Co-operation games: Fruit salad

Purposes

• To build up group trust through shared laughter and movement

• to provide an opportunity for boys and girls to play together in a non-competitive manner

• to encourage children to share a limited amount of space

Background information

Because this activity does not depend on physical skills, it enables many girls and boys to participate without having to worry about being laughed at for making mistakes or about embarrassing themselves because they do not have prior skills. It also encourages the quieter students to get up and enjoy moving around rather than sitting quietly. At the same time, the game provides the opportunity for boys and girls to use space co-operatively.

When was the last time you joined a group of strangers? How comfortable are you meeting and mixing with people whom you don't know well? What helps you to feel more comfortable when meeting new people? Does it matter if the group you join is mainly male or mainly female? Do you have friends of both sexes? Reflecting on your own experiences and the skills that you have developed to meet new people may assist you to help children feel as if they belong and are members of the class.

Shyness or lack of social skills can be quite debilitating. Worry over what other people will think of you or concern about saying something silly causes some adults, as well as children, to remain silent. These real fears can make group participation quite difficult. On the other hand, some people are outgoing and very confident. It is worth considering: do you see girls who are shy and quiet as 'not a problem' whereas boys who are shy and quiet are of concern? Do you accept noisy and outgoing behaviour from boys­but not from girls? Why? What are the gendered assumptions here?

What you will need

A circle of chairs with a clear space in the middle of the circle and enough room for children to move. There should be one less chair in the circle than the number of participants, i.e., if there are 25 players, there should be 24 chairs.

What to do

1. Ask the children to sit in the circle of chairs.

2. going around the circle, each child is given the name of one of three fruits, e.g., apple, pear, banana, apple, pear, banana, until everyone has a fruit name that they need to remember.

3. Start by standing in the centre of the circle and calling out the names of one fruit. Everyone who is that fruit (e.g., all the 'apples') must get up and quickly move to an empty chair, including the teacher. Those who are not 'apples' remain seated. Whoever ends up without a chair then takes a turn in the middle, calling out the name of one group of fruit again.

4. To get everyone to move all at once, the person in the middle calls out 'fruit salad.'

5. Once the children understand the game, speed up the time between children claiming chars and the next person calling out.

Gender dimensions

• Did this activity encourage boys and girls to mix and mingle together or did they divide on the basis of sex?

• Was there pushing and shoving to get to the chairs? Who did this?

• Were some children left in the middle more often than others?

• Did individual children develop strategies to 'help' each other get to a chair?

Adaptations

Vegetable names or names of colours are used: 'Mixed vegies' or 'rainbow' can be called out to get everyone to move at once. This can also be easily adapted to fit in with the current class topic.

Non-competitive musical chairs: Unlike traditional Musical Chairs, when the music stops, children who do not find a chair their own can share one with someone else. Every time the music stops, another chair is removed. Eventually, only one chair is left and all the children must find a way to 'fit' onto the chair. This requires a great deal of co-operation and can be a lot of fun.