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Ideas for Co-Op Preschool Activities

Co-op games, also called cooperative games, help children learn the values of sharing, working together and building social skills. When planning activities for a group of preschoolers, you can create a few cooperative activities the children will enjoy playing. Encourage the preschoolers to try their best by awarding prizes to all activity participants. Some game ideas and a few inexpensive supplies are all you need to plan co-op activities for preschoolers.

Movement Activities
- Teach the preschoolers how to follow movement by having them all stand up and spread out. Stand in front of the children and do various movements, such as hop on one foot, touch your nose, spin in circles and wave your hands in the air. Tell the preschoolers to repeat your movement. After they get the hang of it, allow each preschooler a chance to go to the front of the class to do movements the class must follow.
Ball Activities
- For a simple activity, have the children stand in a circle and toss a beach ball to one another. Tell the children to count each time a player catches the ball and see how high they can count until someone drops the ball. Ask the children to keep trying to beat their high score. For another activity, give the preschoolers a large toy parachute and place a small rubber ball on the parachute. Tell them that they must work together to use the parachute to toss the ball in the air without it falling off the parachute. Add more rubber balls to the parachute to increase the difficulty.
Clip Activities
- On a table place several clothespins, hair clips and any clips that open at one end when you squeeze the other end. Tell the children to work together to connect all the clips together. To make it harder for the preschoolers, have them use colored clothespins and tell the children to work together to create a pattern of colors. Be sure to use large clips, as small clips could pose a choking hazard for the young kids. Medium and large plastic rings from your local craft store can be used between the clips and are perfect additions to this activity.
Block Activities
- Divide the preschoolers into two teams and give each team a bag of building blocks. Set a timer for five minutes and tell the kids they must work together to build the tallest tower they can before the timer goes off. When the timer goes off, the team with the tallest standing tower wins the game. If a team's tower falls over, tell them to start building again until time is up. For another block activity, give the preschoolers a bag or two of blocks. Tell them to all work together to create one large, although not necessarily high, structure.

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