Unlocking Potential: How Improvisation May Boost Executive Functions in Young Learners

Written by Crystal Haralambou
For nearly 15 years, I have had the privilege of teaching Improvisation at Tampa Day School, a unique private school specializing in students with ADHD, ADD, Dyslexia, and High Anxiety. Though I’m a huge fan and a living testimony of the significant impacts of Improvisation on an individual, I’ll admit, when first working with this population, I was a bit skeptical.
But you should know, I’ve been converted. I have seen kids evolve from fear and tears to begging to be onstage, raising their hands so wildly that they could double for one of those flappy blow-up advertisements by the side of the road.

While on campus, I serve students in grades 3-8, and despite their challenges, I have seen the benefits of Improvisation close up. As I approached a new school year, I sat in an Executive Functions training for Educators. I immediately recognized how closely the skills and tools of improvisational theater align with executive functions.
“Executive Functioning refers to the mental processes that allow us to concentrate, plan, organize, complete tasks, and more. Executive functions (EF) is not necessarily a household term, yet we depend on these functions to lead a productive, organized life. To no one’s surprise, school is where our executive function skills are first tested and refined. They often unlock – or preclude — success in the classroom.”
Karen Huberty, M.Ed., Maureen Bechard, M.S. ADDitude Magazine

These skills are crucial for academic success, social interactions, and well-being. They help students plan, focus attention, remember instructions, and juggle multiple tasks successfully. As an arts educator and Improvisation trainer, I always seek ways to express that what I teach connects to real life. When facilitating training with Corporate or Higher Education Clients, I would refer to this as “Applied Improvisation.” At its core, Applied improvisation involves transferring the values, ideas, and techniques from improvisational theater to enhance business, relationships, and everyday life. It goes well beyond the goal of comedic theater to an equally impactful place, allowing for experiential learning that inspires and provokes meaning on several levels. However, for younger learners, the applied portion needs to meet them where they are now, not just the future version of themselves.

When I facilitate Improvisation training, I constantly point out the importance of awareness of body language, facial expressions, emotions, intentional listening, and clear communication and how we can apply these observation skills to many contexts, including most occupations, relationships, and group dynamics. Therefore, I often tell students that a good improviser is a good friend, and we take time to draw the connections between the two. I further explain how the skills we learn in class are essential for interviews, leadership, creativity, innovation, and more.
So naturally, when I learned how to sharpen the executive functions of the participants in my classes, I was excited to connect the dots between improvisation and executive functions.
So, what are the Executive Functions?

The Connection between Improvisation and Executive Functions
Improvisation is about thinking on your feet, adapting to new situations, and collaborating with others. Sound familiar? These are the very skills that make up our executive functions. No one is handed a script each day for how things will go and what to say, so we have to improvise, and despite all our plans for the future, the unknown is always just one moment away. I want students to have multiple opportunities to embrace the unknown in a safe, nurturing environment so that when they face it in their lives, they will have a way to navigate it without being overwhelmed.
Here’s how specific improv exercises can target and strengthen these cognitive abilities:
1. “Yes, And…” for Cognitive Flexibility
The fundamental principle of improv, “Yes, and…”, requires participants to accept and build upon what others say. This practice directly enhances cognitive flexibility, teaching students to adapt their thinking, listen intently, contribute in the moment, and go with the flow of their partner’s creation.
2. Scene Work for Working Memory and Organization
In improv scenes, students have to remember character details, plot points, and their position on stage. They often have to remember what they pantomimed and the placement of those items on their imaginary set. This juggles multiple pieces of information in their working memory while also requiring them to organize their thoughts and actions coherently.
3. Quick-fire games for Inhibitory Control and Task Initiation
Games like “Word at a Time Story” or “The Alphabet Game” require students to think quickly, listen, wait their turn, communicate intentionally and control their impulses. This practices both inhibitory control and the ability to initiate tasks promptly.
4. Mid-Form or Long-Form Improv* for Planning and Prioritizing
Longer improvised scenes or stories help students practice planning and prioritizing. They learn to think ahead, consider cause and effect, and decide what’s most important in the moment. They also allow participants to select and hold key information, such as recurring characters, themes, or pantomimed activities, to draw on in a later scene.
*Styles of improvisational theater where performers create extended scenes or stories, often based on a structure with recurring characters and themes, instead of short, isolated scenes. It focuses on building complex narratives and developing deeper character interactions over a more extended period of time.
More on how Improvisation and Executive Functions intersect
In case you haven’t been won over yet, Improvisation, at its core, is about thinking on your feet, adapting to new situations, and collaborating with others. Here’s how it further ties into executive functions:
1. Enhancing Working Memory
In improv games, students often need to remember rules, build on others’ ideas, and recall previous scenes. For example, improvisers must remember a suggestion from the audience, be inspired by it, or use it directly in a scene. In a live show, for example, one of the performers asks, “Can I have a suggestion for something you might find in the backseat of your car?” The audience then calls out items like “an old sweater, a Taco Bell cup, or my grandma.” The performers use this suggestion in the scene, requiring working memory. Some might say Improv is like “building the plane while you are taking off.” This constant mental juggling act gives working memory a robust workout.
2. Fostering Flexible Thinking
Improv scenarios can change in an instant, requiring participants to adapt quickly. This practice in mental agility translates directly to improved cognitive flexibility. I’ll never forget being on the sidelines during a scene when a fellow performer trustingly jumped out of an imaginary airplane. Immediately, I made eye contact with other ensemble members, and we swooped in to collectively lift him as if he hovered over the clouds supporting the illusion of the scene. These scenarios enforce the side benefit of trust that improvisation naturally builds with others but also show how flexible you must be when playing along.
3. Developing Inhibitory Control
Successful improv requires listening, waiting for the right moment to contribute, and sometimes holding back to support others. These skills directly strengthen a performer’s ability to control impulses and self-regulate. While listening, participants must ask themselves what this scene needs (or does not need in some cases) and how they can contribute to this moment without steamrolling another person’s creativity.
Benefits Beyond the Classroom
The beauty of using improv to strengthen executive functions is that it doesn’t feel like work to the students. It’s fun, engaging, and social. Students learn these crucial skills while laughing and playing, which can lead to:
- Increased self-confidence
- Adaptability
- Stronger social skills, effective communication, and positive interactions
- Empathy
- Enhanced creativity
- Improved problem-solving abilities and conflict resolution
- Reduced anxiety about making mistakes
- Non-Verbal Cues
- Appropriate Social Behavior
Implementing Improv in Education
Integrating improv into the school day can be completed without a curriculum overhaul. Somebody can incorporate short, 5-10 minute exercises into various subjects or used as brain breaks between lessons. Here are a few ideas:

Conclusion
With the increased use of technology in our lives, it makes sense that students have so much more to navigate than I experienced in my youth. Which is why strong executive functions are more critical than ever. It would be a shame to overlook how easily the creativity of improv can access these functions. Through improvisation, learners can develop these skills in a way that’s engaging, effective, and, perhaps most importantly, fun. By embracing the principles of Improvisation, educators can ensure that students not only navigate today’s complexities with agility but “Yes, and” the spontaneous growth that comes from the art of improvisation, ultimately turning challenges into opportunities that strengthen their executive functions and enhance their ability to think critically, creatively, and adaptively.
#EducationInnovation #ImprovForLearning #ExecutiveFunctions #ChildDevelopment
Huberty, Karen, and Bechard, Maureen “Executive Functioning: A Teacher’s Guide to Helping Students with ADHD.” ADDitude Magazine, Updated on July 30, 2024, https://www.additudemag.com/executive-functioning-adhd-teacher-guide/
Some brain breaks were first introduced while attending The Applied Improvisation Global Conference.