by Nan Keltie

Created on: September 11, 2009   Last Updated: December 17, 2009

If you're looking for songs and activities that teach cooperation, keep reading! The two activities introduced below are simple to prepare, fun to do and educational, too.

Activity One - Pass the potatoes, please

Have students sit in a large circle on the floor. Place two cereal-size bowls in the middle of the group and inside each bowl, a medium-size, uncooked potato that will roll around in the bowl. The teacher explains the activity as follows:

"Let's see how good you are at passing things to one another. When the potato bowl is passed to you, turn to the person on your right (demonstrate this) and ask them to 'pass the potatoes, please.'

That person then turns to the student sitting on their right and says the same thing while passing the bowl. Now, let's see if we can go all the way around the circle without dropping any potatoes."

The teacher then hands the potato bowls to two students (opposite one another in the circle) and tells them to "Pass the potatoes, please." Be sure to direct them to the person on their right and have them keep passing until you call for them to stop.

This activity promotes cooperation and coordination along with good manners. This will most likely be a much-requested game on rainy days if you change it up now and then. Try passing without talking, passing while blindfolded and/or passing while standing up.

Another way to play is to have students pass the potatoes while you play music. Each time the music stops, the students must stop passing. The following words may be sung to the tune of Farmer in the Dell:

"Potatoes in the bowl, Potatoes in the bowl, Hi-ho, around they go, Potatoes in the bowl!"

Activity Two - Let's build a town

Ahead of time, the teacher will collect various sizes of empty cereal boxes, pop-tart boxes and large jello boxes.  Each box should be wrapped in plain paper so students can decorate them with markers or crayons.

Tell your class, "We are going to build our own little town!" and ask what kind of buildings are usually found in a town or city. As they volunteer information, ask if they would like to design the building they suggested.

If they are slow to respond, mention that towns have lots of houses, a school, churches, a hospital, some grocery stores, banks, fire station, police station, etc. They may think of others on their own, such as a pet store, a doctor's office, a candy store, etc.

Once their buildings are decorated, talk with your students about setting up their town on a table top for

• 1
• 2
• Next Page >>