Teamwork is an essential part of accomplishing our responsibilities and goals. Truthfully, nothing would ever get done without teamwork. When we work together, we can get things done faster and more accurately. It’s an important life skill that parents can teach their children from a young age to help them succeed. Every child has different strengths and skills, and allowing children to practice teamwork gives them a chance to develop and appreciate their special talents. Here are five different ways that parents can guide their children to build teamwork at home:
Play Team-Building Games
One of the most engaging ways to build teamwork at home is by playing games as a family. There are countless indoor activities that parents can enjoy with their kids while creating a team-oriented atmosphere at home. Consider playing indoor games like Pictionary and Charades, or finishing puzzles and building with Legos. These indoor team-building activities are easy to create and encourage everyone in the family to work together.
There are also plenty of outdoor activities that parents can enjoy with their children to build teamwork at home. Consider creating a scavenger hunt that invites your entire family to work together to find special items outside like plants and animals, or take pictures with specific items in your local community. If your family enjoys a little competition, consider forming teams to complete the outdoor scavenger hunt. There are other outdoor games like the Human Knot, egg-and-spoon relay race or Dodge the Object, which encourage teamwork and trust. These activities not only invite children to enjoy the outdoors, they help them learn how to work with their family to achieve success. We strongly encourage parents to guide and support their children while playing team-building games to help them stay safe and understand the importance of teamwork.
Volunteer
Volunteering in your local community is a great team-building activity for the entire family. Consider volunteering as a family in your community with a local charity group. Then, set a goal for your volunteer work. Maybe your goal is to collect two pounds of litter from your local park. Or, maybe your goal is to read aloud to at least five elderly adults living in a local nursing home. Invite your children to be part of determining the volunteering goal for your family. While volunteering, you can all work on the same tasks, or you can assign different tasks to each person. Assigning separate tasks can help children develop a sense of responsibility and accountability, which are important life skills. During the volunteering experience, parents can explain to their children the importance of working together as a family, and as a team to achieve a common goal. When the volunteer work is over, consider spending some time as a family reflecting on your goal. Did you achieve your goal? Regardless of the outcome, volunteering is a great way to create a sense of teamwork and spark discussions about the importance of teamwork.
Create a Schedule for Chores
Chores are one of the more traditional, yet productive ways to create a sense of teamwork at home. Parents can create a chore schedule and assign a separate set of chores to each of their scholars to help get things done around the house. The schedule and set of assigned chores can help give each child a sense of responsibility and accountability. It’s the perfect time for parents to discuss the value of working together to achieve a common goal – a clean home. Parents can even find ways to make chores fun with incentives like an allowance or prize tickets. Chores are an easy way for parents to help their children understand the value of teamwork and enjoy a clean house!
Read About Teamwork
As we have mentioned before, reading aloud with your children is an important part of their development. This month, consider reading books about teamwork with your scholars. Listed below are a few children’s books that focus on teamwork:
- “Game Time!” by Stuart J. Murphy
- “Pumpkin Soup” by Helen Cooper
- “The Enormous Potato” by Aubrey Davis
- “Going Places” by Paul Reynolds and Peter H. Reynolds
- “Yes We Can!” by Sam McBratney
- “The Maze Runner” by James Dashner
- “Dream Team” by Jack McCallum
After reading about teamwork, parents can ask their children to explain why they think teamwork is important. Consider asking your children to share how they can work as a team with others to accomplish goals. Maybe they can work with other scholars to finish a class project? Or, maybe they can work with their family to finish building a puzzle. The opportunities for teamwork at home are endless! Regardless of the team-building activity that parents choose, children will learn how to work well with others and understand the value and importance of teamwork.
Talk About It
Similar to the benefits of reading stories to teach about teamwork, hearing personal stories of teamwork from parents can be equally, if not more, valuable. When parents share stories with their children about when and how they experienced teamwork, it provides children the opportunity to learn about teamwork through someone they know, their mom or dad. They look for stories that help them to make sense of their own experiences and since you’ve been there before, your experiences are a perfect source. Telling these stories are just one way to talk about teamwork with the family. Simply bringing to light how teamwork works when it shows itself in the day to day (normalcy?) of your families interactions is another great way to teach teamwork within your family. Talking about teamwork as you are working on chores together or while playing games together or while watching a movie where teamwork occurs are great opportunities for learning.
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Compass Charter Schools (CCS) is a WASC-accredited virtual charter school that serves families throughout California. Interested in learning more about CCS’ flexible academic programs? Visit our website, or contact our enrollment team at enrollment@compasscharters.org or (877) 506-8631.