Benefit Of Cooperative Games For Children
Cooperative games are those in which competitiveness disappears. They are games in which the fundamental objective is to be a team and help each other to achieve a goal together. They have many uses, but one of their main advantages is that they help people who participate in the game to interact.
Therefore, cooperative games are often used in those activities in which a group is beginning to get to know each other or in a situation that requires the expansion of the union of an already created group. These games increase prosocial skills, including the ability to share and be kind.
Cooperatives are games that promote trust through solidarity collaboration. With them it is possible to achieve common goals and fun. They help to put aside individualistic practices and competitiveness, so in education they are very useful. We are going to see more benefits of these types of games.
Cooperative play reduces violence in young children
Cooperative games reduce violence in young children. We see this collected in the study Cooperative Games in Young Children: A Way to Modify Aggression (‘ Cooperative games reduce aggression in young children: a way to modify violence’ ) conducted by April Bay Hinitz in 1994 at the University of Nevada , Reno.
Cooperative learning
Cooperative games are both a form of cooperative learning and, of course, a form of play. There is now much research documenting the benefits of cooperative learning.
The benefits of cooperative learning include the possibility of greater mastery of content in education and the reduction of control and discipline problems in the classroom. Additionally, play has been shown to be essential for mental health and intellectual development.
Children with autism
Cooperative games have also been shown to be very useful in therapy situations to improve the communication skills of autistic children or socially excluded children. Children with ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder) do not develop social imitative games or creative activities in the same way, so cooperative games are very useful for them.
Creating group feeling with cooperative games
Cooperative games are inclusive games and, therefore, they are able to promote a feeling of belonging to the group. The importance of group membership in academic achievement has been extensively documented in several studies, including by Geoffrey Cohen at Stanford.
The fun of cooperative games
Cooperative games are fun. Fun and happiness are increasingly appreciated emotions as something important in educational systems. Take, for example, the United Nations Declaration of the Rights of the Child on the right of children to play. Also positive psychology is beginning to document the value of happiness in human health.
Empathy
Cooperative games build empathy because the underlying ethic is one of mutual care and concern. This is so in opposition to the individuality of each one, an individuality that increasingly characterizes our society.
Goodbye to competitiveness
These games provide a break from the urge to compete. It has been widely studied that competition has many disadvantages for children. Increases anxiety and reduces the feeling of equality.
When we are adults, we offer children opportunities for cooperative play; We are implicitly telling you that cooperation is a very valuable and important social norm. Therefore, cooperative games help create a positive social climate, a climate that is most safe and enjoyable for children.
