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Great Cooperative Game for Kids: The Yoga Garden Game

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A board game with owls and trees on it.
Yoga Garden Game, a cooperative board game that teaches yoga and getting along together at the same time

One of my top-selling cooperative games for kids is the delightful Yoga Garden Game, a cooperative board game for ages 4 and up. Parents and teachers: this game teaches yoga and cooperation, is beautiful to look at, and fun to play. Why not get in the game yourself and share the gentle joy of cooperative yoga with your kids?

Yoga Garden Game, A Great Cooperative Board Game for Kids

Players work together to move the bumblebee through the garden and plant all the flowers before night comes and it’s time for bed. The rules are quite easy to follow, and with a little practice kids can actually play it on their own: players roll a die to move the bee around the board. Depending on where the bee lands, players may plant flowers, perform a yoga pose as illustrated on the yoga cards, invent their own yoga pose….or they may land on a space that puts stars in the sky and brings on night fall.

A board game with owls and trees on it.Why I Recommend this Cooperative Board Game for Kids

I love several things about this gentle cooperative board game for kids-and for you parents and teachers (who will surely enjoy looking on if not actually playing the game):

* The art on the game board is so beautiful … it shows a garden, the sky, and has such a peaceful feeling that it makes me feel connected to nature just looking at it!

* It teaches yoga in a very accessible and fun way for kids as young as 4 years old. Yoga is great for kids, as studies now show. I appreciate that the rules remind children “Don’t forget to breathe†as they practice their poses. The yoga game cards have

A board game with owls and trees on it.
The illustrated yoga game cards teach children yoga poses. Young kids can look at the picture while an adult or older child reads the steps.

pictures of the poses as well as simple step-by-step directions anyone could follow. The game is produced by YogaKids, a mission driven company all about teaching yoga to kids.

They are sincere in their mission …and you can tell! http://www.yogakids.com/

* As a cooperative board game, kids have to work together to accomplish a common goal. No one loses and has their feelings hurt. This game works in just the opposite way compared to a competitive board game: Here, everyone wins because everyone has a good time trying to move the bumblebee around the board and plant flowers, learning yoga all the while. If the game goal is not achieved, and nighttime comes before the flowers are planted, no matter. The group can play again another day and see if they can meet the challenge. As all cooperative games show, winning is more fun when it is shared, and losing is much less disappointing when we are all in the same boat. In a cooperative game, we can practice winning or losing, having fun and learning together!

CooperativeGames.com Deal of the Day

This is one of my best selling cooperative board games at CooperativeGames.com.  My customers are all smiles about it. To share the joy, I’m offering a 10% discount on the game right now. Go to our Deal of the Day Page at CooperativeGames.com. To see more and purchase the Yoga Garden Game, click  http://shop.cooperativegames.com/dealoftheday.asp

To shop our entire selection of cooperative board games, games for young and old alike,  go to http://shop.cooperativegames.com/

Thanks and Enjoy!

A board game with owls and trees on it.
Kids learning yoga in the classroom with the Yoga Garden Game

Rethinking Youth Sports with Cooperative Games

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A board game with owls and trees on it.I enjoy reading the literature on cooperative games as do many people who come to my web shop CooperativeGames.com. I just read and now recommend  “Rethinking Youth Sports†by Ramsey and Rank, of the Georgia Parks and Recreation Department. PE teachers and camp counselors: this article on cooperative games is especially relevant to you!

The authors argue that youth sports promote aggression in kids. The reason, they say, is that kids learn a winner-take-all attitude by participating in sports and that fair play and sportsmanship are on the decline. They attribute this to general cultural influences as well as violent behavior among some high profile professional athletes in recent years. Sad if this is true, but in any case, Ramsey and Rank feel that cooperative games can do much to restore civil behavior and reduce aggression in kids’ sports. They provide the following examples of how individuals and organizations might enhance youth activities with cooperative games:

  1. Incorporate cooperative games as a key component of youth activities programs
  2. Work with local schools to provide support for physical education teachers, teachers, and playground leaders with cooperative games activities and strategies for implementation of cooperative games in the classroom. Do the same with daycare facilities.
  3. Establish a consortium or recreation provider agencies and focus on the positive aspects of youth sports, incorporating cooperative games as part of the process.
  4. Embody cooperative games into the “Benefits of Recreation” information provided by the National Recreation and Park Association, state park and recreation associations, and local park and recreation agencies.
  5. Sponsor a local workshop on “how-to” conduct cooperative games.
  6. Work with local youth sports organizations and share the values and benefits or cooperative games. Suggest strategies for implementing them as part of their regular youth sports programs.

Be sure to check the Fun and Free pages at CooperativeGames.com for free directions to cooperative games useful for PE classes. Also shop for books on cooperative games in our book section. Or, make up your own games! It’s easier than you may think.

Cooperative Games and Kindness to Strangers

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I love the research coming out that backs the use of cooperative games. There’s a study out now that looks at how the sense of belonging to a group makes people more likely to help others in real life. The study is described in an article in the Stanford School of Social Innovation newsletter and I think it’s very interesting. The gist of it is that people help those in need more readily if they construe them to be in the same group. Teachers, here is another study showing why cooperative games are a great idea in the schools. Cooperative games help kids feel that they are on the same team, and with that mindset, they are more likely to help one another out.

Here’s an excerpt of the study, which was done in 2005 and published in the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin in Britain.

A group of people are standing in the grass.

Two studies conducted at Lancaster University in the UK played on the intense rivalry between fans of two English football teams, Manchester United and Liverpool. In the first study, Manchester United fans were recruited to fill out questionnaires about their interest in the team and the degree to which they identified as fans. They were then invited to walk across campus to see a video about football teams. Along the way, an accident was staged in which a runner slipped and fell, groaning in pain. Hidden observers watched the incident, and those taking part in the study were asked about it when they reached the projection room.

Participants, all of whom had a strong identification as Manchester fans, were more likely to ask the runner if he needed help when he was wearing a Manchester United shirt than when he was wearing a Liverpool shirt or an ordinary unbranded shirt.

In the second study, Manchester United fans were again recruited, but when they arrived they were told that they were participating in a study about football fans in general (not Manchester United fans, specifically). They were also told that the study aimed to focus on the positive aspects of fanhood as opposed to the negative incidents and stories that usually get attention. The study questionnaires asked them about their broader interest in the game and what they shared with other fans. They then were instructed to cross campus to head to the projection room, and along the way witnessed the same staged incident and conditions described in the first study.

In this case, participants were as likely to help a victim in a Manchester United shirt as they were to help someone in a Liverpool shirt. And they were more likely to help those wearing team shirts than those who were not.

The results of the second study are fascinating in terms of their implications. The results indicate that when people are encouraged to see social category boundaries at a more inclusive level –– all football fans, versus fans of one team –– they will extend help to more individuals. Even in a country in which bitter intergroup rivalry exists between fans of one football team and another, when people expand their notion of the “in-group†they are more likely to reach out to those in the “other camp.â€

One noteworthy strength of this research is that it offers an analysis of actual helping behavior rather than “beliefs about†or “intentions†to act. Evidence of dramatic shifts in such behavior across deeply entrenched antagonisms in response to simple changes in levels of categorization is striking.

Indeed, the studies bring up questions regarding how we may cue more prosocial behavior not only in emergency situations, but in all circumstances. How may we promote a greater feeling of inclusiveness among members of society at wider levels such that boundaries become meaningless, and empathetic concern leads to more consistent positive action? Clearly this research offers inspiration for new approaches to camaraderie building across groups, communities, states, and even nations.

You can view the whole article from the Stanford Newsletter here:
http://view.exacttarget.com/?j=fe571576736502757013&m=fefc1273716707&ls=fdea1c7877670c7577127172&l=febe1677716d0278&s=fe171c787c62017d7d1375&jb=ffcf14&ju=fe2c15787162047c731776