Teaching Kids Teamwork: Cooperation Starts at Home

Foster cooperation at home! Help your child build teamwork, empathy, and collaboration skills through family projects, problem-solving, and structured activities like readers’ theater. . . .

Practical Tips

Fostering cooperation at home is vital for children’s development. Family activities teach teamwork and empathy, benefiting both gifted and typical children. Incorporating reader’s theater further enhances reading fluency and collaborative skills.

Together We Stand

Fostering cooperation and collaboration at home is essential for the development of both gifted and typical children in pre-kindergarten through fifth grade. Engaging in group activities within the family setting helps children appreciate each other’s strengths and learn effective teamwork skills.

Understanding the Challenges

Gifted children may face specific difficulties when working in groups, such as:

Trust Issues: Hesitance to rely on others to complete tasks to their standards.
Frustration: Discomfort with the group work process.
Control Concerns: Reluctance to share control over tasks.
Overbearing Responsibility: Feeling solely accountable for the group’s success.
Empathy Gaps: Difficulty understanding peers who may not share the same level of commitment.

These challenges can be addressed by initiating collaborative projects at home, allowing children to practice and develop their group interaction skills.

Enhancing Empathy and Patience

During these projects, it’s crucial to foster empathy and patience:

Open Communication: Encourage family members to express their feelings and listen to each other.
Understanding Differences: Acknowledge that each person has unique strengths and working styles.
Emphasizing Process Over Outcome: Teach children that the experience of working together is as valuable as the final result.

Practical Family Projects

Gardening: Planting and maintaining an herb garden together.
Home Improvement: Collaboratively cleaning a room or preparing a deck for painting.
Creative Arts: Working on a collective art project where each member contributes.
Any Family Project: Whether large or small will help build group work skills.

These tasks encourage children to recognize and value the unique abilities each family member brings to the table.

Involving the entire family in simple projects can enhance cooperative skills. Consider activities such as:

Engaging in Collaborative Storytelling

To further develop cooperation and empathy, families can participate in activities like readers’ theater. For example, performing an excerpt from “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” allows children to practice reading aloud, understand different perspectives, and work together to bring a story to life.

Goals of Readers’ Theater

Self-confidence in ability to succeed.
Positive attitude toward work and learning.
Demonstrate empathy.
Demonstrate ethical decision making and social responsibility.
Use effective collaboration and cooperation skills.
Demonstrate effective coping skills when faced with a problem.

Readers’ Theater

“The Wonderful Wizard
of Oz” Excerpt

By Frank Baum. Adaption & Activities by K5 Gifted.

Parent Instructions: Have family participants choose reading parts. Allow each child a moment to read the part before reading aloud. Complete the activity that follows.

Characters: Dorothy and Scarecrow

Dorothy:

I bade my friends goodbye and again started along the road of yellow brick. When I had gone several miles, I thought I would stop to rest and so climbed to the top of the fence beside the road and sat down.

Dorothy:

There was a great cornfield beyond the fence, and not far away I saw a Scarecrow, placed high on a pole to keep the birds from the ripe corn.

Dorothy:

I leaned my chin upon my hand and gazed thoughtfully at the Scarecrow.

Scarecrow:

My head was a small sack stuffed with straw, with eyes, nose, and mouth painted on to represent a face.

Scarecrow:

An old, pointed blue hat, that had belonged to some Munchkin, was perched on my head, and the rest of the figure was a blue suit of clothes, worn and faded, which had also been stuffed with straw.

Scarecrow:

On my feet were some old boots with blue tops, such as every man wore in this country, and the figure was raised above the stalks of corn by means of the pole stuck through my back.

Dorothy:

I was looking earnestly into the strange, painted face of the Scarecrow, and I was surprised to see one of the eyes slowly wink at me.

Dorothy:

I thought I must have been mistaken at first, for none of the scarecrows in Kansas ever wink.

Scarecrow:

I nodded my head at her in a friendly way.

Dorothy:

Then I climbed down from the fence and walked up to it, while Toto ran around the pole and barked.

Scarecrow:

Good day.

Dorothy:

Did you speak?

Scarecrow:

Certainly. How do you do?

Dorothy:

I’m pretty well, thank you. How do you do?

Scarecrow:

I’m not feeling well, for it is very tedious being perched up here night and day to scare away crows.

Dorothy:

Can’t you get down?

Scarecrow:

No, for this pole is stuck through my back. If you will please take away the pole I shall be greatly obliged to you.

Dorothy:

I reached up both arms and lifted the Scarecrow off the pole, for, being stuffed with straw, he was quite light.

Scarecrow:

Thank you very much. I am glad to be set down on the ground. I feel like a new man.

Dorothy:

I was puzzled at this, for it sounded strange to hear a stuffed man speak, and to see him bow and walk along beside me.

Scarecrow:

Who are you? And where are you going?

Dorothy:

My name is Dorothy, and I am going to the Emerald City, to ask the Great Oz to send me back to Kansas.

Scarecrow:

Where is the Emerald City? And who is Oz?

Dorothy:

Why, don’t you know?

Scarecrow:

No, indeed. I don’t know anything. You see, I am stuffed, so I have no brains at all.

Dorothy:

Oh. I’m awfully sorry for you.

Scarecrow:

Do you think if I go to the Emerald City with you, that Oz would give me some brains?

Dorothy:

I cannot tell, but you may come with me, if you like. If Oz will not give you any brains you will be no worse off than you are now.

Scarecrow:

That is true. You see. I don’t mind my legs and arms and body being stuffed, because I cannot get hurt.

Scarecrow:

If anyone treads on my toes or sticks a pin into me, it doesn’t matter, for I can’t feel it. But I do not want people to call me a fool, and if my head stays stuffed with straw instead of with brains, as yours is, how am I ever to know anything?

Dorothy:

I understand how you feel. If you will come with me, I’ll ask Oz to do all he can for you.

Scarecrow:

Thank you.

Dorothy:

We walked back to the road. I helped him over the fence, and we started along the path of yellow brick for the Emerald City.

Activity

What is Dorothy’s attitude about her ability to help the Scarecrow off the pole?

How did Dorothy and the Scarecrow build a trusting relationship to work together to get the Scarecrow off the pole? How can you work with others at home to build a team relationship?
How were listening and speaking important to their success?
How do you know that Dorothy felt empathetic toward the Scarecrow and his situation?
She could have waved or looked the other way and walked past him. What do you think she thought about as her ethical and social responsibility in helping the Scarecrow? If you see a sibling struggling with a situation at home, how can you help or help them feel supported?
Did Dorothy have a mindset that Scarecrow was born the way he was without brains and shouldn’t even try to learn, or a mindset that with the right opportunities he could learn? What were her thoughts?
How did they use collaboration and cooperation skills? What can you do to better collaborate with the other members of your family? When can you use cooperation at home? How can it help your family?
What effective coping skills did they use when faced with Scarecrow’s problems? What was their plan? Think about a problem that you or someone in your family has. What plan could you make as a family to work through the problem?

Crossword Puzzle

How well were you listening? Here is a crossword puzzle. All the answer are found in the Readers’ Theater script above. Have fun.

How to Use The Crossword Puzzle PDF
This PDF is read-only, meaning you can’t fill it out on the screen.
You use the side scroll bars to scroll down to see all the clues.
To download a copy, click the file icon with a down arrow in the upper right corner.
On a desktop computer, you can also right-click the download icon and choose Print.
Looking for an interactive option? Check out the next section!
Interactive Puzzle

You can complete this crossword puzzle interactively by visiting the link below. Please note that this will take you to an external website that is not affiliated with us, and we have no control over its content or availability.

Click to the button to check out the Interactive Puzzle. You will be taken to a new page.

Interactive Puzzle

Questions & Answers

Parents

Cooperation and collaboration at home can bring up many questions, and there’s always more to explore. Below are a few common questions that may still be on your mind. If you have any additional questions, we’d love to help—feel free to reach out through our contact form.”

Click below to learn more!

3 Takeaways

Initiate Collaborative Family Projects: Engaging in simple, cooperative tasks at home, such as gardening or cleaning, helps children develop group work skills and appreciate each family member’s unique strengths.
Emphasize the Process Over the Outcome: Encourage children to value the collaborative process itself, fostering patience and understanding that working together is as important as the end result.
Utilize Structured Activities to Teach Empathy and Cooperation: Incorporate activities like readers’ theater to build self-confidence, empathy, and effective collaboration skills among family members.

Pause To Ponder!

Integrating cooperative activities at home nurtures essential social skills, preparing children for future interactions. Prioritizing empathy, teamwork, and shared responsibilities lays a strong foundation for their growth.

How can you incorporate more collaborative activities into your family’s routine to strengthen your child’s social skills?​

Let us know if we can help you in your journey.

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