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Cooperative game for kindergarten


Top 20 Fun Cooperative Games For Kids

Playing is much more fun when you play together to attain shared goals.

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Cooperative games for kids help teach them the importance of teamwork and patience. Children can play co-op games with their friends or family members. The main objective of these games is not ‘winning’ but teaching them ways to work together towards achieving a common goal. These games also help develop your child’s communication, deduction, and planning skills.

Read on for a curated list of cooperative games we have listed in this post for children of all ages to have a fun learning experience.

20 Cooperative Games For Kids

1. Tower building

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Tower building is a cooperative game for kids that can be played by adults too. It teaches teamwork and develops your preschooler’s counting skills. Children as young as three years can play this game effortlessly.

Age group:

3 years and up

You will need:
  • A pair of dice
  • Blocks
How to play:
  • Make teams of two. If your child is young, pair them with someone older.
  • Keep the blocks in a common area accessible to all teams.
  • A member of each team rolls a dice.
  • The number on the dice is the number of blocks they must lift to build their tower.
  • The team with the highest tower after every team member rolls the dice wins.

2. Candy Land

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Candy Land is one of the oldest and easiest cooperative games. It doesn’t require any reading skills, and there is no strategy involved. Thus, even very young children with limited counting abilities can play this game.

Age group:

3 years and up

You will need:
  • Candy Land board game set (you can make it yourself at home, too)
How to play:
  • Candy Land comes with a set of cards with colored marks on them and a board with a colorful maze on it.
  • Each player has to pick the topmost card, check the color on it, and move their marker to the next square of that color.
  • If a card has two marks of one color, the player has to move their marker to the second occurrence of that color from their current location.
  • Some cards might have the name of a location. These locations are specified in certain squares on the maze. The player can directly move to that location.
  • The first player to reach the end of the maze is the winner.

3. Dragon’s jewel

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This cooperative game is best played outdoors or in a large play area. It is a great game to teach teamwork and develop communication and quick-thinking skills. You can also develop your child’s gross motor skills with this game.

Age group:

4 years and up

You will need:
  • Football or basketball
  • Cones for marking
How to play:
  • Make a circle with the cones.
  • Place a ball at the center of the circle. This is the dragon’s jewel.
  • One player is the dragon.
  • Divide the other players into teams of two or three.
  • Each team takes turns to work together and get the dragon’s jewel. The dragon tries to tag them before they get to it.
  • If the dragon tags a player of a team, the team is out, and the next team continues the game.
  • If a team manages to capture the jewel, choose a new dragon for the next round.

4. Bandido

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Bandido is a popular board game for young ones who love mysteries and puzzles. This game makes your child think about their next move and improves their critical thinking skills.

Age group:

4 years and up

You will need:
  • Bandido board game set
How to play:
  • Each player has three cards, and each card has a piece of a tunnel — it could be a bend, a straight pass, a branch, or a dead end.
  • The first player starts with a card, and the other players add their cards.
  • The goal of the game is to prevent the imaginary prisoner at the start of the tunnel from escaping.

5. Airplane game

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Try this game if you want to improve your child’s listening and speaking skills. Listening and speaking are essential components of effective interpersonal communication.

Age group:

3 years and up

You will need:
  • A cloth for blindfolding
How to play:
  • Blindfold a child. This child is the pilot.
  • Select another player as the navigator.
  • Make the other members stand in different places. They are the trees.
  • The navigator has to guide the pilot across the runway without letting the airplane crash into any of the trees. The navigator can give only one instruction at a time.

6. Outfoxed

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Outfoxed is one of the best cooperative games that can be played by children and adults alike. If your child loves playing detective, they will take to this game in no time.

Age group:

5 years and up

You will need:
  • Outfoxed game box
How to play:
  • One of the foxes in the game has stolen a pot pie. The players have to find the culprit.
  • Slip a card with the name of the culprit into the special contraption provided for this purpose.
  • Each player rolls the dice and decides whether they want to collect clues or reveal the answer.
  • Each wrong answer brings the fox closer to escaping.
  • Every right answer gets the player a new clue of the culprit or two new suspect cards.
  • The player who gets the right culprit or eliminates all of the suspects but one is the winner.

7. All over

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This game is great for sleepovers and family holidays. The more the players, the more enjoyable the game.

Age group:

4 years and up

You will need:
  • Big, softballs according to the number of players
  • A rope
How to play:
  • Divide the players into two teams and make them stand on two sides of the rope.
  • Once the leader shouts, “All Over!” the players throw, kick, or roll the ball towards the opposite team.
  • The players of each team have to catch the incoming balls while launching their respective balls.
  • Once the passing stops, count the number of balls caught by each team. The team that catches the maximum number of balls wins.

8. Pandemic

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If your child often imagines emergency situations and rescue missions, this board game is perfect for them. Pandemic is the right choice for a family game night or a rainy afternoon to engage your children for hours. You can also use this opportunity to teach your children about the current Covid-19 pandemic.

Age group:

8 years and up

You will need:
  • Pandemic board game set
How to play:
  • Each player is out in the world as a part of a disease-fighting
  • All the players work together to prevent the outbreak of diseases and keep the world safe.
  • They travel across the board to different countries, treat infections, collect cures, and build research stations within a stipulated time, that is, before the diseases spread beyond recovery.

9. Ghost Fightin’ Treasure Hunters

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This is another very popular board game that includes treasure and ghosts. Children love finding treasures and are curious about ghosts, so this game is a great co-op game for kids.

Age group:

6 years and up

You will need:
  • Ghost Fightin’ Treasure Hunters board game set
How to play:
  • The aim of the game is for the players or treasure hunters to find all the treasures in a haunted house.
  • If there are three ghosts in a room, that room is considered haunted.
  • If six rooms are haunted before the players get the treasures, all of them lose.
  • You can go together or separately, fight the ghosts, or run back with the treasure. Each step needs planning and strategy for getting the treasure before the ghosts get you.

10. Assassin

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If you have a group of children, this game is a good option for you. Prepare to spend a few hours laughing with your children as they enjoy playing this game.

Age group:

5 years and up

You will need:
  • A group of children
How to play:
  • Make the children sit in a circle with their heads down.
  • One person (preferably the adult) should walk around the circle and tap one child on the head. This child is the assassin. No other player knows who the assassin is.
  • The child looks at the others and assassinates them by winking at them.
  • The other players can guess who the assassin is but are out of the game if they make a wrong guess.
  • If the assassin is successful in assassinating every other player, they are the winner.

11. Iceberg

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This game is fun, especially for younger children. It involves a bit of quick thinking and is best played in large groups.

Age group:

3-10 years

You will need:
  • Bedsheet, tablecloth, etc. for the surface
How to play:
  • Divide the children into two teams. Give each team a bedsheet or a tablecloth.
  • Spread the sheet on the floor. This is the surface for the game.
  • The whole team should stand on the surface. Anyone standing outside the surface is eliminated from the game,
  • Next, ask the players to step off and fold the sheet in half. Stand again on the sheet.
  • Continue in this fashion till there is no space for all the players to fit on the sheet.
  • The team that makes the maximum folds while accommodating the most number of players wins.

12. Race to the treasure

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Here’s another cooperative board game that requires strategic skills but offers loads of fun. This is a great co-op game for the whole family, even if your children are very young.

Age group:

3 years and up

You will need:
  • Race to the treasure board game set
How to play:
  • The players take turns to draw cards..
  • If you draw a path card and not an Ogre card, you move further in the race.
  • Retrieve three keys on the way to get the treasure.
  • The aim of the game is to reach the treasure before the Ogre does. If he does, you all lose.

13. Band-aid tag

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This is a cooperative outdoor game you can teach your children to play. Besides playing together, this game tests and develops your children’s flexibility.

Age group:

4 years and up

You will need:
  • A group of children
How to play:
  • Select one person as “It.”
  • The person must run behind other players and tag them.
  • The tagged person must hold their hand (the band-aid) over the part where the “It” tagged them.
  • When a person runs out of band-aids (gets tagged two times), they freeze.
  • Two other players have to come over to the frozen player and unfreeze them by counting to five.
  • Continue playing the game, changing the “It” from time to time.

14. Rope circle

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This is a cooperative game for kids of all ages. It is best played when there is a large group of children. Adults can play it at gatherings, too, for a good time.

Age group:

3 years and up

You will need:
  • Jump ropes
How to play:
  • Divide the players into teams of two players each.
  • Tie one wrist of each partner with the jump rope – the left wrist of one person and the right wrist of the other person.
  • Then tie a second jump rope joining the other wrist.
  • Make sure the ropes are not tied very tightly.
  • The players should attempt to free themselves from one another without actually untying the ropes or breaking out from the circle.

15. Barnyard

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If you want to teach animal names and sounds to your children, play this game with them. This game is perfect for sleepovers and birthday parties when there are many children.

Age group:

3 years and up

You will need:
  • Pieces of paper
  • Pen
How to play:
  • Write various animal names on the pieces of paper. Include four to five pieces of paper for each animal name.
  • Ask each child to pick one piece of paper. The child is the animal mentioned in the paper. No other child must know what animal another child is.
  • Next, ask the children to scatter over the play area.
  • Once the game starts, each child wanders over to other children and tries to determine the similar animals like them.
  • Children who find all the members of the same animal are the winners.

16. Ball builders

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This is a game that children of all ages love. It teaches children the value of teamwork and develops their communication and gross motor skills.

Age group:

3 years and up

You will need:
  • Tennis balls
How to play:
  • Divide the players into teams of two or three.
  • One player in each team will be the holder, and the others will be the builders.
  • The builders start handing over tennis balls to the holder.
  • The aim is to see how many balls the holder can hold without using their pockets or other clothing. They cannot hold the balls against any other surface other than their own bodies.
  • Each ball must be held for at least 10 seconds.
  • The players can take turns doing it.

17. Bedsheet ping pong

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This is a great game for family game night. As versatile as this game is, it is also very simple. You can use household items to play the game.

Age group:

3 years and up

You will need:
  • A bedsheet
  • Ping pong balls or even crumpled balls of paper will do
How to play:
  • Divide the players into two teams.
  • Each team holds the opposite sides of the sheet.
  • Put the balls in the middle of the sheet.
  • Each team has to raise or lower their end of the sheet. The aim of the game is to get the balls to fall on the other side of the sheet.
  • The players must take care not to launch the ball during play.

18. Crossing the river

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Crossing the river is a cooperative game for kids that can come in handy in actual life too. This game is excellent for developing their communication skills.

Age group:

4 years and up

You will need:
  • Rope (optional)
How to play:
  • Divide the players into groups of two to five players each.
  • Each team joins hands, touches legs, or uses a rope to get across the “river”(the play area) around 20-30 feet across.
  • Each group must move to the other side without losing contact.
  • If a player loses contact with other players, the team must start over from the beginning.

19. Birthday line-up team building

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When you have a large group of children with you and want them to get along with each other, this game is an excellent option for you. It acts as an ice breaker and gets your group to mingle with each other easily.

Age group:

5 years and up

You will need:
  • A group of children
How to play:
  • Once the game starts, the players shouldn’t talk until you permit them.
  • Make all the children stand in a line.
  • Next, get them to stand in a line based on their height, in silence.
  • You can give them different challenges, such as lining them up by birthday month, the initials of their names, etc.

20. Shipwrecked

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This is another game that you can play when you have a lot of children with you. It is a great game to develop teamwork in a fun way.

Age group:

5 years and up

You will need:
  • Large hoops
How to play:
  • Divide the players into teams of 8-10 players.
  • Give a hoop to each team. This hoop is their spaceship.
  • Once the game begins, each team should grab their spaceship and race to the finish line.
  • All the players of the team should be in contact with the spaceship at all times.
  • Once they cross the finish line, they put down the hoop, call out “Shipwrecked,” and try to get within the hoop.
  • The first team to get all the players into the hoop is the winner.

Cooperative games for kids are the best way to teach them leadership skills, teamwork, and patience. Tower building, Candy land, Dragon’s jewel, and Bandido are some of the most exciting team games for children. You may choose a game appropriate for the age of children and other participants. These games can also be played with adults at family nights and parties. You may let the children take charge of the team and decide how to win the game. Team games also boost a child’s ability to engage and communicate.

Key Pointers

  • Building a tower is a cooperative game for kids that teaches teamwork.
  • Race to the treasure is a board game that helps children develop strategic thinking skills while having fun.
  • Bedsheet ping pong, All Over, Bandido, and more interesting games as you scroll down.

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  • Reviewer
  • Author

Nisha Bharatan is a freelance writer with experience in writing health and finance content for various Indian and international clients. After completing her engineering from Savitribai Phule Pune University, she did content marketing courses to complement her interest in writing. Nisha writes articles centered around kids’ development, their activities, crafts, games, and fun elements that keep children and families entertained.... more

Dr. Maymunah Yusuf Kadiri, popularly referred to as ‘The Celebrity Shrink,’ is an award-winning neuro-psychiatrist and mental health advocate with over 15 years experience. She is the medical director and psychiatrist-in-chief at Pinnacle Medical Services. She has created the innovative mental health app in Africa, HOW BODI. Dr. Kadiri is a Goldman Sachs Scholar on Entrepreneurial Management of Pan Atlantic... more

41 Fun Cooperative Games for Kids

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Cooperative Games for Kids

Everyone likes to win at games, especially young children who might have not yet learned to take minor losses in stride. Of course, when it comes to most games, victory and defeat are twin sides of the same coin, which can create thorny situations for teachers and parents. Fortunately, there’s an increasing number of easy and diverting solutions to this conundrum: cooperative games.

In these games, the players work together as a group to achieve a common goal, rather than playing against each other. While victory is still not guaranteed, a cooperative game will ensure that each participant can have a great time from beginning to end. As a bonus, it’s never too early to teach children about the importance of teamwork, and games provide a fun backdrop to the lesson. Some of these games can even double as trust-building activities for adults in the workplace. In addition, participation in these games may even help antisocial or aggressive children become more calm and relaxed in a school setting.

To help you get started, here’s a list of popular cooperative games that are both fun and simple to learn. All of them are suitable for grade-school aged children (some younger than others).

Cooperative Games for PE

1. Smaug’s Jewels
This game (based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit) invites players to steal the “dragon’s” jewels and make it back to their base without being captured.First, use cones or other stationary markers to create a circle, and place one player at each marker. Place a Nerf football (or any soft object) in the center of the circle. Choose one player to serve as “Smaug” (the dragon), and assign a number to each remaining player to divide them into teams (1, 2, or 3).

To begin play, call a team’s number. This team will have to work together in an attempt to take “Smaug’s Jewel” and return safely to their base. If Smaug manages to tag any of the players before they get back to their base, that team’s turn ends. When a team manages to steal the jewel, it’s time to select a different player to act as Smaug.

2. Iceberg
If you’re looking for cooperative games for PE for students in the lower grades (K-2), this is a suitable option.First, split students into teams of 4 (or 6, depending on the size of the class and the number of playing surfaces you have on hand). Give each team a playing surface (old sheets and tablecloths are preferred). Have each team lay out their playing surface on the floor.

When you’re ready to begin play, blow a whistle or clap your hands to alert all players to stand on their team’s playing surface. The area beyond the boundaries of the sheet are off-limits. Once every player is on the sheet, have them move off and fold the sheet in half, repeating this process until the sheet is too small for the entire team to stand on.

3. Space Race
The objective of this game is to collect enough “fuel sources” (bean bags) and return them to the “tanks” (small hoops or poly spots) without touching the area outside the “spaceships” (hula hoops).Divide players up into teams of four to six, depending on group size. Scatter a total of five bean bags for each team across the playing surface. Assign each team a “home base” with five fuel tanks apiece.

Players can begin in either the center of the playing surface, or at their team’s home base. To move across the playing surface, players must formulate a path using the hula hoops (three per team works well), gathering all team members within these safe spaces. A hoop can be moved only when there are no players currently inside it.

Once the fuel sources have been collected, they must be placed on the tanks. Tossing the bean bags is not allowed—the players must physically return to their home base.

4. Caterpillar
Note that players should be comfortable doing a forward roll before attempting this activity.If you like, divide players into two teams (it’s fine to keep them in a single line instead). Line up each team, single file, and have each player pass their right hand through their own legs before reaching out their left hands to take the right hand of the person in front of them. The player in front will still have a free left hand, while the rear player has a free right hand.

Once this is done, have the first player perform a forward roll, without relinquishing the next player’s hand. Once this player has completed his or her roll, have them sit cross-legged as the line works together to move forward. Each subsequent player will repeat the forward roll, also sitting cross-legged when finished. The goal is to move through the entire line without breaking the chain.

5. Rope Circle
Divide players into groups of two. Have one partner tie a jump rope loosely around their own wrists (one end on the right wrist, one on the left). Next, have the second partner tie a second jump rope around their own left wrist, then thread the other end of rope through their partner’s “circle.” Finally, the free end should be tied to the second player’s right wrist. The players should then attempt to separate from one another without untying the ropes or freeing themselves from their own circles. It’s up to the supervisor to make sure that the ropes aren’t being tied too tightly.

6. Ball Builders
Divide players into groups of two or three. Assign one player on each team to be the holder, and the rest to be the builders. The objective is to see how many tennis balls the holder can hold on to at one time, without using their pockets or any other article of clothing. Additionally, the balls cannot be touching anything aside from each other and the holder, and must be held for at least 10 seconds. Players are welcome to switch roles after a few attempts.

7. Crossing the River
This game can be played with groups of two to five participants, depending on age group. The smaller the group, the more challenging the game becomes.The objective is to move your entire group across the “river,” or playing surface (this can be as wide as you like, but 20-30 feet is standard). To do this, players should line up beside each other, their feet touching their closest neighbors’. In order to cross, they must move as a group without breaking this contact. If a player’s feet loses contact with any other player’s, the entire team has to return to the starting line.

8. Shipwrecked
Divide players into teams of eight to 10 students apiece, and assign a large hoop to each team. This hoop will act as their “spaceship.” Blow a whistle to signify the beginning of play, at which time the players will begin racing with their ship toward the finish line. Note that all team members must be touching the ship at all times during this portion of play.When you call out “Shipwrecked,” the players all must set their ship down and attempt to get within the circle. The first team to get every player on board earns one point, and the first team to cross the finish line earns two points. The team with the most points is the winner of that particular “voyage.”

9. Knots
To play this game, divide players into teams of six, and have each team form a circle. Instruct players to hold hands with two others (they can’t hold both hands of the same player), making sure that no one’s hands are joined with their closest neighbors’.Once this is done, blow a whistle to signal that it’s time for the “knot” to begin unraveling. All hands must remain joined until the team is standing in a circle, or in two intertwined circles.

10. Frenzy
This is a fun way for students to let out pent-up energy on a rainy day. Invite players to scatter across the playing area (the gymnasium is the preferred venue). Next, toss out as many balls (or balloons) as there are players. The participants will then attempt to keep the balls (known here as “rabid nuggets”) in constant movement.

Instructors should stand at either end of the gym to keep an eye out for “hectics,” or balls that stop moving. Once you’ve spotted one, yell out “HECTIC!” and point to the offending object. Players are then given a set period of time (say, five seconds) to get the hectic moving again.

Once five hectics have been spotted, the “frenzy” is over. Time each frenzy to see how long the players are able to make one last. To keep things more interesting, toss another rabid nugget into the fray every 10 seconds or so.

11. Group Juggle
Even students who aren’t skilled at juggling on their own can be successful at this cooperative activity.To begin, split the class into teams of at least 5 (try to stick with odd-numbered teams). Have all players form a circle, facing one another. One player should then be given a ball, which he will throw to any team member who isn’t standing directly to his right or left. The next player repeats this step, and so on and so forth, until the ball returns to the starting player. Once this happens, have the players attempt to pass the ball in the same sequence as before. Once a rhythm has been established, continue by adding more balls to the circle.

12. Birds of a Feather
In advance, make up a series of index cards printed with the names of various animals (two for each animal you choose). Be sure that each creature has a distinctive sound that children will likely be familiar with.To play, have each student draw a card from the pile. Turn them loose in a safe playing field, encouraging them to keep their eyes closed during play. Have them imitate their designated animal, repeating the sounds until they locate the student who shares the same animal. Once this happens, the pair is welcome to open their eyes. The game is over when all of the pairs have been matched up.

13. Amoeba Advance
This game requires splitting the class up into two equal teams. Once you’ve done that, invite half the team to form a circle by joining their elbows, and have the rest of the team wedge themselves inside the circle.When both teams have formed their makeshift amoebas, blow a whistle to signify the start of play. The teams will then attempt to make it to the finish line without breaking up the group. If the amoeba should dissolve during the attempt, the team must repair itself before it can move forward.

14. Magnificent Marbles
In advance, designate a large circle to serve as the giant marble ring. Place three or four partially deflated beach balls and an equal number of smaller targets (like multicolored poly spots) within the playing circle.To begin play, have ready a supply of bean bags. Invite participants to stand outside the circle and use the bean bags to nudge the balls as close to the smaller target areas as possible. Players are not permitted inside the playing circle; if a bean bag gets stuck inside, they may attempt to retrieve it only by throwing another bean bag in to try and knock it out.

15. Dry Marco Polo
This activity is a good one to use as an icebreaker on the first day of gym class. It bears a resemblance to Birds of a Feather, only students are given a larger role in the setup.Divide students into pairs. Each group must then choose either a compound word or a group of words that work together in some way (i.e., “suit” and “case” or “cheese” and “whiz”). The relationship between the two words doesn’t really matter, as long as both partners agree on which ones to use. One player should be assigned one word, with their partner taking on the other.

Invite each team to share their chosen words with the rest of the class. Not only does this provide the group with a fun sharing activity, it will help to ensure that each word pairing is unique.

Next, have the students scatter to various areas within a safe playing field. Ask them to close their eyes (or use blindfolds if necessary). Blow a whistle to signify the start of play, at which time the players should begin calling out their assigned words. Once the partners have found one another, they’re invited to open their eyes (or remove their blindfolds) and watch the rest of the group.

Cooperative Board Games for Kids

16. Mmm!
The object of this game, in which the players are represented by a group of mice, is to “finish” all the food in the pantry before the hungry cat breaks up the party. There are three six-sided dice, all printed with five different types of food and one X; and a playing surface, featuring the same food images and, of course, the cat.

On a single player’s turn, he or she will roll all three dice. If all three are X’s, the cat moves one step closer to the pantry, and the player’s turn is over. If the dice turn up any food images, the player must place at least one die on the corresponding food square located on the board. They may then choose to re-roll the remaining dice in an attempt to “finish” the chosen food. If they are unable to do so on their subsequent roll, the player’s turn ends with the cat moving one step closer. The player is permitted to go on rolling the dice for as long as he or she is able to place at least one die on the board.

If the cat reaches the pantry while there’s still unfinished food on the board, the game has been lost. If, however, the team manages to finish all the food, then they’ve won. The reverse side of the playing surface offers a more challenging version of the same principle.

17. Stack Up!
As cooperative board games go, this one is as simple as it gets. During play, players take turns spinning a color-coded dial and stacking blocks of the corresponding color. The objective is to stack twelve blocks without landing on the “Stack Smasher” when the dial is spun.The dial also contains challenges to make the game more interesting—for example, players might have to stack while singing “Happy Birthday. ” There are three levels of difficulty, so if the game becomes too dull for young players, they’re welcome to ramp it up.

18. Race to the Treasure
Like Candy Land, Race to the Treasure requires no reading, and the rules are easy enough for toddlers to follow. Players take turns drawing tiles from a sack, indicating either a section of a path or a picture of the dreaded Ogre who guards the treasure.The objective is to make a path to the three keys that will unlock the treasure, before forging a path to the final goal: the treasure itself. Meanwhile, each Ogre tile will move him closer to the prize. If he gets there first, the team loses. If they reach the treasure before the Ogre does, they win.

19. Hoot Owl Hoot!
The concept between Hoot Owl Hoot! is that it’s nighttime, and all the owls are out on the hunt. The objective is to get them all safely back to the nest before sunrise.To begin, a token representing the sun is placed on its corresponding track, while three owls are placed on a track of their own. Each player then receives three cards, which will be placed face up in front of them.

The deck includes 50 cards, 36 of which represent colors, and 14 of which represent the sun. When a player receives a sun card, they must use it to move the sun token forward one space on the board, after which they discard the sun card. If a player has all color cards on their turn, they must discard one and move one of the owls to the first available open space in the corresponding color. If one of the owls surpasses another owl on the board, the players all make a hooting sound to cheer it on. If all of the owls have made it back to the nest before the sun completes its track, then the team wins!

To make the game more challenging, add more owls to the board at the start of play (the game includes six owls total).

20. Pandemic
The concept behind this popular game is compelling, if somewhat frightening to children under the age of eight: Your team is tasked with fighting a series of dangerous viruses that are spreading across the world. Players must travel to different areas of the globe to offer treatment to those infected, and also to build research stations in the attempt to find cures for the various diseases. Two decks of cards (one benign, one “Epidemic!”) control the courses of the viruses, and participants must work together to coordinate a successful plan.

21. Feed the Woozle
Instead of working against a common enemy, participants in this lighthearted adventure are trying to keep the mythical “Woozle” fed so he won’t go hungry.Players are invited to feed the Woozle the number of snacks that appears on the die during their turn. To make play more challenging, they’re also tasked with making sure the snacks remain on the spoon during transfer (he won’t eat them otherwise, and they won’t count towards the total). Once he’s been fed, the player takes a “yummy card” from the stack to indicate how many treats he’s gotten so far.

The next player then repeats the process, until all the snacks are gone. If the Woozle has gotten 12, then the team wins; if not, the beast remains hungry until the next round of play.

22. Ghost Fightin’ Treasure Hunters
This game is similar to Race to the Treasure!, but the setup is slightly different. Participants join forces in an attempt to recover treasure from a haunted house before the place becomes overrun by ghouls. Along the way, they have to evade these same ghouls through a combination of wit, teamwork, and skill.

23. Flashpoint Fire Rescue
In Flashpoint Fire Rescue, players are trying to save a city from the threat of a spreading fire. The team is outfitted with basic equipment, and tasked with rescuing a number of civilians from the burning buildings. As the fire spreads, pathways to the victims may become blocked, making the task that much more difficult.There are two skill levels for Flashpoint Fire Rescue: basic and advanced. When playing with very young children, you might want to tone down the intensity of the threat, even though it’s make-believe to begin with. For example, if you fail to save the building, you can explain that a rival team managed to save the people inside instead.

24. Harvest Time
This one is geared toward very young children—even preschoolers can get in on the fun. The playing surface is a basic board, depicting a farmhouse surrounded by acres of crops, along with various homegrown vegetables The object is to gather the entire harvest before winter sets in and destroys the crops. Families who live in rural areas may appreciate this one the most, as it teaches valuable life skills that are bound to come in handy later.

25. Granny’s House
Another game aimed at the preschool set, this one inviting the tykes to set out on an adventure to Granny’s House while encountering a number of troublesome obstacles along the way.The board is reminiscent of old favorites like Candy Land and Chutes and Ladders, with its depictions of varicolored symbols that make up the path to the titular destination. Play is picture-based, so reading comprehension isn’t a necessary prerequisite.

26. Stone Soup
This cheerily designed game is similar to Memory in nature, as players have to locate matching cards in order to add a variety of ingredients to the soup pot. Unlike the traditional rules of Memory, however, the players aren’t trying to amass the greatest number of pairs, but to keep the soup cooking for as long as the fire keeps burning. If the designated number of ingredients hasn’t been added by the time the fire goes out under the kettle, the game is over and the family goes hungry.

27. Mermaid Island
In this fantastical, nautical outing, players try to get the mermaids back to their home base before the evil Sea Witch can swoop in to destroy them. Oftentimes, a single move might endanger the others, so participants must remain aware if they want to get the whole group (fleet?) home safely. Obviously, this is an appealing option for the girls in the group, but there’s no reason why boys shouldn’t enjoy it too.

28. The Secret Door
Sleuths-in-training will want to play this game again and again, as participants attempt to locate a number of valuable objects within a deserted mansion. To do this, they’ll take turns flipping cards from a deck to look for two that match—but if they turn over twelve clock cards before they locate all the treasures, the game is over. Should they find all of the hidden objects, they’re then invited to figure out which three cards were hidden from the deck at the start of play.

29. Lion In My Way
In addition to providing youngsters with a cooperative activity, Lion In My Way often inspires creative storytelling as well. The object is to get from one end of the board to the other, all while encountering the likes of hungry lions, barren deserts, and a number of other increasingly peculiar obstacles. A set of tool cards aids players in their efforts to defeat these roadblocks.

30. Outfoxed!
This foxy outing serves as a good forerunner to Clue, or any other detective-themed game. The story goes that a mysterious thief has made off with Mrs. Plumpert’s pie. Players must follow clues to determine which of the sly foxes is the culprit before he can make it safely to the other side of the board.To play, participants may choose whether to either search for clues or reveal possible suspects on their respective turns. Should the player be unsuccessful in turning up their desired action when they roll the dice, the fox moves ahead three spaces on the board. If they succeed in winning the opportunity to take action, they’ll either use the suspect cards to gather new information, or move their own playing piece across the board to search for clues. As play progresses, the players will be able to narrow down the list of suspects, based on the information they’ve gathered.

If the fox token makes it all the way to the end of the board and the players haven’t named a suspect, the game is over and the detectives lose. Likewise if the players accuse a suspect who turns out to be innocent. However, if the correct culprit is named, the detectives win.

For more information on the rules of Outfoxed! and other board games like it, check out the Board Game Geek website.

Cooperative Games for the Classroom

31. Balloon Bop
Remember playing a game of catch and trying to see how many passes you could make without allowing the ball to hit the ground? This game has a similar objective, but it utilizes a balloon (or multiple balloons) and a larger group of people.

To begin the teacher should invite children to form a loose circle by holding hands. Continue by dropping a balloon (not helium-filled) into the middle of the circle, and ask students to count how many times they can “bop” it back into the air without breaking the circle. To do this, the students may use any part of their body except for their feet (knees are acceptable). The game is over when the balloon touches the floor or a student’s foot, or if any student lets go of their neighbor’s hand.

This game is better suited to children at the upper grade-school level (say, third grade and up). To make it more challenging, add a second or third balloon.

32. Zoom
This is a fun, interactive classroom game that takes the concepts of loss and victory right out of the equation. Instead, students are seated in a circle, and each one is handed a simple photograph. The images don’t really matter, but try to keep them as basic as possible.To play, invite one of the students to begin telling a story, based on the image that he or she is holding. After one minute, say “freeze” and move on to the next student, who will then continue the story based on his or her own photograph, and so on. The greatest challenges will lie with the first student, who’ll need to create a solid introduction; and the last one, who’s responsible for the conclusion.

33. Humpty Dumpty
Older grade school students are the best participants for this activity, which should only be attempted in an uncarpeted area. To begin, divide students into groups of four or five. Supply each team with a raw egg, and task them with creating a situation in which the egg will not break when dropped from a certain height (say, six feet). Teams are then free to make use of whatever objects in the classroom might be helpful in achieving their goal. After a set time period, ask the teams to demonstrate their work.

Earlier versions of this game supplied each team with a box of plastic straws, with which they would then build a cushioning device. However, as single-use plastics fall further out of favor, it’s better to encourage students to work with the items they have on hand.

34. Balancing the Hula Hoop
The object of this game sounds straightforward: Teams of four or five work together to lower a hula hoop from about nose-height to the floor, using only the very tips of their fingers. As your students will come to learn, however, it’s much more difficult than it looks.

35. Hula Hoop Hustle
If you still have those hula hoops and the students are bored with the balancing game, consolidate them into larger groups of about 10. Have each team form a circle by holding hands, with a single hula hoop in between two of them. Challenge them to move the hula hoop in a complete revolution without breaking the circle. They may do this by maneuvering the hoop over their heads, under their feet, or by whatever means they can come up with, as long as they don’t let go of one another’s hands.

36. Eye Contact
Eye Contact provides an excellent way to foster nonverbal communication skills.To play, choose 10 students for the first round (the others can watch in the meantime). Choose a single student to act as “Player One,” and designate a “Go” signal (such as winking or making an “O” shape with your mouth). Player One should then attempt to make eye contact with another participant. When they’ve succeeded, they should give the “go” signal, at which time the second player takes Player One’s place in the circle to repeat the same process with another participant.

No verbal communication or hand signals are allowed during play. If a player breaks this rule, he or she is disqualified, and their place is taken by one of the observers. Once everyone in the round has made eye contact and give up their place in the circle, switch teams until all the observers have had a chance to play as well.

Cooperative Card Games

37. Spaceteam
In this game (recommended for older children, ages 10 and up), players are tasked with repairing a damaged spacecraft while dodging asteroids and wormholes along the way. To ramp up the challenge, they also must reveal six “System-Go” cards inside the time limit, or all of their work has been for nothing.

38. Hanabi
Hanabi can be played with as few as two participants, but it gets more interesting when more players are added (up to five). The unique concept invites participants to orchestrate a fireworks show, utilizing a series of numbered cards. If the display is finished before the pile of cards runs out, the team wins. Play is fairly fast-paced—a single game can be played in about half an hour—and is suitable for ages eight and up. The playing kit also includes a “rainbow” set of cards to make things more challenging, once your team has mastered the basic game.

39. Shamus
This is a two-player cooperative card game, and one of the few to utilize a standard deck of playing cards. A cross between Uno and Rummy, the rules are not difficult to follow, but they are somewhat lengthy to explain—a complete breakdown can be found here. Essentially, both players (one following the rules of Rummy, the other playing a solo game of Uno) must achieve the goals of their respective games before the “Circle of Shamus” (a ring consisting of 10 cards) has been depleted. It’s addictive, and a good choice for families with smaller households.

40. 5-Minute Marvel
For superhero fans, this game is a must-try. Each player assumes the role of a different superhero as a five-minute timer is set. During play, the cards keep turning up new threats in the form of increasingly powerful bad guys. The objective is to work together to defeat all the villains before the time is up.

41. Cahoots
This cooperative card game is like a fancier take on Go Fish, except the players are working together (“in cahoots”). In order to win the round, the team has to match all of their cards by either color or number before the time clock runs out. Play is fast-paced and easy to follow, even for younger participants.

There you have it, 41 fun cooperative games for kids. Make sure you check out our competition games as well as our kids team names.

What are cooperative games and how they develop your child's brain

Board games are a great way to have fun with the whole family. And this is not just entertainment: such games train the reaction of the child, help him make decisions quickly and make his brain work. Among all board games, cooperative ones stand out - those in which participants do not compete with each other, but play against the game itself. Together with the Prostoye Rules publishing house, we have compiled a selection of cooperative games that your child will be delighted with.

Daria Ermakova, director of the design studio of board games "Simple Rules"

Cooperative games teach to communicate and negotiate. With peers and older children, even with parents. Children begin to think broader, going beyond personal interests. So small and independent, they are aware of the need for communication. And most importantly, team leisure is gaining popularity: sports, board games, games. After all, with their help, one can approach the solution of the eternal problem: should children succumb or let them get used to defeat?

If you want to teach them to listen to the opinions of more experienced people, do not forget that there is a much wiser way - to try to solve the problem together. It's also just great when you can ask a team player for help.

Karkusha: Little Garden Board Game (3+)

A simple and cute game from the German company HABA for the little ones, in which the players collect fruits from trees. It's very hard to lose! Karkusha climbed into the garden, and on the way to her nest she wants to pick more juicy fruits. The task of the players is to get ahead of Karkusha and prevent her from devastating the garden!

Wonderpony board game (4+)

This children's game is not only about ponies, but also about true friendship. The task of the players is to move the ponies into the corral before the fence closes. Participants will have to join forces, negotiate, share for free and learn to work in a team in order to achieve the common good - victory in the game.

Crafty Fox Board Game (5+)

Developed by the American game studio Gamewright, players have to become detectives and solve a complicated case in this game. The fox has stolen the pie and is running away with it into his hole. The kidnapper must be identified. There are cards with suspects, each has its own signs - someone wears a hat, someone wears pince-nez, someone has a flower. The team must remove suspicion from the innocent and uncover the identity of the Sly Fox before he can cross the field and finally sneak out.

Bandito board game (6+)

Another exciting game for young detectives. The bandit is on the alert and wants to run away. The participants of the game need to join forces to stop him before the cards in the deck run out. If at least one loophole remains by this moment, then the bandit was able to escape - and left everyone with a nose. And if the players managed to block all his paths, then they won the game!

Forbidden Island Board Game (8+)

Gamewright's players will turn into adventurers and go to a distant island that is rapidly sinking into the water. Task: collect four magical artifacts and have time to fly away by helicopter until the island is flooded.

How useful are board games in general and cooperative games in particular for your children? Let's ask a specialist.

Irina Katin-Yartseva, clinical psychologist, game therapist

Board games are a popular type of children's and family leisure, especially now, when children play little yard games, and parents are too tired to invent game plots. This is not only a pleasant pastime together: they greatly contribute to the cognitive development of the child, motivation for learning, the functions of perception, memory, thinking, voluntary attention and control, they teach to respect boundaries and rules. Board games can help to learn skills such as counting, recognizing objects, colors, symbols, they develop categorization, imagination and symbolization - the ability to use substitute symbols for objects (cards, chips), on the basis of which reading and writing are built. It is not for nothing that board games have become an integral tool for the work of neuropsychologists and speech therapists and are actively used in school preparation programs.

In addition, joint games bring parents and children closer, harmonize their relationship, uniting them around joint activities.

Among board games, a separate category stands out - cooperative games, where participants play together against the field and must cooperate efforts. They are distinguished by the absence of a competitive moment and help out families with pronounced rivalry of brothers and sisters, as well as children with unstable self-esteem, who are having a hard time losing to an opponent.

What do children get emotionally from this game?

  • Contact with peers or family.
  • Feeling of involvement in a joint process, a sense of responsibility for the overall success.
  • Skills of interaction, cooperation, mutual assistance.
  • Joy and pleasure, as well as the opportunity to let off steam, to live in the game those emotions (excitement, anger, triumph, magical power) that cannot be realized in life.

Such games are especially important in the lives of children who are sensitive to evaluation, experiencing difficulties in relationships with family members.

An entertaining co-op game with a vivid story that is not only interesting, but also useful. It's also a great way to have fun with the whole family!

H also read:

These 7 games will make your walk even more useful

5 cool board games that can be played by the whole family

Children and computer games: for 900 Alexandrov2 and against

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Sea of ​​Thieves - the best co-op experience that has yet to be released - carrysh2ft on DTF

Perhaps the most relaxing game in the last few years.

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Initially, I decided for myself that Sea of ​​Thieves is perfectly balanced emotionally. It can be both meditative, exciting and fun at the same time. But literally 2 years ago, no one could have thought that the game would acquire such an amount of content that is now, and this is not even the end. The developers promise to bring the same mountain of content in 2021, if not more, which is good news.

I stopped playing Sea of ​​Thieves a year ago because my friends moved on to other games and it's not fun to swim alone. That's when I didn't really pay much attention to the co-op component of the game, but when I returned for the New Year's weekend, I suddenly realized that the "sea of ​​​​thieves" is the best co-op experience that has been created in the last ten years, and maybe more.

Teamwork as the meaning of life

The biggest advantage of co-op in the game is its real interaction between players. Without interaction, communication and coordination, nothing will come of it and your ship will look like a floating log with four pirates on board.

It is this aspect that distinguishes Sea of ​​Thieves from many cooperative games. If in other projects the cooperative is an optional function, then in thieves it is mandatory. Team coherence is important here, each player in the squad must be responsible for a certain section of the ship: repair, captain, gunner and the one who flies to board. And everyone must report on their step, otherwise all plans that have arisen earlier may simply collapse.

Without team interaction, your team will be like a group in kindergarten when they are allowed to go outside. Everyone runs around, does not know what to do, tries to captivate himself, because of which confusion occurs, the same situation will occur on the ship. When I first returned to the game with my friends, our ship was a floating target that could be smashed to smithereens in a couple of volleys, and only after 10-15 hours we agreed to distribute the roles among ourselves and things went uphill.

Community

Just recently, I could not imagine that the opinion of the community of this game could change. Two years ago, when I first launched the game, the players seemed to me to be as toxic and unfriendly as possible towards more loyal pirates. And either the community as a whole has changed during this time, or I didn’t notice it before.

Now almost every ship is trying to help clean up difficult events on the map, trying to establish a dialogue, sign a "non-aggression pact", and many PvP players now put emissaries of a faction based on attacks, so you can immediately understand who is a friend, and who is the enemy.

And of course, the game still has those very silent fights, when a volley is fired without warning, but according to my feelings there are much fewer of them, and the fights have become more conscious, since the project has acquired a lot of content, and everyone is busy doing this content, not fights at sea. To be honest, we also attacked players without warning while they were anchored near the island, but without this, nowhere. You need some sense of victory, at least sometimes.

Also, the Soyuz flag has become a more conscious decision when a couple of PvP ships terrify one server. Just recently we teamed up with two galleons, they were the French and the British, and the most amusing thing was that the PvP players were either from Portugal or from Spain. And where else can you find such a thing, so that the British, French and Russians unite in an alliance against the Spaniards?

Content

The release of the game did not go smoothly, unfortunately. From the very beginning, there was nothing to do in the game except to arrange battles on the water, and many at that moment were crippled by this, since the players expected, obviously, a little different. And over time, the game has acquired a bunch of different content and activities.

Dangerous skeleton forts, an armada of dead ships, a tornado of the ash lords, an armada of the ash pirate, sunken ships with special chests that can only be sold to a certain faction, as well as a special ghost fort that is located in the fog and is activated by a special ritual skull. And that's not to mention the kraken, megalodon and randomly appearing ghost ships from under the water.

There are also factions that have their own tasks, their own reputation, cosmetics, etc. Tasks are divided into 3 trips: extraction of skulls, search for treasure and delivery of goods. There are 3 additional factions: Fisherman Faction, Dead Man's Bones (PvPvE) and Hunters (PvP). And they don't care how you bring them loot, whether through quests, world events, killing players, or accidentally finding them in the sea.

The game has its own lore, story quests and overall narrative with the addition of Tall Tales. Initially, it seems that these are ordinary quests for a change, but over time you realize that they are interconnected, that the latest world events are connected by a plot, and in the last tasks of Tall Tales there is even a cliffhanger for future quests. And this is really pleasing, despite the fact that the developers are already working on a new Everwild game, they do not abandon Sea of ​​Thieves, but only continue to develop with even greater intensity.

The different dangers and complexity of the islands also make it important to explore the map. There are 4 "regions" in the game: ancient islands, shores of abundance, wild lands and ash islands. Depending on the region, the reward that players will receive in their pocket will vary. Volcanoes constantly explode on the ash islands, so I do not advise you to climb there if you are a beginner.

Plans for the future

The developers decided to change the update model and introduce seasons. The year will have 4 seasons of 3 months each, each with its own battle pass with unique rewards, as well as content, apparently, for the travel mode, and not for the arena. Previously, content was released every month and added various activities and tasks to the game to improve the reputation.

In general, it's a good idea to release one large piece of content every 3 months, instead of small ones and once a month. The only question is what will be the battle pass and how it will swing.

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