This set of activities has to do with the play “Robin Hood“. As the play is a popular legend originally depicted in English folklore and featured in literature and film, it can be really interesting to talk about in school. Students are able to learn through the play in different ways, for example about the story line, characters, new vocabulary or even about sustainability. Children enjoy playing different games related to a topic and, because they having fun, they may even learn about the topic without noticing. 

Introduction for Human Memory – Ashley Meyer

This game combines the topic of Robin Hood with children being able to move, be creative and practice pronouncing different words. Children become more comfortable with the words chosen the more they play, and can integrate vocabulary from any topic!

Target group and Time

This game is most suitable for children who are familiar with the story of Robin Hood. One round with instructions takes about 8-10 minutes.

Learning objectives

Human memory practices speaking. Further, students enhance their knowledge of the vocabulary through combining words and movements.

Instructions to set up the activity

Begin by asking the children to introduce themselves, since knowing names is essential. Ask them to say their name, age, maybe a favourite subject and a word that describes their character. This way of beginning not only helps the leader to know what level of English the children have but also how creative they are.

Human Memory, or Menschen Memory in German, works like normal card memory. There are pairs that belong together and two players trying to guess who belongs to whom. The two children guessing go out of the room, or in the case of playing outside, go inside for 2 minutes, and when they return then start guessing. In pairs the other players think of one movement (example: drawing a bow) and a word to describe the action verbally (example: saying "bow and arrow" or "Robin Hood"). After guessing a pair correctly the person who got it right receives one point. (The correct pairs can leave the playing field and stand behind or next to the guessing person to keep an overview of the game). When playing outside it is possible to integrate found materials, like leaves for a crown or sticks to form a cross, into the game.

Words, characters and movements inspired by the Robin Hood theme:

Introduction for Acting Games – Mascha Paul

Warm up (not mandatory):
“Are you aware of the story of Robin Hood and its characters?”

“How would you act out the characters?”

Target group and Time

These games are most suitable for children who are familiar with the story of Robin Hood. One round with instructions takes about 5-10 minutes

Learning objectives

The idea of the games is to help the students to understand the storyline of Robin Hood.

In addition, the students have to get creative by acting out the story or the different characters. It’s also a good way to get more aware of themselves.

Instructions to set up the activity

Before placing the games, the teacher can help by showing them what to do. So for example the teacher says Robin Hood and acts it out with a bow and arrow, whereas Lady Marian would be acted out with a dress or a love symbol.

• The teacher can simply start with getting the students to walk around the room and act out some characters. So, if the teacher says Robin Hood, everybody is going to act it out, eventually in a different way. After a short freeze the students start walking again until the next character is told to be acted out.

• If you, as a teacher, wants to work more specific on the play Robin Hood you can ask the students to briefly act out the storyline of the play. So, who is going to be which character? What are they doing in the story? What is the beginning and what is the end of the story? Start act it out.

• If you want to focus on specific scenes of the play, you could also determine the students into groups and ask them to work on these specific scenes of Robin Hood.

Introduction for "Who am I?" – Nadine

Needs: post it, pen, at least 2 students (best with 4-7 students)

Warm-up (not mandatory):

For a small warm-up, the teacher can start with questions/tasks to get into the topic:
“Name characters you know from Robin Hood.”
“Is there something that makes those characters special, for example in terms of their look or behavior?”

The teacher can help by acting out and ask, “Who am I?” and act out for example Robin Hood using bow and arrow or Friar Tuck in a praying position.

Target group and Time

This game is most suitable for children who are familiar with the story of Robin Hood. One round with instructions takes about 2-5 minutes.

Learning objectives

“Who am I" practices to spontaneously form questions which can be answered with a „yes“ or „no“. Furthermore, the students have to get creative by using the right vocabulary to get closer to the answer.

Instructions to set up the activity

The teacher chooses a topic (here it is Robin Hood).

One student gets chosen or volunteers to be the questioner. The other students will get the task to silently write down a character from Robin Hood on one post it. After that they have to stick the post it on the student who got chosen as the questioner. Now the questioner can start asking questions and the other students have to answer with „yes“ or „no“.

The teacher can limit the questions and also let the students act out the character to make it clearer and easier for the questioner if help is needed.

But also the play can be put on a more difficult level by not only using characters from Robin Hood but also using animals or objects which are typical for the Robin Hood Theme ( e.g. horse, rat, bear, crown, sword, .. )

Introduction for Vocabulary Game – Jana Afreen Ahmed

Target group and Time

This game is most suitable for children who are familiar with the story of Robin Hood. One round with instructions takes about 5-10 minutes.

Learning objectives

The vocabulary game is designed to help students look at new words in a fun way. 

Instructions to set up the activity

The game “I pack my suitcase”, is about everyone adding something to their holiday list in the round and the next has to remember it and add a new word. The peer pressure and fear of failure forces them to try their best. The teacher can introduce them to new vocabulary at the start and encourage them to use some common words from Robin Hood like cape, gown, sword, and gloves. It is also possible to add a little twist to the traditional game, by imitating the words as well. Some student can volunteer and act out every word to help the other studentsw remember it and also to develop an audiovisual learning experience.

Introduction for Food Game – Johannes Brockmeier

Warm-up (not mandatory):

The warm-up is a typical introduction, possibly intertwined with Robin Hood characters.

As an introduction, especially to kids not completely familiar with the topic, the teacher can present a poem that demonstrates how Robin Hood as a hero took from the bad and gave the good.

Target group and Time

This game is most suitable for children who are familiar with the story of Robin Hood. One round with instructions takes about 5-10 minutes.

Learning objectives

The unit is food-related, therefore there will be a small talk as a transitional measure about lunch, eating habits etc.; another impulse will be about sustainability and possible relevance. A concluding discussion will be about sustainability and food waste.

Instructions to set up the activity

• The unit starts with laying out memory cards depicting food of the medieval period (accessible vocabulary pairs: cherry, cheese, chicken, cake, apple); there are total 8 cards (real food as presentation is not recommended due to hygiene and possibly hungry students)
• The kids take turns and are supposed to name the pairs they find
• In the end, each kid will have a pair of cards and one pair will be left over
• Ultimately it will be discussed what happens to the leftover pair, will the food be discarded/wasted?
• A final act is the drama block: kids will decide what happens to the leftovers (and if there’s a King/Queen: what will happen to their surplus when considering that they are capable to only eat as much as the other)
• There are open-ended outcomes but a typical example would be that the kids are not likely to waste the food and distribute it evenly as Robin Hood and the King give up (the teacher should observe that there is no actual fighting)

• Optional: another round is played where the first kid to acquire a pair in memory is going to be the King/Queen of the round, the maximum pair for this character then is 2; the other kids will then have one pair less and are not able to pick another pair (Disclaimer: this may cause jealousy for some kids, observe the group size)
• (Depending on group size, there will still be some leftover)