Working Together To Accomplish A Common Goal.

Do you ever long for your kids to cooperate with each other?  One way to give them some practice working together is to set up some common goals.  With Valentines Day just around the corner, we have been practicing working together to prepare for this special holiday.

Here is a quick and fun activity you can do with your kids and help them learn to work together.  Let them prepare Valentine Goodie Bags to share with their friends.  All five of my children ages 2, 3, 6, 8, 10, each had a “job” in putting these bags together.  But no ones job could accomplish the goal alone.  Instead they had to work together as a team, and they had lots of fun. 

These were very inexpensive to make.  We found most of the items at the dollar store.  We were able to make 24 goodie bags for less than $0.70 each.  We had several leftovers too, and could have doubled up on some items and made 48 goodie bags for approximately $0.60 each. 

You can make these with lots of variety, and more or less expense.  You could spend more and add toys, or cookie cutters and play dough, or other options too.  We stuck with candy and a pencil to keep costs down.



We set up an assembly line and each child had a category they were responsible for putting into the bag.
The eight year old started the process off with a bag and pencil. Then passed the bag.
The three year old added her candy. Then passed the bag.
The six year old added his candy. Then passed the bag.
The two year old added a sucker. Then passed the bag.
The ten year old added more candy and helped the two year old with his task.  Then placed the bag in a box.



The oldest and youngest worked together.



Our ingredients for the goodie bags included a heart sucker, heart pencil, a box of conversation hearts, a candy bracelet, and some chewy taffy candy.  



I also made some personal gift tags.  I found a nice graphic online, added a personal note, and our family names.  I printed them on business card sheets, which gave me 10 tags per sheet.



The 10 year old hole punched the tags.  The eight year old separated the tags.



The two and three year olds sorted the twisty ties for the bags.

The eight and ten year olds tied the tags to the bags.

Then the three year old placed the finished bags back into the box.



The children were very pleased with their gifts they prepared to share with friends.

They worked together and reached their goal.  This success will benefit them by building confidence and will strengthen their relationship skills.



I was pleased with the outcome too.  I wish I had printed off a little math graphing game, and a tic tac toe game, to go along with the conversation hearts.  I didn’t think of adding it until the bags were already closed, and I didn’t think I had the time to fix it.  Perhaps the game could have been printed on the back side of the gift tags.  That would be a really fun addition to these goodie bags, and made them even more special.  Maybe I will remember to do it for next year!


What goodies are your kids sharing with friends and family this Valentines Day?


If you have a Valentines Day craft, recipe, celebration, lesson theme, or activity you would like to share, please join our link up or leave a comment.  Thanks. 

You can find our VALENTINES DAY LINK UP  at the bottom of the Valentine Bag Craft article.