Why Co-operative games for Home Schooling?
Co-operative games produce less aggressive behaviors during and after play and, that as a result, they require less direct supervision by the teachers, it’s a win/win. Read more below…
Bambino Dino: Baby Dinosaur is happily munching on leaves, twigs and berries in a deep Canyon and is caught in the rising Water of a flash flood. Our job is to rescue Bambino Dino!
We work as a team to save little Dino by lowering the Water level until he is dry and also help give him the Food he likes best.
This is an excellent game to introduce the co-operative concept to young children. Simple to grasp, with color-coded dice that indicate when to pick a helpful Tool or some Food and also when to build the Water higher and higher.
Early Years: Four co-operative card games for the younger ages. Each game nurtures and encourages a blend of close observation, communication, imagination, some academic, social & memory skills. All this in a non-threatening, self-esteem building atmosphere.
A big bargain with lots of play value, and just plain fun to play! Special group game rules are included for accommodating as many as 36 players.
Granny’s House: An adventure game designed to encourage thought and imagination in young children.
On our journey to Granny’s we go through Dark Woods, cross a Stream, need to be very careful passing a Sleepy Bear, etc. We decide what to bring along. Maybe our Dog will help us; maybe a basket of Food; perhaps some Sticks and a Rope. Players will have to use these items to invent ways to deal with whatever Obstacle they meet.
Harvest Time: This game draws the most fan mail!
First, gardens are planted. Then everyone rolls the special die. to do the harvesting. The job is to harvest the gardens before Winter comes. Will we get them all? Maybe, if we remember to help each other out.
A simple but challenging game for beginners.
Sand Castles: A gentle game about helping each other to build Sand Castles by the Beach.
It’s a quiet, beautiful day with water lapping at the shore. But a wind begins to stir and some large Waves move slowly toward our Castles. Can we finish all three of them before those big Waves wash in? Let’s gather some sand, share our pails and shovels, and work hard together. This way, we have a much better chance of finishing.
But, oh, oh… The Waves are getting closer and closer. Should we make a big Sand Wall to protect the castle? Or take a chance and keep building the castle up? Decisions, decisions. All in all, an exciting game of strategy that gets us thinking.
Early Childhood: Bambino Dino, Early Years, Granny’s House, Harvest Time, Sand Castles
Elementary School: Animal Trackers, Berries Bugs & Bullfrogs, Funny Face, Hugs & Tickles, Yard Sale
Geography: Let’s Go Digging, Mountaineering, Somewhere In the Rockies, Explorers, Somewhere in the Honduras, Somewhere in China
Gifted Resources: Investigators, Sky Travelers, Hotel Ritz, Space Future, Power Blackout, Mayan Calendar, Jsch
Social Studies: Community, Our Town, Ploughshares, Then There Were None, Earth Game, New America
Summer Enrichment: Walk In the Woods, Birds of Summer, Let’s Go Hiking, Farmers Market
Thinking Skills: Gridlock, Maze, Zen Blocks, Brainy Games, Blues Away, Diplomatic Mission, Warp n Woof
Games make learning fun. But competitive games pit learners against each other, so someone always ends up feeling bad, or left out.
Play as friends, not as enemies! Our games foster the spirit of co-operation. Players help each other climb a mountain, make a community, bring in the harvest, complete a space exploration… They are never against each other.
After all, the initial impulse to play a game is social; that is, we bring out a game because we want to do something together. How ironic then that in most games, we spend all our efforts trying to bankrupt someone, destroy their armies — in other words, to get rid of one another! We soon learn how to pick on the other person’s weaknesses in order to win the game.
In sharing and working together teacher and students foster a sense of community. When there are no winners and losers, aggressive behavior decreases and less time is wasted sorting out disputes.
Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis actually investigated the effects of competitive and cooperative games on aggressive and cooperative behaviors of 70 children (4 to 5 years old) from four classes in three preschools using some of our games including Max®, Harvest Time®, Granny’s House®, and Sleeping Grump® and some of our Cooperative Physical Activities).
The key conclusions of the study are that co-operative games produce less aggressive behaviors during and after play and, that as a result, they require less direct supervision by the teachers, it’s a win/win. It could be argued that they would pay for themselves in saved teacher work-hours.