Parents and Teachers

Building Character

Life Skills

Turn Competitive Games Collaborative

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Whether it’s taking apart your alarm clock and trying to piece it back together or hiding in the same hallway closet for the fourth round of hide-and-seek, children have a natural sense of energy, curiosity, and wonderment that is perfect for play. As they grow, how they channel this energy will have a great impact on their educational and social development. These early experiences lay the foundation for later learning, which is why playing games with purpose can be an educational tool for every teacher, parent, and caregiver.

At present, many of the well-known games for child’s play revolve around competition. From “hot potato” to “four corners” to “dodgeball,” it seems that we are building a culture in which children learn to “eliminate” one another. While there are forms of healthy competition­ — take the unifying appeal and power of the Olympics, for example ­— in our daily lives competition is often a divisive force that leads to many challenges in building confidence and fellowship. Competition in the classroom often leads children to see each other as threats, focus on comparison instead of personal development, and become easily disheartened with the concentrated effort and time it takes them to learn a new skill or concept. What’s more, competitive learning does not reflect the reality that most of our adult lives are indeed about working together, whether it be in the context of our family life or our workplace.

This realization doesn’t mean that we have to throw out all of the exciting elements of our favorite childhood games, but with a bit of creativity, we can reshape them. Here are two ideas for how to turn competitive games collaborative in your play environment.


Flip the rules


The book Constructive and Meaningful Games (Royale Publishers, 2001) starts out with a description of a new twist on the classic game of musical chairs. Instead of having children eliminated each round, the teacher takes away a chair and challenges the group to find a way to all sit on fewer and fewer chairs. And, as the book mentions, “If you think that this version of the game is not as interesting or fun for children . . . try it for yourself and see the result!”

To help participants explore their space and test their knowledge, I’ve also flipped the rules of musical chairs with a game I like to call “musical explorers.” It takes a bit more preparation, as the teacher or caregiver needs to be conscious of what items are in the room and add items, if needed. The children walk around in a circle in the middle of the room; however, when the music stops, a descriptive term is called out and each child must silently find an object in a room that they can bring to the circle that fits the description. For instance, when the music stops and the leader says “something square,” there should be enough square objects in the space for each child to carry one to the circle. Once everyone has brought an item, they each share it with the group and then return it to the proper place. The game can build in complexity as the leader starts with shapes and colors, textures, and types of materials (such as wood, metal, plastic), and moves to categories that require more discernment like “something you use every day” or “something they sell at a grocery store.”

Another lively and funny game that flips the rules is reverse charades. Rather than splitting into teams with one person acting out words for his or her teammates in rounds, the whole classroom can act together for a single guesser. Depending on the age group, you may want to give a few minutes for the students to decide how to show the word or phrase while the guesser waits nearby. Older groups can improvise on the spot. The next player to leave the room and become the guesser could be chosen based on their positive behavior during the game.

 

Race the clock


Using a timer adds a sense of urgency and fun to activities and works especially well with traditional relay races. But here, children don’t race each other, they race the clock. Can they fill a bucket of water by only squeezing wet dish rags within a minute? Can they beat their own time in a circle game where each player must pass a balloon using their elbows without it hitting the ground? Truly, the possibilities are endless.

Racing the clock can also work for elimination games like “knockout.” In the original game, each player has their own ball and shoots a basketball from the free-throw line. If the first person shoots and misses, the second person in line tries to get a basket before the first person can get a rebound. In a group game played by racing the clock, players can still shoot individually, but all their baskets count toward a collective goal. This will encourage participants to celebrate each other’s success. Can the group collectively make 10 baskets before the end of a song?

To further enhance teamwork when racing the clock, have children reflect on what went well, what challenges were faced, and how they might improve their time in the future.

 

It’s important to note that the fun and significance of achievement is as present in these cooperative games as it is in competitive ones. What’s more, children learn to value each other’s contributions, while opportunities to share, encourage others, and problem-solve become inherent parts of working together to achieve a goal. As these life skills develop, caregivers can ask children to come up with their own ideas about how to turn competitive games collaborative.

Now, how fast can we share these collaborative ideas and add some of our own?

 

Andrea Hope is an award-winning performance poet who has led artistic workshops for children and youth around the world, from the rural mountains of Lesotho to the inner city of Washington D.C. She has published a spoken word album as well as a poetry activity book for elementary school students and their caregivers.

Updated on 9.23.14