Cooperation & Sharing
“What are Prosocial Behaviours”
Prosocial behaviours are actions that help others. Parents can help children build awareness and healthy patterns of prosocial behaviours such as cooperation, sharing, empathy and responsiveness.
“What is Cooperation and Sharing”
Cooperation and sharing are important prosocial behaviours that start to develop when you're young. Cooperation is working together with a friend to complete the same goal and sharing is the use of, or enjoyment of something together with a friend!
Prosocial behaviours need to be developed throughout childhood because they are crucial to peer interactions and friendships in preschool aged kids. Being good at cooperation and sharing is part of what makes a good friend. Shared activities with friends provide children with unique opportunities to learn, practice, and develop their communicative, interactive, and cooperative skills!
To help kids better understand the basics of cooperation, here is a short clip from CBC’s Sesame Street. This video describes cooperation and shows acts of cooperation that are easy to follow and understand for preschool aged children! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kihZUsADQTQ
To help children better understand sharing, here is a short interactive song. Lyrics are provided so the whole family can sing along! The song illustrates basic forms of sharing through friendly cartoon monsters! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0bc0djGpM0
“How you can help foster cooperation and sharing in your preschool aged children”
Other ways to teach cooperation and sharing is to introduce activities that help them practice. For example: wagon rides! Someone needs to pull the wagon, someone needs to ride in the wagon and then there needs to be a switch so everyone can get a turn!
Well-designed cooperative games and toys can provide the beginning for cooperative experiences for preschool aged children with their peers. This is very important for peer relations and being a good friend!
Break down cooperation down into smaller and more manageable skills that children can understand easier. For example, you can break it down into 3 smaller categories such as:
1) turn taking
2) working together
3) sharing
Now you can focus on specific parts of cooperation that preschool aged children can understand better. Remember to explain that these smaller parts all work together to create cooperation as a whole!
This article outlines the ages and stages that your child will grow through as they learn to cooperate and share, as well as some helpful, easy to read information and extra tips and tricks to help your child!
https://www.scholastic.com/teachers/articles/teaching-content/ages-stages-learning-cooperate/
Fun activities for cooperation and sharing that can be done at home:
Interactive play is a great way for children to learn about their surroundings. These activities can help in lay the groundwork for young children's cooperation and sharing skills while also providing fun and interactive quality time with family!
1) Role-playing game: Focus on Cooperation.
Description: Positive prosocial behaviour can be modeled through effectively working with others. This game helps show how to effectively work with friends through role playing!
Step 1. Recreate a scenario that has happened in the past or create new ones! For example: you have made a mess that's too big for one person to clean up! Encourage your child to decide if they would help you or if they would choose a different action.
Step 2. Positive cooperation can be reinforced through positive reinforcement opportunities that parents can choose. For example, if your child chooses a positive form of cooperation they can have a piece of candy! Reinforcements can be tailored to fit children's preferences!
2) Partnership colouring: Focus on Sharing:
Description: With an emphasis on sharing and turn taking, the goal of this activity is to cooperate with a friend to complete a piece of art!
Step 1. Let the child pick an object they wish to colour. For example, something they saw on a walk, or something they really enjoy like their favourite fruit.
Step 2. Allow the child to be the leader and start by colouring 1 part of the picture. Then encourage them to let you have a turn colouring another part and continue to pass it around until the art is complete!