Last updated July 17, 2024
Body Language Activities & Exercises
Body language plays a vital role in communication with nonverbal cues considered to be 55% of our communication. So with that in mind, here are 12 interactive body language activities for effective teaching and employee training that you can use:
1. Gesture Freeze
Number of Participants: 4 or more participants.
Time Needed: 25 minutes.
Purpose: This is one of the most popular and fun body language activities you can run and it is great for raising awareness of the body language that we use without often realising it. This exercise draws attention to our own nonverbal cues at any given time.
Items Needed: Nothing special is required to run this activity.
How to Run the Activity: Start the activity by telling participants that when you say “Freeze” during the activity, they need to completely freeze i.e. keep the pose they have and not to move at all. They should keep their hands and body in exactly the same position.
You can be open with the fact that the intention is to see what body language they are portraying at the moment when they must freeze.
Now pair participants into pairs and ask them to sit together facing each other but with a little space between them. They should have enough space to converse without being too close to other pairs.
Next, hand each pair a list of topics they can choose to talk about. The topics can be anything you wish such as about a recent holiday, their hobbies, a recent work project, about their family or childhood, for example. Try though to choose topics that participants can get lost in and that makes them relaxed.
Inform them also that when they freeze they should keep their pose until instructed to relax again.
Ask the participants to start their conversation and to relax and enjoy the chat.
The chat will last for 15 minutes.
At random moments during the conversation shout out freeze (but not in a way that scares them as otherwise, the body language is always going to be one of shock)!
When you say unfreeze, they should write down what pose their partner had and what their body language seemed to suggest at the freeze point.
- Were they talking with their hands and quite animated?
- Were they pointing at something?
- Were they in the middle of laughing and leaning forward?
They should also write down how they feel their own body language was at the freeze point.
During the 15-minute chat, I suggest having 4 or 5 freeze points at random times.
After the 15-minute chat is over, allow 5 minutes for the pairs to compare notes and discuss what they wrote down. Do the notes for each person match? Were there certain gestures that were repeated often?
Now bring the class back together and have a 10-minute discussion where volunteers can offer their thoughts on how the activity went in terms of the body language they noted.
How did the body language match what was being said?
Were there any surprising things they noticed or became aware of about themselves?
To conclude this activity it can be handy to give a couple of tips so that you end this body language exercise in a constructive manner.
Practical Tips:
- Open body language can make you more approachable and easier to talk to.
- Gestures can be useful for emphasising points.
- The face gives a lot away so try and be aware of the mannerisms you give out.
- Eye contact is a good idea (but also be aware in terms of intercultural communication that in some cultures, eye contact is less accepted).
2. Posture Check Exercise
Number of Participants: 2 or more.
Time Needed: 25 minutes.
Purpose: This nonverbal communication exercise helps participants learn about the influence that posture has on the way in which we project confidence and how we communicate with others.
Items Needed: Nothing is needed (unless you wish to film the activity for a feedback session as part of the activity).
How to Run the Activity: Start the activity by demonstrating different postures. You can either do the postures yourself or show images onscreen (I’ve added several body language photos here for you to use).
Show examples of open and closed postures, ones showing confidence, and nervous postures.
For this main part of the activity, you can allow 15 minutes and inform participants that they can sit down or stand up to do this next part of the exercise.
With the participants sat (or stood) in their normal way, ask them to think for a moment about how they feel they are perceived in terms of the signals their posture transmits.
Now ask them to take up what they consider a ‘confident’ posture (so they are likely to sit up straighter and move their shoulders back and hold their head higher.
After a short time, now ask them to change to a ‘closed’ posture.
The participants will likely lower their heads a little, slouch more, maybe clock their arms etc.
Ask participants to think about the differences for the last two postures and to write down the differences.
Now put participants into pairs and ask one person to do different poses (including confident scared, nervous, open etc) and for the other person to obverse and then write down any notes.
Then rotate the person in the pairs so the other does the postures and the other observes.
To end this activity have a class discussion about any observations they made and ask them how they feel they can use posture awareness for better communication. Questions you can also ask as needed are:
- What influence do you feel posture might have on our interactions with others?
- How can you use this awareness in real-life interactions?
As the training facilitator, you might want to also express the importance of good posture for job interviews and for things such as presentations, for setting a positive tone.
3. Eye Contact Challenge
Number of Participants: 2 or more participants.
Time Needed: 25 minutes.
Purpose: This is one of the best body language activities for helping participants become more aware of how eye contact influences nonverbal communication and how you can use it.
Items Needed: Nothing needed except for a timer (but you can use a smartphone for this)
How to Run the Activity: Ask participants to split up into pairs and then stand and face each other. Now start the eye contact challenge and use these three stages:
- First, they need to hold eye contact with their partner for 20 seconds. Then give them a chance to relax.
- Second, ask them now to do this for 40 seconds and try and notice while doing the activity, any expressions or emotions that their partner shows.
- Next for the third part, ask them to do the activity for 60 seconds. Tell them that to make it easier, to focus on breathing in and out deeply with relaxed breaths.
Now repeat this exercise by asking them to change partners and run the activity again. I would suggest having them do this activity with 3 other participants each.
For the final part of this activity, have a class discussion where you talk about how it felt doing this activity, what role do they feel eye contact has in body language and communication, and what emotions they felt while doing this activity.
This body language activity has the effect of helping participants become more aware of and comfortable with making eye contact.
4. Video Clip Observation
Number of Participants: 4 or more.
Time Needed: 30 minutes.
Purpose: The premise for this nonverbal communication exercise is very simple and what I love about it is that it can also be used by participants after the training, as they watch TV.
Items Needed:
- Three 1 to 3-minute video clips featuring people interacting i.e. from a TV show or movie.
- A screen and projector so that participants can all watch the video clips.
How to Run the Activity: Explain to the participants that this activity involves watching the video clips and observing the nonverbal cues that the actors and actresses give during the clip.
They should write down, after each clip, what they noticed in terms of gestures and facial expressions, and anything else they noticed in the video clips.
So start playing the first video clip (with the sound turned off).
Then give participants a minute or two after each clip to make notes.
Continue this process by playing the 3 or 4 clips.
After this is done, bring the class back together for a group discussion and ask them to explain their observations in terms of body language.
Next, ask them what they think the clips were about. What do they believe the conversation and dialogue for each clip were about?
Once they have answered, play each clip back but with the sound turned on.
Finally, have a brief chat about their observations before the sound compared to what they experienced with the sound not playing.
5. Personal Space Exercise
Number of Participants: 2 or more people.
Time Needed: 25 minutes.
Purpose: Personal space is precious to most of us and when encroached upon, we can feel uneasy, awkward and sometimes threatened.
For this reason, in non-verbal communication, it is extremely useful to have an understanding of the role that person’s space plays, if we want to be respected as managers and leaders.
Items Needed:
- A spacious room
- Some tape or cones to mark boundaries (optional).
How to Run the Activity: Start this activity by dividing participants up into pairs and asking them to stand facing each other but to be about two meters apart (roughly).
Then ask one person in each pair to take one step toward their partner.
They then take another step and continue until the person not moving feels uncomfortable and puts their hand out to signal stop, you are invading my space and are too close.
Where the walking person has stopped, they should mark that point.
Now have the walker stand exactly where the still person was and do the activity again.
Then have participants change partners and do the activity one more time.
How did the safe space distance differ between the two people each time? Very likely the space was different because we all tend to have different safe space levels.
As the training coordinator, it can be worth taking a few minutes to give examples and explain that the safe space can be impacted by cultural differences (see the Intercultural Communication skills training materials to learn more).
Allow 5 minutes for a discussion around the topic of culture and safe spaces and body language in case any questions from participants necessitates this.
Allow another 5-minute discussion for the class about how they felt as their space was being approached and encroached on. Were they surprised about the difference in distances between participants?
You might want to end the activity by explaining that it is worth trying to read people’s body language and take cues from this. If someone has closed body language, for example, you might want to give them more space.
>> Body Language Training Materials
6. Body Language Feedback Exercise
Number of Participants: 2 or more people.
Time Needed: 30 minutes.
Purpose: This is one of the best body language exercises for raising awareness of one’s own body language and the signals we give.
Items Needed:
- A spacious room
- Optional: Video recording device for playback and analysis.
How to Run the Activity: Place participants into groups of three or four (depending on the size of your group).
Now inform them that one person in the group will talk for 3 minutes about something they are passionate about (travel, sport, hobby etc) and that the other two will observe the body language and listen.
The listeners should write down any gestures and signs of body language that the speaker uses during the 3-minute speech.
Each person in the group will take turns to do a 3-minute talk.
After all three people have spoken, allow the small groups 10 minutes each to talk within their group about the observations they wrote down.
What did they notice in terms of body language?
Is there something the speaker might do to improve (make it clear though that all suggestions should be constructive).
7. Non-Verbal Storytelling
Number of Participants: 4 or more.
Time Needed: 25 minutes.
Purpose: In terms of nonverbal communication activities, this is a great one for further reinforcing the power of body language and how, when we speak, a lot of communication is much more than the words we speak.
Items Needed: None.
How to Run the Activity: Explain to participants that they are going to tell a story without speaking any words and without any verbal communication. Indeed, the challenge here will be to use body language and gestures to tell a story.
Put people into groups of 4 and then have them read the short story idea that you have created for them on a printout.
Each group will then spend 3 minutes trying to tell their story to the rest of the class by only using gestures and non-verbal communication. They are not allowed to speak.
At the end of each story, have everyone else try to explain back to them what they believe the story was about. Then tell the class the actual storyline for the story that was just acted. If done well, the stories will mostly match.
Have each group act out their story to the class in the same manner.
8. Body Language Observation Walk
Number of Participants: 6 or more.
Time Needed: 30 minutes.
Purpose: This is a great activity for observing and learning about body language and everyday non-verbal communication in real-world settings.
Items Needed: Writing materials.
How to Run the Activity: You can either meet up at the necessary location or start from the classroom (and use a nearby location as the observation task).
Start by explaining that in this activity, participants are going to observe real people in real situations, as these people go about their everyday business, in a public setting.
Now inform the participants that they walk and as they do so, they will focus on observing the body language of the people they walk by.
They should though avoid staring or invading any of the public’s space. Respect is important in this exercise and being discreet also helps i.e. do not start taking photographs of people with your phone, but do take notes.
Put the participants into 3’s and then ask them to spend time in one general location i.e. perhaps close to an entrance to a main office block, by or inside a shopping mall, in the middle of a cross-section in a busy park, etc.
The participants, in their groups, should walk around their chosen location and note down any interesting gestures and body language.
- Are a couple having an animated conversation in the park and using a lot of hand gestures or defensive body language?
- Is someone sitting on a chair with open body language and leaving lots of space on a park bench, as though inviting someone else to join them?
- Are you in a train station and seeing clear body language that suggests irritation or perhaps sheer excitement as two people greet each other?
- What do your participants notice?
You can allow 20 minutes for the observations.
Then head back to the classroom (or somewhere that you can talk privately as a whole group) and start a 10-minute discussion on all of the observations people spotted and noted down.
If you are in a classroom or training room and have access to a whiteboard, it can be worth noting down on the whiteboard (as a bullet point list) these observations and then denoting beside each how many instances of these each of your groups noted.
Also ask your participants if they noticed anything especially interesting, surprising or anything at all that they wish to share with the rest of the group.
What I particularly love about these types of body language activities is that it brings together real-world body language with what participants are learning in the training room.
9. Body Language Improv
Number of Participants: 4 or more people.
Time Needed: 25 minutes.
Purpose: The intention in this activity is to learn how to use impulsive body language i.e. to embody positive body language into a habitual form.
Items Needed: Scenario cards (that you will need to pre-prepare).
How to Run the Activity: You start by briefly explaining that if we practice using positive body language enough, it becomes embodied. In short, this means that it becomes second nature to how we move and use our body with respect to body language. We can create new positive habits with practice.
Now split participants into groups of 3 or 4 and pass each group a scenario card.
On each card, you will have listed different scenarios such as:
- You experience a misunderstanding in a shop.
- You come across an old school friend you haven’t seen for 20 years in a mall.
- You are trying to close a sales deal with a customer, in an electronics store.
- Celebrating your sports team winning a major trophy.
One person in each group is now required to act out the scenario on their card, to the others in their group.
They should do this though, by trying to do so without using any spoken words. They should try and act out the scenario using gestures such as with their hands or by making facial expressions and so on.
Whilst this is happening, those not acting out the scenario need to take notes and write down what they think the scenario is and note down what body language they used to try and portray this scenario.
The groups have 3 minutes to do this.
Now allow another 3 minutes for the group to share with the actor what they think the scenario was about and the actor can show them the card.
Next, have each person in the group act out one scenario.
After everyone has done one scenario, start a class discussion for 10 minutes.
Ask the class how the activity went, what common cues were used, did they guess correctly, and what did they learn.
To end this activity you might wish to explain that it is possible at home to practice body language. You can grab your smartphone and record yourself as you act out a scenario.
Then play back the video and observe how you use (or don’t use) positive posture and gestures.
It can be quite surprising how you quickly observe your own cues and non-verbal communication through video and playback.
10. Facial Expression Relay
Number of Participants: 4 or more.
Time Needed: 25 minutes.
Purpose: This activity helps participants begin to learn how to recognise and identify different facial expressions. It’s also a fun icebreaker activity or emotional intelligence activity.
Items Needed: None.
How to Run the Activity: This is a little bit like the Chinese whisper activity in that each participant will relay an emotion to the next person, and the next person and so on.
In this activity, you need to try and understand the facial expressions the person before you is trying to portray to you, and you then try to pass this expression on to the next person.
This is a fun activity that can leave the group in hysterical laughter i.e. it is a very light-hearted by powerful activity to hold when teaching body language skills.
Allowing 15 minutes for this activity, start by asking the participants to form a line and to all face forward. If there are more than 8 people you might need to split people into two or three smaller groups ie three groups of 8 if 24 or more participants.
To start, the person at the back of the line will tap the person in front of them on the shoulder so that the person tapped can turn around. Now the person at the end of the queue will do the facial expression to the person they just tapped on the shoulder.
Once the communication has been passed, this expression is passed from person to person along the line, using nonverbal communication until the first person in the line has received the expression.
At this point, the person at the front will say aloud to their group what they think the emotion was. The person at the back of the line will confirm what the emotion was.
You can run this activity let’s say five times.
Holding a full class discussion can be a good way to end this activity so that you can discuss anything the participants noticed and what they learned.
You might also wish to explain that it can help communication when you match facial expressions to reinforce what you are verbally saying.
11. Body Language Pictionary
Number of Participants: 8 or more ideally.
Time Needed: 25 minutes.
Purpose: This body language exercise is great for practising different gestures and how to express oneself.
Items Needed:
- Pictionary cards (with words or phrases)
- Whiteboard and markers (or large sheets of paper and pens)
How to Run the Activity: This is Pictionary played body language-wise, with gestures and body language used instead of pictures. No speaking or writing will be used to try and explain the word or phrase.
Split the teams into 4 people in each group and then hand them a bunch of Pictionary cards.
One person in each group will then pick a card and act out the phrase, whilst the others in their group will try and draw an image of the phrase or word (based on what is acted).
Set a timer for 2 minutes for each card to be acted out and groups get 1 point if someone in the team draws the correct image.
Get each person in the team to do 3 cards each.
12. Emotion Statues
Number of Participants: 6 or more.
Time Needed: 25 minutes.
Purpose: This is a great non-verbal communication skills exercise for practising practice expressing and interpreting emotions using body language.
Items Needed: Some cards or pieces of paper with various emotions written on them.
How to Run the Activity: Spit the class into two groups and let’s call them groups A and B.
Now have each participant in Group A select an emotions card.
When you say aloud the word ‘statues’, Group A would take a standing stance and freeze in a pose that they feel best reflects the emotions card they picked out.
Group B will walk around the room and write down what emotion they think each person is trying to express.
Once Group B participants have had enough time to write down their answers, tell Group A to unfreeze (meaning they can sit down again now).
Now have each person in Group A say aloud what emotion they were expressing.
Now repeat this with the groups reversed so that Group B participants must bow be the statues.
Body Language Training Materials
If you enjoyed these body language activities for educators, whether you are are workplace manager, teacher, or university lecturer, you might be able to save a lot of time with the non-verbal communication materials below:
Owner at Symonds Research Training Materials
Valeria has a PhD in Sociology, has 25 years+ working in education, has taught at the University of Bath &Cardiff Metropolitan University, & Hankuk University (Korea) & worked as a researcher for Exeter University, & has many years of industry experience including with Cardiff University in management roles. She now creates training course materials courseware.