012102coop

Cooperative Games and Activities

University of Louisiana at Lafayette

Chuck Duncan, Ph.D.

Physical education teachers often have significant experience in sports participation as athletes and coaches. Due to that experience, many teachers heavily emphasize sports in their curricula and use competition between students as a major part of each class. Too much emphasis on competition can be problematic for students and teachers when students are not taught how to compete appropriately and when competition is not balanced with lessons on cooperation.

Do your students argue about the outcomes of games? Do students argue about who is on their team, i.e. girls, overweight kids, less athletic kids? Do your students want to turn everything into a competition? If you answer those questions with a knowing "yes", then it may be time to consider teaching more about the completion-cooperation continuum. While learning to compete effectively is an essential ability in the real world, it is no more important than being able to work cooperatively. In fact, both competition and cooperation need to be taught to students if we expect them to ever be successful adults.

Some teachers balk at the idea of cooperative learning activities because their students are too competitive or too immature. I would argue that those students need the skills of cooperation most. Cooperative activities can help students to learn that the more important goals in life are best accomplished through cooperation with others rather than through competition against others.

General Concepts:

Competition and Non-competition are opposites. Cooperation is the middle ground.
Cooperation is a team skill.
Cooperation is the act of two or more people working together toward a common goal.
A team is a group of individuals working toward the same goal.
Ideally, cooperation involves equal contributions by all members, but that is a goal for an activity and not a requirement. Each team member must contribute to the best of their ability.
Cooperative activities involve competition, but the competition is usually with inanimate factors such as a challenge, a problem, time, quality of performance, and/or number of repetitions.
Cooperative activities are at their best when the teacher/facilitator guides participants through a processing period after the activity.
At their best, cooperative activities enhance trust, communication, responsibility, thinking, and physical fitness.
For optimal cooperation, individuals have to be safe from injury (physical & psychological). Teach kids to make safety a priority, to give put ups and do not allow put downs.

Teaching Pointers for Cooperative Activities:

Make groups different sizes to help avoid competitive comparisons.
Monitor your language and behavior to avoid emphasizing competition. For example, in group problem solving avoid comparing groups or saying things like, "let's see who can do this first." Since groups may choose to solve a problem or complete an activity in a different way, the first group done is not the best. Any group that follows the rules, is safe, and completes the task is a winner.
Have back up activities planned for groups that complete an activity before the other groups. If you do not, they will disrupt other groups.
You may need to break activities into easier steps. It is important for the students to be successful at the activity or frustration can build and individuals will blame each other for the failure.
As you circulate to observe your students, use encouragement, cues and prompts to help them achieve success. If you see a group struggling, ask them if they would like some help before you give them suggestions. Some groups like more challenge and will not want your help.
Before you begin an activity, ask for a show of hands from all students who understand the rules of the activity and agree to follow them. This is a verbal contract that the students will honor most of the time.
Allow for a closure at the end of each activity. Process the experience with your students by asking them for strategies/ideas they used to succeed and lessons they learned from things that did not work. You should give put ups to the class (positive feedback) and allow for the students to give put ups to each other. This is an important part of the learning process.

Examples of Cooperative Activities (from numerous people, conferences, books, etc.):

Warm It Up and Stretch It Out

Equipment: Two hoops per group. Hoops of different sizes. Looped ropes or inner tubes can be used.
Basic Procedures: Form groups of 6 to 9 individuals into a circle. Have the group hold hands. Have two people release their hands and re-grasp after a hula hoop is in place. Once the hoop is in place and hands are held, no one should break the circle. The hoop is passed around the circle by cooperative movements as each group member steps through the hoop.

Safety: Emphasize slow movement. Good footing is enhanced by proper footwear, but can be done in socks. Remind individuals to hold hands loosely.

Age Range: Mature enough to hold hands appropriately.

Variations: Pass two hoops opposite directions around the circle. Require two or more people to pass through a hoop at the same time (feet first or head first). For young children, you may want a line where students hold hands and pass the hoops down the line rather than around a circle.

Titanic Lifeboat or Jaws

Equipment: One or two folding tumbling mats of about any size.
Basic Procedures: Ask if anyone has seen the movie Titanic or Jaws. Ask what those movies have in common. They both had a sinking ship/boat in them and there was danger in the water. For our next activity, we are going to imagine we are all on a boat or ship that is sinking. Naturally we want to get onto a lifeboat. Unfortunately, we only have one lifeboat. By cooperating, we can get everyone onto the boat. You have accomplished the task when everyone has their body out of the water for a 3 sec. count. Start with a large lifeboat and gradually reduce the size by folding the mat. E.G. "Congratulations on saving everyone in your group. Unfortunately, our ship just sank again and we only have a small lifeboat. Keep repeating this line after they succeed to see how small you can fold the mat and still get everyone on board.

Safety: No stacking of people. It is okay to step off of the mat and try again. Have open space around the mat for stepping off.

Age Range: Generally second grade and up can do this. Younger children will need more space on the mat to succeed.

Variations: If you have more mature students, use a wooden platform or log instead of mats. Change the story. Start with several lifeboats and gradually reduce the number so that more people have to use fewer lifeboats.

Buddy Game

Equipment: Music and a tape player.
Basic Guidelines: While the music is playing, move safely in general space with a basic locomotor skill. Each time the music stops, get face to face with a new "Buddy". Shake hands and say, "How are you doing today?" The teacher then tells the students this is your ________ buddy. Repeat that sequence and give each buddy pair a movement to remember. E.G. high five buddy, back to back buddy, do si do buddy, etc. After 3 to 5 buddy pairs have been made, ask them to remember and find their _____ buddy. Review buddies and then add new ones. No one is allowed to reject a buddy. The teacher can be someone's buddy each time if there is an odd number of students.

Safety: Pick slow movements until you have confidence in you group. Provide cues on general space.

Age Range: Kinder through adults. Change buddy activities to be age appropriate.

Variations: Vary the locomotor movement from slow to fast. Be creative on the locomotor movements, e.g. walk like a person on a tight rope, a monkey, backwards, you're your on a boat in the ocean, etc. Move from easy to more difficult buddy movements. Increase the memory chain. Select students to give you ideas for the type of buddy movement to use.

Amoeba Tag

Equipment: None.
Basic Guidelines: Set boundaries based on the size and age of your group. One person is the Amoeba(tagger) to start. Each time a new person is tagged, the amoeba grows. Each tagged person move to an end and holds hands to become part of the amoeba. If the amoeba breaks, it must rejoin before anyone else can be tagged. The activity continues until everyone is part of the amoeba. Reduce the movement area as needed by moving in the boundaries. Process the skills required after one round of the game and try it again.

Safety: Individuals may let go if they need to, but the amoeba must rejoin. Proper tagging is softly and between the shoulders and hip.

Age Range: Third grade and up.

Variations: Require the amoeba to "get" people in a certain order, e.g. girl, boy, girl, boy. Require the amoeba to face every other person in opposite directions (requires a mature group).

Peel Out or Predicted Time

Equipment: Stop watch. Spot marker (carpet square) for each person with younger groups.
Basic Guidelines: Group forms a circle of 10 or more people facing inward. The teacher will walk around the circle and select a person to start the sequence. From the selected person, each circle member will move counter clockwise as the person to their left passes.them. Each person moves around the circle until they are back to their original spot. The task is complete when the person to the left of the starting person has finished.

Safety: Start with walking. Emphasize the correct sequence.

Age Range: First may be able to do it. Any group that understands the term sequence.

Variations: Use different locomotor skills to move, but start with walking. After the first time, ask for guesses on how long the task took. Next, ask for ideas to improve on the time. Try one of the ideas to see if the time improved. Try other ideas until the class has established their "record". Begin in different positions such as standing, sitting, push up, etc.

Co-op Jump Rope

Equipment: One jump rope per person. One long jump rope per group of 8 people. Ropes that can be tied together to make a longer rope are good.
Basic Guidelines: Have the group warm up with individual jumping. Next, have them form groups of 3 to 8. Challenge the groups to use two turners and get everyone in their group jumping at the same time. The group must jump 5 consecutive jumps to succeed in the challenge. Gradually make the groups larger until the whole class can jump the rope at once (that may take weeks).

Safety: Use soft ropes for the group jumping. Require appropriate shoes.

Age Range: Older groups will be able to jump with more people.

Variations: Use adult turners. Process the activity and develop strategies. This is a great visual for videotaping or still pictures.

Resources:

Teachers and presenters who have shared these ideas in the past.

Glover, D.R. & Midura, D.W. (1992). Team building through physical challenges. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.

Midura, D.W. & Glover, D. R. (1999). The competition-cooperation link. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.

Orlick, T. (1978). The cooperative sports & games book. NY: Pantheon Books.

Orlick, T.(1982). The second cooperative sports & games book. NY: Pantheon Books.