• Team building activities make everyone feel important.boy with girls in kindergarten image by Pavel Losevsky from Fotolia.com
  
  Encouraging teamwork in kindergarten improves communication skills and allows students to learn about different roles. When kindergartners work as a team, they hone their social skills, develop perseverance and learn the importance of working together. Team building also reinforces the notion that everyone has value and worth. The end result is a positive learning environment. The following are simple, age-appropriate team building activities for kindergartners.
  
  

Blob Activity

• Play this game in a large, open area like a playground or a gym. Have one person start as the "blob." When he or she tags someone, the two players join hands to form a blob. Now, they must work as a team to catch another player and create a larger blob. When the blob has four people, it splits in two and becomes two blobs. Continue until every player is caught.
  
  

Monsters in a Cave Activity

• Gather hula hoops, a CD player and kid-friendly songs. Scatter hula hoops around the floor. The hoops serve as "monster caves." Explain that everyone will pretend to be monsters. Reassure the children that monsters do not exist and this is only pretend. As the music plays, the students will roam around looking for a cave. When the music stops, they quickly get in a cave and roar like a monster. Once they master finding caves, take away two or three hoops. Encourage students to see how many monsters will fit in one cave. In this activity, children are learning to allow others to be part of a group and to work together to solve a problem.
  
  

Clean Up Crew

• Gather scooters, hula hoops and 30 or more items to serve as "trash," such as balls, bean bags, plastic cups and cardboard bricks. Spread the items around a large area, like a gym or playground. Put the hula hoops in a line near one end of the play area to serve as "trash collection sites."
  
  Divide the children into groups of ten and assign each child a partner. Partners will connect their scooters or link elbows to stay together. One is the driver and the other is the trash collector. The driver decides where to go and the trash collector decides when to stop for trash. To stop, the trash collector says "stop" and then picks up the trash. Once the trash is collected, the trash collector says "go." Together, they take the trash to the collection site (the hula hoops). Continue until all the trash is collected. Allow the next group to go. Give everyone a chance to be a driver and a trash collector.
  
  

Cows and Ducks Activity

• Have each player decide privately whether they want to be a cow or a duck. When the game begins, players make their animal's sound, and try to join others making the same sound. At the end, all the ducks should be in one area and all the cows in another area. This game can be played with eyes open or closed, depending on obstacles.