Some games I play with my students to help work on teamwork and cooperation, and where they can practice their sportsmanship skills in are:
Rainbow Swamp Trail - (poly spots, 6 beanbags)
Each member of the team must get to the other side of the swamp, and along the way they each must retrieve a beanbag and take it with them to the shore. Stepping-stones are in the swamp so that the group can plan a route. Stepping-stones can hold one teammate at a time. The team must hold hands and stay connected through their trip. When a teammate attempts to pick up a beanbag, students may disconnect hands, but they must reconnect before continuing the journey. Each team member must collect one beanbag on his or her journey. If someone touches the floor or is not connected when they are supposed to, the team must start again.
Rainbow Bridge - (stepping stones, beanbags)
Set stepping stones in a zigzag path. Everyone on the team must stay connected. If they come unconnected they must start back at the beginning. One at a time they enter on the stepping-stones. As a team they move along the stepping-stones, they must pick up beanbags and carry them across. They must stay connected while picking up beanbags.
Titanic - (2 blue tarps, 2 hula hoops)
Two blue tarps set up on the ground. Place a hula-hoop next to each tarp. Each Tarp is a ship with passengers on it. Everyone must stand on one of the tarps. After a few seconds one tarp is folded in half. When the tarp is being folded they may stand on the other tarp. If they step in the water or fall off the ship while tarps are being folded they must go into the lifeboat (hoop).
Operation Cooperation
Material: jump rope, base, team color code sheet, master color code sheet, colored markers, 10-15 cones.
All the team members must hold the jump rope, moving as a unit, as they try to find specific colored markers as indicated by the adult. The object is to see how quickly your team can complete all the assignments given.
The 1st person is the leader, the 2nd person is the excavator (who lifts the cone to find the marker), the 3rd person is the recorder (makes an X on the sheet), and the 4th person is the archivist and carries the Team Color Code Sheet. The rest of the players are advisors (remembering where the locations of certain color markers are). The game starts with the adult tells the teams a color, then they go out and find that color. When found they mark it on the color sheet, then come back to the adult (who is on the base), who then gives the team another color. The game continues until they are done with all the colors.
Trek Walkers (trek walker)
Team members are split into groups of 4. They walk with the trek walker around a cone and back, then hand it off to the next group. If they fall off the trek walker they must start back at the starting line. Only the group that falls off must start back, not the groups that have successfully made it around.
Survivor Island (3 mats, 2 stilts)
Try to cross from Island to island moving the stilt into position. If you touch the ground you personally go back to the last island you successfully made it to.
Midnight crossing - (blindfolds, obstacles)
One leader gives directions to each member of his/her team individually, by saying their name and telling them where to move. The leader tries to get his/her whole team to the finish line with 2 deck rings in hand.
Magic Bases (poly spots or stepping stones)
Spots are set in a figure eight pattern. They must travel the figure-eight route while holding hands. If they disconnect they must start over. No more than two feet on a spot at one time. When you meet at the crossroad of the figure eight pattern, you must nonverbally communicate as to how to cross.
Character Education Treasure Hunt - (54 lids/cards with character traits on them, pencil, paper)
One at a time, a player goes out and finds a card. They call to their team that trait, and then their team goes to that spot and everyone does that activity. Once done, a lid is placed back at the starting line, as well as the team back at the starting line. After one person brings back the lid with the trait and exercise on it, the next person goes out and picks up a lid, and shouts back to their team the trait. The team either says they need it or they don't need it. If they need it the player brings it back, and team does that exercise listed on back.
The next player goes out and gets another lid. They must find all 27 traits. If you find a trait already found, the Team must tell you what you need.
Games were found in Character Education by Donald R. Glover and Leigh Ann Anderson, Human Kinetics 2003 |
