Freeze Dance

Set up

Clear a space big enough for everyone to move without colliding. Choose music with a strong beat and put one person in charge of the pause button.

How to play

1. Start the music. Everyone dances.
2. Stop the music without warning. Everyone freezes in whatever position they are in.
3. Anyone who moves, wobbles or laughs while the music is off is out.
4. Start the music again and repeat.
5. The last dancer left wins.

Blinking and breathing are allowed. Decide in advance whether smiling is.

Judging it kindly

With young children, be generous for the first few rounds and only call the obvious ones. Nobody enjoys being out thirty seconds into a party game. A good rule is that the first time you move, you get a warning.

Players who are out become judges. They are stricter than any adult.

Ways to change it

• No elimination: anyone who moves does five jumping jacks and rejoins. Best for under-fives and for classroom brain breaks.
• Freeze as something: call out a theme before each stop, such as animals, superheroes or monsters. Players must freeze as that thing.
• Slow motion: when the music is quiet, dance in slow motion; when it is loud, dance fast.
• Statue garden: one player is the gardener and walks among the frozen statues trying to make them laugh without touching them.
• On a video call: everyone dances on camera, and the host calls out who moved.

Who it suits, and who it doesn’t

Freeze Dance is one of the few party games that works from age three, because the only rule is in the name. It burns energy fast and needs no props. Older children tire of it after two or three rounds unless you add a theme. It is not a good fit for a room with breakable things at elbow height.