Life Skills Lessons: Cooperation

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In the week since we have begun posting here on ABC and 123 we have already experienced the benefits of cooperating. There are so many fantastic ideas floating around the web and we seek to compile them as we all work together to teach the next generation of learners!

What is cooperation?
~a common effort
~working together for a common benefit
~team work
~form a common association
~to be compliant

~Cooperation promotes a good working environment, encourages peace, and advances humanity
~In order to cooperate we must first tackle our own feelings of greed or jealousy, often accompanied by wanting to achieve something by ourselves.

According to good character.com cooperation requires: Compromise, Listening, Sharing, Encouraging, Taking Turns, and Doing Your Part.

We have compiled a collection of activities that are apporpriate for students of all ages!

Conversation Starters:
~What does the word cooperate mean to you?
~How does your family cooperate?
~What is fun about working in groups?
~What can be frustrating when working in groups?
~Tell about a time you cooperated with your friends.
~What is something you have to do to cooperate at school?
~Can you think of any examples of cooperation in nature?
~Alexander Graham Bell said, "Great discoveries and improvements invariably involve the cooperation of many minds." What does that mean to you?
~When is it okay to be un-cooperative?


GAMES:

Ball in the Blanket
Split your group into groups of 4.
Give each person a corner of a blanket to hold
Place a ball in the center of the blanket.
On the "GO" signal ask the teams to work together to throw the ball off the blanket into the air and catch it on its' way back down.
How many successful bounces & catches can each team make?
It takes cooperation to make this happen!

Frogs on a Lily Pad
Set up 1 lily pad (carpet squares work) for each child
Start the music and ask the kids to walk around like musical chairs
When the music stops pick a pad to leap too
Start the music again, but remove a lily pad each time
Each time the music stops everyone should work together to find a lily pad to be on
As long as part of their body is touching the lily pad the "frog" is safe
No matter how many frogs end up each pad they need to work together to make room for all
As you continue playing have the frogs leap, skip, hop, and "swim" to the music.
When the music stops, how few pads can people manage to fit on if they work cooperatively?

Stand Up
Sit back to back with a partner. Link elbow and work together to stand up.
Try it again in a group of three...four...

Balloon City
Place a large number of balloons in a small area.
The challenge is to keep them all in the air any way they can without holding them.
No hands! Takes lots of cooperation!

Activities for Kids suggests several indoor and outdoor games for practicing cooperation! Many of the are quiet, as the children are not allowed to talk while they cooperate...hmmm...

Living Values Education focuses their attention on teaching cooperation to children between the ages of 8-14.

SandBox Learning has listed a collection of fun activities for teaching cooperation.

Art Projects:

Group Doodle
Give each person in the small group a piece of blank paper and doodling tools (crayons, markers, pencils) On the "Go" signal each person doodles on their own paper for 30 seconds. After the short time each person passes their paper to the person next to them. The 30 seconds begins again and this time each person adds to someone else's doodle. Continue passing around the table until the doodles return to the original artists. At the end of the circle take time to explain what they see in the group doodle and how it turned out.

Group Portrait
Learning Objective: The group will cooperate to create a "self portrait"

Materials:
~crayons, markers, paint, or colored pencils
~1 piece of large white construction paper per participant

Instructions:
1. Begin by asking each person to fill their paper with a picture of their own face.
2. Individuals may use whatever art medium you provide to create their own face.

3. When all of the faces have been finished, collect them and cut them each into 4 equal pieces
4. Mix the pieces and work as a group to reconstruct the portraits using 4 different pieces from 4 different people.
5. Glue the 4 different pieces together on one piece of paper to create a new face.

6. While you are working on this project talk to the group about what it means to cooperate and how we all have to do our part to create something together.

Today's Giveaway:


Teach your children about the need for cooperation with this delightful version of the classic book, The Little Red Hen book and book on CD set.

You will receive one entry per comment. Please submit separate comments for each entry option you choose.

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Leave a comment - What is your favorite childhood game that requires cooperation?
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Good Luck! We’ll announce a winner tomorrow!

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