Team Building Exercises for Childcare Teachers
When children begin to comprehend language and instruction they are ready to learn about teamwork. There are many activities you can find or create to instill cooperation and listening skills in your students, but for small children simple games that incorporate noise and physical contact are best for teaching team-building skills.
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Build a Bridge
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A bridge building activity requires children to work in groups to discuss and assemble different parts to make a functioning bridge. To make the game more fun, provide each group of three or four children with a bowl of water and a bridge building kit. The kit can be simple or complex depending on the ages of the children. As a separate activity you could even have your children first make the pieces out of cardboard and Styrofoam and other kid-friendly materials. Give the children a time limit and help them throughout the process.
Treasure Chest Secret
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Divide your students into groups of three to five children. Tell them you have a treasure chest that can only be opened with sounds. Give them a list of sounds (cows mooing, car horns beeping, etc.) and a tape recorder and also provide them with a quiet space to record their sounds. Let them know they will only be able to open the treasure chest by recording each and every sound. Additionally everyone in the group must provide at least two of the sounds. The fastest groups will be the groups that communicate and compromise and work together, and by reflecting at the end of the activity, you can rehash the importance of teamwork..
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Group Simon Says
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In order to demonstrate team work to small children, start with something simple. Divide your class into groups of five or more students. Make sure you have plenty of space to maneuver. Next tell each group to form a circle and hold hands. When each group is linked, begin telling the class to take two steps forward or take four steps to the right. After the groups get used to maneuvering increase the difficulty of the instructions or make quick directional changes to throw them off guard. The children will have find running and bumping into each other but they will also have to work together to complete each task.
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References
- Photo Credit kids image by Marzanna Syncerz from Fotolia.com
