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Family Game Night

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Has your family forgotten about family game night? You remember: pop corn, hot chocolate, and gathering at the kitchen table over a rousing board game. It’s not too late to get back into the game groove. Shop our fine selection of COOPERATIVE board games and everyone wins! www.cooperativegames.com

Teaching Cooperative Skills Through Play

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Cooperation is important in any group endeavor from the family home to the classroom and beyond. Teachers use cooperative learning to teach cooperative skills and it works! Caregivers teach cooperation through modeling and rewards. That works too. But COOPERATIVE PLAY is a fun and effective vehicle for teaching cooperative skills that is often overlooked. The advantage of discovering the joy of cooperation through fun, cooperative play is that learners have an immediate understanding that cooperation FEELS GOOD and keeps group situations running smoothly. Rather than explicitly teaching the benefits of cooperation as lesson material, let kids experience the fun of it. Follow up with reflecting on the cooperative experience together, to solidify the learning. This kind of experiential learning is highly meaningful according to many experiential educators working today.

Whale Watching in Monterey

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We went whale watching in Monterey, CA last Wednesday. We ferried out from shore almost an hour on choppy seas. When we were over a submarine canyon, we lingered for about an hour. During that time, we had about 8 North Pacific Blue Whale sitings. They don’t fluke but we could see their expansive blue-ish backs and the spray from their blow-holes. We had at least 20 Humpback sitings too. My two favorites sights of the day were: seeing a Humpback beat its tale back and forth to communicate with its peers; and seeing a Humpback’s mouth wide open close to the boat. So pink! The skipper said there are only about 5000 North Pacific Blue Whales left—their numbers having been drastically reduced over the last 100 years. The biggest factor in that was 19th century whale hunting for oil. Has anyone else been whale-watching this summer? It’s the best whale-watching year in a couple decades in the Monterey area due to a massive upwelling of marine nutrients there.

Save the Whales Cooperative Board Game

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Why is President Obama supporting a repeal of the 1986 ban on commercial whale hunting? Before 1986, tens of thousands of whales were slaughtered each year, bringing several species (for example the North Pacific Gray Whale) to the brink of extinction. Public pressure, including the famous “Save the Whales” campaign by Greenpeace paved the way for the whaling moratorium. Inexplicably, however, President Obama has stated he favors formally lifting the moratorium on commercial whaling when the IWC meets later this month. It is time, once again, for concerned citizens to speak up and protect whales. One way to learn about the issue, in a positive, fun, and empowering way is to play the classic board game “Save the Whales”. This game won a Greenpeace certificate of recommendation. It can only be purchased through our Web site www.cooperativegames.com (unless maybe you can find a used at a garage sale!) A good link for more information about President Obama’s position on the whaling moratorium is: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/brenda-peterson/whales-worth-more-alive-u_b_609431.html Thank you!