Why is team building important?

The skills learned from team building are important for both personal and group development in children. During team building activities, children have the chance to communicate with each other and work towards a common goal. By practicing being an effective team member and team leader, children develop confidence in their own abilities. Learning how to work with others and communication are important by-products of team building.

Working as a team

Team building with children means you are developing their ability to work together toward a common goal. This makes the work or job easier because the children are working together. When a team works together to solve a challenge, everyone in the group wins and all children have a positive experience. Conduct team building activities with children that emphasize cooperation and collaboration, not competition. The skills learned from being part of a team are necessary for positive action in everyday life in school, work, and the community.

Conducting team building activities with children can help children work on developing the following skills:

• Problem solving
• Communication
• Cooperation
• Listening
• Self-esteem
• Idea exchange
• Working with others and different groups
• Leadership
• Creative thinking

At St Ita’s we support the development of team building skills within the classroom in a variety of ways listed below;

Problem solving

We encourage all our children to think independently by asking open ended questions throughout the day. Example: Joseph wants to play with the blocks and Sierra is already playing with them. Ask Joseph, “What can you play with until it is your turn to play with the blocks? What else do we have in the classroom that you can use to build something?”

Communication

Good communication is necessary for successful teams. We teach children to send clear messages through the day and in all classroom activities. We get their full attention on what is being said, encourage them to ask questions if they don’t understand, and have them repeat back to you what is being said.

Cooperation

Teaching children to take turns is an excellent way to develop cooperation.

Self-esteem

Giving children choices helps them feel like they have some control over what is happening. This can be as simple as asking them which color marker they want to use or what color cup they would like for their milk at snack time.

Idea exchange

Group projects are good for children to come up with an idea and work as a team on a project.

Leadership

We make sure we give children the opportunity to take leadership roles in the classroom. Create leadership situations in the form of classroom jobs. Make sure everyone has a chance to have a leadership role such as an admin officer, lunch order helper, line leader or clean up helper.