Also, many cooperative games can lead to one team member going rogue or taking over (a.k.a. But not with Pandemic, the obvious need for teamwork is one reason why it is consistently a top rated and award winning cooperative board game. The game is popular for other reasons, too. Our favorite cooperative multiplayer games that let you play together online no matter what system you own—PS4, Xbox One, PC, or the Nintendo Switch. Players coordinate their actions to achieve a common win condition or conditions. Players all win or lose the game together. Microbadges Cooperative Games fan Cooperative Games fan.

Does your toddler cry and throw a tantrum after every game?

Are you frightened of starting a game with your child because you are worried that it will end in lots and lots of tears?

Do you believe that your toddler is not a good sport or a sore loser? And does that embarrass you?

Then you must understand that the fault is not with your child but with the game that your child is playing

Why do children throw tantrums when they lose at games?

Cooperative Games 2019

They are too young for competition
Children are not ready for competition until they are at least 8 years old. In the early years children are just beginning to develop their sense of self. They are trying to estimate their own worth and estimate their own ability. This is a time when they should be loved and valued only for who they are and not what they do. In a competitive game children feel that they are being evaluated and measured based on their ability to perform and win and that can severely damage their sense of self and self-esteem. Losing in a game is a threat to their self-esteem and they are too young to handle the stress of winning and losing.
They cannot tolerate unfairness
Around the age of 5 children become focused on fairness. They trust their parents and other authority figures and cannot imagine that an adult will ever be unfair or wrong. Unfortunately – most commonly available games like ludo and snakes and ladders are unfair. They are based on luck and do not involve the child’s skill. Young children cannot understand luck and gambling and when they lose – they think it is extremely unfair. When they are playing the game with a parent – they feel that the parent is being unfair and this shakes them up to their core.

What are cooperative games?

Cooperative games have the following features –

Cooperative Games For Preschoolers

Cooperative games are those that focus on the importance of play and fun. In contrast to competitive games they do not compel you to worry about winning or losing.
They create opportunities for children to work together and rejoice when they reach a common goal.
The best cooperative games give children a chance to appreciate each other instead of beating each other.
Toddlers can take break from proving their superiority to build their self-esteem because in the best cooperative games everyone wins – there are no losers.
When children play cooperative games – it gives them the chance to discover that sharing, caring and cooperating helps them build friendly relationships and feel good about themselves regardless of their skills.

30 best cooperative games for toddlers and preschoolers

Things to remember while playing cooperative games

Do not play for too long
Make sure you are not serious. Be silly and fun.

List of 30 Cooperative Games and activities

Build a tower together
Discuss how high the tower should be. What are the best bricks to place at the bottom and why. How making a large base is important for the stability of the tower and so on and so forth.
Play a matching game
For example match the animals with their places in a farm picture. Discuss why the cow and the goat need to be in a grassland and why the ducks need to be in the pond. What they eat – how they move and how that determines where they live.
Build a jigsaw puzzle
Begin by looking carefully at the picture. Then help each other pick out pieces that go with a certain person or a certain object in the picture. Discuss how putting together the corners of the jigsaw – followed by the straight edges can help build the picture more easily. The jigsaw can be left on a table in the house and can be completed over a period of days – teaching persistence and continuity.
Make paper boats
Set a timer and as group work towards making as many paper boats as possible before the timer goes off. The game will require everyone to do a certain folding step in order to move the assembly line along as fast as possible.
Play follow the leader
Start by being the leader yourself. Give 1 instruction like “Touch your toes”. Follow it up by giving 2 instructions – “Touch your toes and clap thrice.” Follow it up with 3 instructions – “Touch your toes – clap thrice – jump twice” Keep adding more instructions. Give instructions faster and faster to follow. Then allow your child to give your child to be the leader. Be silly. Pretend you forgot. Do the wrong things sometimes.
Put on a T-shirt while it is in the air
Take some over sized T-shirts. Throw them up in the air. Try to slip them on before they hit the floor.
Blow bubbles
Take some soap water and a bubble blower. Blow more and more bubbles. Blow bigger and bigger bubbles. Have one person blowing the bubbles and catch as many as you can with your kid.
Keep balloons up in the air
Blow up two or three balloons. Throw them all up in the air. Keep hitting them to keep them afloat. Between the two of you don’t allow the balloons to reach the ground.
Play train – train
Hold on to each other and from a train. Make a chuk chuk sound and go to various destinations in the house to pick up and drop things. You lead first. And then let your child lead.
Gardening
Buy some seeds. Get some potting soil and a pot. Dig up the soil and plant the seeds. Water them. Look at pictures of how the seeds will look like when they become plants. Talk about farming and how farmers grow our food. Also how we should not waste food because it is so difficult to grow.
Fill the bucket
Keep a bucket full of water at one end of the lawn and an empty bucket at the other end of the lawn. Carry mugs of water from the full bucket to fill the empty bucket. For older children soak a sponge in water and have them wring it out into the empty bucket to fill it.
Shadow games
This game can be played on a sunny day when shadows form outside. Or at night with a light. Do silly dances and see what they look like as shadows. Make animal shapes with the fingers and have fun. Try different actions and see how small body parts can be made big and big body parts can be shrunk.
Float and sink
Collect objects from all over the house and gather them in the balcony or the lawn. Take a large bowl of water guess if each object will float or sink. Then put them in the water and see if your guess was right. Then take a pair of tongs used to make rotis and fish out the objects. Repeat the guessing game – this time your child may make more accurate guesses.
Complete the picture
Place a blackboard at one end of the lawn. Each player gets a chalk piece. Each person runs to the blackboard one by one and draws one body part. The game can be extended by adding clothes and hat shoes etc. The sillier the picture – the better it is.
Puppet dance
Make finger puppets by rolling a small piece of paper or a band-aid round your finger and drawing a face and hair on it. Play music and do a silly dance. Have the puppets do individual and group dances.
Talk about the nice things you can do with different parts of your body
Talk about

Why do children throw tantrums when they lose at games?

Cooperative Games 2019

They are too young for competition

They cannot tolerate unfairness

What are cooperative games?

Cooperative Games For Preschoolers

Things to remember while playing cooperative games

List of 30 Cooperative Games and activities

Build a tower together

Play a matching game

Build a jigsaw puzzle

Make paper boats

Play follow the leader

Put on a T-shirt while it is in the air

Blow bubbles

Keep balloons up in the air

Play train – train

Gardening

Fill the bucket

Shadow games

Float and sink

Complete the picture

Puppet dance

Talk about the nice things you can do with different parts of your body