Can You Cooperate?

(Team Cooperation Challenges)

This activity uses previously learned fundamental skills in a variety of cooperative challenges. Students work together in teams to communicate and complete a small task that uses skills they have learned and practiced earlier in the year.

Procedure:

1. Share with students that they will continue to use skills to try to challenge themselves.
2. Explain that they will use their skills to try to complete a challenge by cooperating with their team.
3. Review with students that cooperation takes best effort by each partner and the use of talking/listening skills (communication).
4. Explain that you will give them a cooperation challenge to try together, and they will have 2 minutes to cooperate and practice the challenge.
5. Share/show team challenges and allow two minutes for practice/completion of each challenge.
6. Possible Challenge Ideas to Explore:
   • Snake Jog (Can your team stand in a straight line, then follow your leader to jog together, staying behind one another at the same speed, changing directions 3 times, without bumping into one another?)
   • Over/Under Ball Pass (Can your team stand in a straight line, an arm’s length behind the person in front of you, and pass a ball backwards in an over the head-through the legs-over the head-through the legs- pattern, without dropping the ball?)
   • Through the Hoop (Can you and your teammates stand in a line facing sideways and grip hands, then pass a hula hoop from one end of the line to the other without un-gripping hands?)
   • Circle Sit to Stand (Can your team site down in a circle, grip hands, and stand up without letting any hands touch the ground?)

Transition:

Ask students to create a team hand-pile with each teammate putting their favorite hand extended to the center of their team circle. Ask them to complete a team chant, saying together, Let’s Go Team!