Research shows about 10% to 15% of school children have working memory problems.
They face learning struggles, frustration, and concentration problems- becoming irritable when they cannot keep up with classroom demands.
As a teacher, you might be curious about the solution! How about the theater games? But does drama-based learning help with working memory in young learners and how can you make it work? Let’s find out.
Understanding Working Memory and How Theater Games Help
If you are an experienced teacher or someone pursuing a teacher training course in Malaysia, you already know that working memory acts like a notepad in the brain. It helps kids remember things for a short time like the steps to follow when the teacher gives directions or the details of a story they just heard. This is part of what brain experts call ‘executive function,’ which also includes focusing, switching between tasks, and managing feelings.
However, kids with weak working memory often forget what they are supposed to do, lose track during activities, or have trouble solving problems.
Enter- theater games! When children act things out, they practice remembering, listening, and doing things in order. These games ask them to remember movements, listen for cues, repeat words, and respond to others. Children use their working memory muscles without even knowing it!
Source:bcsbt.weebly.com/working-memory
6 Theater Games That Improve Working Memory
The following theater games are more than just classroom energizers- they are intentional tools that challenge a child’s ability to listen, recall, process, and act. Each activity below targets specific working memory functions, helping learners strengthen their ability to hold and manipulate information in real-time.
Try out for yourself:
1. Movement Story
In this fun activity, you read a short story while kids act it out with body movements. Each part of the story gets its own special movement. For example, when you say ‘The elephant stomped through the jungle,’ you can ask kids to stomp their feet in rhythm. As the story goes on, children need to remember the order of actions and do them at the right time. This helps kids with:
- Remembering things in order.
- Listening carefully and turning words into actions.
- Learning through moving their bodies.
After finishing the story, you can ask children to perform the whole sequence again or tell the story back to you, using the movements to help them remember.
2. Sound Story
This game works like Movement Story, but instead of actions, kids make sound effects for different parts of the story. For example: ‘Wind’ = whooshing sound; ‘Rain’ = finger tapping on desks; ‘Tiger’ = growl or drumbeat. This game really helps:
- Beginning readers learning about letter sounds.
- Kids who learn better through sounds and rhythm.
- Children learning English who need listening practice.
When kids hear these words during the story, they make the matching sound. By doing this over and over, they practice holding sounds in their memory and using them at the right time.
3. Taxi
This game needs two kids- one is the ‘driver’ and one is the ‘passenger.’ The passenger can give step-by-step directions like: ‘Go forward three steps, turn left, stop near the plant.’ The driver (sometimes with eyes closed) must listen carefully, remember each step, and follow them in the right order. This game is great for:
- Building memory for spoken directions.
- Practicing multi-step problem-solving.
- Getting better at listening and understanding where things are.
To make it harder, you can add more steps or wait longer between giving each direction.
4. Four Corner Emotion
Put emotion labels in the four corners of the room: happy, sad, angry, excited. Call out everyday situations like: ‘You lost your favorite pencil.’ ‘You won a prize at school.’
Kids walk or run to the corner matching how they would feel. After playing a few rounds, test their memory by describing a situation and asking which emotion corner they chose before. This game:
- Helps children connect experiences with feeling words.
- Strengthens memory for grouping similar things together.
- Teaches children about managing feelings and making choices.
It works especially well for teaching about emotions and social skills.
5. Landmarks
Let kids pick or give a famous place they have learned about- like the Eiffel Tower, Taj Mahal, or Great Wall of China. Each child creates a pose to show their landmark. The rest of the group guesses what it is and shares a fact they remember about it. This activity helps with:
- Connecting memory games to lessons about places and history.
- Remembering facts by using body movements.
- Visual memory, as kids must recall what landmarks look like.
You can switch roles so more landmarks and facts get reviewed in one game.
6. Role Reversal / Character Switch
In this game, two students start performing a simple conversation. Halfway through, you say ‘Switch!’ and the students must trade characters right away. They continue the conversation from where they stopped- but now play the opposite role. This game builds:
- Working memory as students track two different parts at once.
- Mental flexibility, since they must change viewpoints quickly.
- Attention skills, because careful listening is needed to switch smoothly.
This game works great for older elementary students and middle schoolers who need more challenging memory practice.
Bottom Line
Working memory might be something you cannot see, but it makes a huge difference in learning. Educators who pursued the Pre and Primary Teacher Training Course in Malaysia, understand the importance of theater games. You do not need fancy training or equipment, just some space, some kids, and a playful spirit. When kids act, imagine, and play together, their brains are not just having fun, they are building skills that will help them learn for their whole lives.
