
Political survey meant to first find out who the participant is going to vote for and then convince them to vote for the other guy/gal
Preparation: This role play can be prepared by the students. Giving them different survey topics, have them develop five to ten questions for a street survey. Generate as many different kinds of survey as students, shifting the topics to stimulate their imaginations. Go over these surveys with the entire class so they become familiar with the questions.
You’ll also want:
Personality cards
Reaction cards (You’re in a hurry; You hate surveys; You’re very argumentative)
A clipboard
Language Used:
Questions / Answers (More information questions than simple yes/no questions)
Avoidance language (I’m sorry, I’m in a hurry. I don’t have time right now. I’ve got to pick up my daughter at her dance class.)
Cold presentation (Cold greeting, quick presentation, participant capture)
6. Trapped in the Elevator
Location: An elevator, obviously. You can suggest that the elevator be in any number of buildings:
A hospital
A 200-story office building
An apartment building
A multiplex cinema
A zipper elevator (as in the St. Louis Arch)
Personalities: Because the people are going to be trapped in a very small space, the most fun can be had if there’s some previous conflict between the participants:
A nasty boss stuck with a timid employee
Two people who’ve just gotten divorced
Two people with claustrophobia
Situations: Besides the conflict, how the elevator gets stuck will add to improvisation possibilities:
One of the riders has pressed the Stop button
There is a power outage
There has been an earthquake
There has been an extraterrestrial invasion
Preparation: Start by chalking or taping a small rectangle on the floor to outline the dimensions of the elevator. This is the space the participants can’t move out of. Other props can be chosen from the prop bag if appropriate to the personalities.
Language Used:
Argument language (It’s your fault! What have you done now? Isn’t this a fine mess you’ve gotten us into? If it wasn’t for you…)
Anxiety language (Oh dear, are they ever going to rescue us? I’ve got to get out of here!)
Suggestion language (Push the intercom button again. Try pushing “Open Doors.”)
7. Blind Date
Location: Participants are being filmed for a reality show while being on a blind date in a nice restaurant—a date which was arranged by a computer matchmaking service that purports to hook up perfect couples for eternal love and relationships. What your students won’t know (but will begin to suspect!) is that the computer program couples people with opposing personalities.
Personalities: These can be normal personalities, but you’ll want to couple them according to how incompatible they can actually turn out to be:
A religious zealot with a Goth
A loud, obnoxious person with a timid person
An elderly person with a teenager
Two strong-willed people who never agree with anyone else
Situations: The situations in this role play will emerge from the conflict of two opposing personalities assuming they’ve been perfectly matched and finding out that that’s not the case. As they “get to know each other,” they should gradually discover that the computer has made a huge mistake.
Preparation: Set up your restaurant scene, table and two chairs, cutlery and glasses. While you can use your standard personality cards, you may want to prepare additional cards that add a conflict aspect:
You are very bossy
You are always right and everyone else is always wrong
You are very religious
You are really loud and obnoxious
You are a calm, timid person
You are 102 / 17 years old
Language Used:
Polite greetings
“Getting to know you” questions/answers (Where are you from? What do you like to do in your free time? What do your think of current event / famous person ? Who’s your favorite singer?)
Making excuses (Well, it’s been nice, but…; I’ve really had a good time, but I’ve got to go now; It’s getting late, I should be on my way…)
These aren’t your standard role plays, and you may have to put more effort into preparing for them. Most can take advantage of general language that your students have practiced in the past.
What makes these situations different is that, while using the same language, students concentrate more on the wacky situation than how they’re speaking. That should bring some healthy laughter into the classroom and add to the creative use of those structures and vocabulary that might have been getting a little too routine.
And One More Thing…
Searching for fun, authentic videos to introduce your students to English conversation? Check out FluentU!
FluentU takes real-world videos—like music videos, cartoons, documentaries and more—and turns them into personalized language learning lessons for you and your students.
It’s got a huge collection of authentic English videos that people in the English-speaking world actually watch on the regular. There are tons of great choices there when you’re looking for songs for in-class activities. You’ll find music videos, musical numbers from cinema and theater, kids’ singalongs, commercial jingles and much, much more.