These 6-12-year-old cooperative games are often a variation of the most familiar competitive games. These games encourage teamwork, creative thinking, problem-solving, and helps players realize that everyone can win. They are full of surprises and challenges, but most of all, they are fun
The Basic “Rules” of cooperative games are: :
- Everyone plays (no one is excluded, and the games are structured so that everyone can play)
- Everyone is having fun
- Everyone wins
If a game is difficult or cannot meet these criteria, it must be modified; it is not a cooperative game! Some of the best cooperative games 6-12 years old are often games invented by children.
Many cooperative games 6-12 years old are played in a circle. Even if it is not physically a circular formation, cooperative games are still circles. If cooperative games could be symbolized by a geometric shape, it would certainly be the circle. In a circle, all points are equal
Ten cooperative games 6-12 years
Knots: take a long rope and tie a knot about every 1 meter. There must be a knot for every player. If you have more than six children in the group, you can have several strings and therefore, several groups. Put the rope on the ground or a table in a straight line and tell the children that each player will have to untie a knot on the rope. Then ask the players to pick up the rope and make sure that each player has one hand on either side of the rope. They have to untie the knots without dropping the rope.
Usually, it will take time for them to understand how to untie the knots. Some groups sometimes find themselves with more nodes than before the game started ! Give them time to solve the challenge. Be aware that players may end up in close physical contact with each other during the game.
Continuum: the ideal group size is about 6 to 10 people for this cooperative game 6 to 12 years. If you have more people, divide them into two or more groups. Then choose a theme and ask the group to organize themselves to create a continuum : from the smallest to the largest, from the lightest to the darkest, from the youngest to the oldest, from the one who wakes the earliest to the one who wakes the latest, etc.give them enough time to sort themselves out before moving on to the next continuum. Always remember that the goal is for them to talk to each other and learn about each other. The goal is not to create as many continuums as possible.
Start with something simple like age, hair color, or height. Then go to more interesting topics and try some of these ideas :
- according to the rainbow, by their favorite color
- by the month of birth
- According to the time they woke up this morning
- depending on the number of books they read this month
Create your ideas based on why your group met. For example, in a theatre-themed summer camp, ask children how many plays they have played in the past six months.