Definition of Cooperation for 4 - 7 year olds: Cooperation happens when two or more people help each other to make something good happen. It can also apply to animals or parts of a whole that need each other and work together.  An example of this is the human body – all the parts work together to make you healthy.

In a nutshell:

Together we can do more. 

Summary:
Five elephants live harmoniously in the jungle that is filled with plenty of delicious fruits. Their peaceful life is disrupted when one of the elephants discovers a previously unknown tall tree with sweet smelling fruit. The five elephants impatiently, selfishly, and unsuccessfully compete with each other to reach the fruit. Everything changes when they observe five ants cooperating as they share the task of carrying a fruit that had fallen from the tree. Their mindset changes from “this is mine” to “this is ours”, and the elephants work together to reach the top of the tree. 

Lesson Objectives: 

1. Students are more incentivised to work together to accomplish tasks. 
2. Children are more inclined to ask for help when they can’t do something on their own. 
3. Teachers can ask students to share about situations they observe in which people work together to accomplish a goal. 

Guiding Questions: 

1. Why were the elephants happy in the beginning of the story? 
2. What changed to make them unhappy? 
3. Have you ever seen an elephant? If you have, share about your experience. 
4. Did you know that real elephants live in family groups and take care of one another? Find out more about how they cooperate within their groups to keep safe, protect the young, and find food and shelter. 
5. Describe some of the ways the elephants tried to get the fruit. Why did they fail? 
6. What did the elephants see that made them want to work together to get the fruit? 
7. What helped the elephants get the fruit?  
8. Have you ever played on a team? Share about what it was like for you. 
9. Share about how work gets done when people cooperate. For example, when you buy food at a store, how did people work together to get the food to the store? 
10. Tell a story about when someone helped you do something that you couldn’t do by yourself.