30 Cooperative Games for All Ages

You need a blindfold for this game. The goal is for children to learn to be clear when giving directions. To play the Airplane Game, select one child from your group to be the airplane, one to be the navigator, and the rest of the children are the trees. In a small designated area (the runway) have the trees spread …

Soft nerf like balls or beach balls. Large marshmallows can also be used. The size of the group will determine the number of balls needed. Each group should start with an equal amount of balls. You will need to have a line dividing the two teams. ( a jump rope works great) To be the first team to pass all …

This is a game best played in a large group. We always played it with the 6-10 year olds at our summer camp. Sit all of the children in a circle, with legs crossed. Have all children put their heads down. one person (we always had at least one adult present) would walk around the circle and tap one child …

Everyone sits in a circle, with one person chosen to be IT. IT chooses silently someone they want to try and make smile. The IT looks at that person and says “Baby if you love me, smile.” Then, IT can say or do anything they want (camp appropriate) to make them smile except touch them. The chosen person must say …

Objects Needed: Three Blown Up Balloons Keep the Balloon off the ground without breaking the circle. Campers and counselors form a circle and hold hands. One facilitator throws a balloon into the circle. The group tries to keep the balloon from touching the ground without letting each others’ hands go for as long as possible. Facilitator can set time or …

One person is “it.” Whenever someone is tagged by “it” they must hold a bandaid (their hand) on the spot where they were tagged. Then the game continues. When someone runs out of bandaids, (they get tagged three times), they are frozen until two other people come over to them and “operate.” The two other people need to tag the …

Each person is given the name of an animal with approximately three-five people having the same animal. Spread the group across a field, court, classroom, etc. No one is allowed to tell another which animal he is. At the signal each person makes the noise of the animal that he has been given. The first group to find all of …

Bed Sheet ; Ping Pong Ball The object is to get the ball to fall off of the other teams side, for a point.Form two teams.Each team holds an opposite end of a bed sheet.Place the ping pong in the middle of the sheet.  Instruct teams that they can raise and lower as needed, but remind the players to be careful …

This is a great progressive team building or ice breaker activity to get your group used to working together in a non-physical, non-threatening way.Inform that group that they can not talk from this point forward until you give them permission.Have the group get in a line.Tell them they must, in silence, get in order by height.Once they successfully compete this …

That at least two people know the trick at the beginning of the game. Remember: the selected object is immediately after a named BLACK item!! To figure out how the starters of the game are “psychic.” Within a group, two people claim that they can read minds. One person will leave the group to a place where they cannot see …

Box the Leader is a game that gets set up at one time but played at random times throughout a day. The group should be split into 4 groups. Each group will be challenged to form one side of a box that will be surrounding the game leader. Each side has a name. These are: NORTH whose chant will be …

You will need a cardboard box or crate and fill it with random items found around camp, or items from the art room such as pipe cleaners, rubber bands, cups, paint brushes, stickers, masking tape,and markers. You can also go through lost and found for fum things. To actually make kids work as a team. This can bring the best …

You will need a cardboard box or crate and fill it with random items found around camp, or items from the art room such as pipe cleaners, rubber bands, cups, paint brushes, stickers, masking tape,and markers. You can also go through lost and found for fun things. To actually make kids work as a team. This can bring the best …

Children stand out at the board. The teacher (or another child) then writes the names of 4 different people above the children’s heads. If chalkboard is not available, write names on paper and flash the names to the group. These people may be someone from the children’s school or from a wider base, and can even be animals or inanimate …

Focus and attention Improves concentration. Increases attention Creative ways to solve the problem Team work Co-operation Patience Make them either sit or stand in a circle. Players should keep their eyes opened and tell the numbers from 1-25 The Numbers should be said in the numerical order but the random people should be telling these numbers. Not in the order, …

What do Dead Fish do? Exactly nothing! Explain that the rules are to be the best Dead Fish by being as lifeless as they can. Give them a few seconds to get all the wiggles and laughs out. As soon as you start, walk around and tag people out that are moving or laughing. Allow those that are out to …

Great for a hot day. Played the same as Duck-duck-goose, but instead of touching the heads of those not picked they have a little bit of water from a cup dropped on their head. The person picked gets the rest of the cup poured on their head.

You need a quarter and a group of people Get your team through all the positions that there are first. Select a volunteer from the group. Divide the remainder into two teams. The volunteer is the “flipper” and is given a coin and sits at one end of the teams. Each team then sits on the ground in a straight …

Work with the people next to you to form animals. Arrange your group into a circle with one person, the caller, in the center.This person point someone in the circle and call out “elephant,” “cow, ” or “giraffe.”The person that is pointed at, as well as the person on each side of him/her, become an instant team and will have …

Tell the children to close their eyes. Give each child a card with a picture on it (of an animal, color, shape…etc.) When you say, “go,” the children have to open their eyes and find a person with a matching card. When they find their match they run to a designated area.

Have everyone count the number of letters in their first name. Now ask them to find someone who has the same number of letters. Those two are now partners. If a a person can’t find someone let him/her use another name s/he is called by (i.e., a student named Matthew may use the name Matt and then look for someone …

Everyone sits in a circle. The first person says “One frog”. The next person says “2 eyes”, the third person says “4 legs”, the fourth says “in the puddle”, and the fifth says “ker-plop”. The next person starts over with “2 frogs” and the game continues as follows: 4 eyes, 8 legs, in the puddle, in the puddle, ker-plop, ker-plop. …

Three or four players are chosen to be the ghosts. The rest of the group needs to scatter across the playing space and choose a spot to stand in. All players need to close their eyes. The ghosts will roam about the playing space. They will try to eliminate the others by standing close behind the players for 10 seconds …

You need a least 2 people that know the game. It starts with someone that knows the game and says ‰Û÷I’m going to have a party, do you wanna come? Well, you can only come if you bring me a present‰Û_’ The other person that knows the game will say ‰Û÷Can I come to your party if I bring a‰Û_.’ …