Product Review: Hoot Owl Hoot

I am always looking for more ways to encourage cooperative learning in my 4K classroom.  I ordered the game Hoot Owl Hoot by Peaceable Kingdom mainly because it had good reviews and it fit my classroom's owl theme. 

The object of the game is for all of the kids playing to work together to get the owls home to the nest safely before the sun rises.  Students take turns drawing cards and then moving any owl they chose to the color on the card.  If they draw a sun card they must move the little square at the top one spot closer towards the sun.  


I seriously had no idea how much my students would love this game and continue to be challenged by it each time they played the game together.  At first the students needed an adult with them whenever playing to remind them that they don't have their own owl and that they are working together to get all of the owls to the nest before the sun rises.  They also needed to start with only 3 owls until kids started picking up on strategies to win.  Then we encouraged them to slowly add more owls to the game. This game is great because once they understand the rules they can pretty much play independently.  There is no counting or number recognition so almost all of my 4 year old students are able to feel successful because they move using color matching.

Not all of the kids in my classes have picked up on strategies for winning, but those who have have tried to encourage their peers which owl to move to get home quicker.  When they win they get so excited and hug each other or give high fives and fist bumps.  There isn't one winner, everyone wins and everyone feels good at the end.  If they don't win, they usually are optimistic about trying again. Whenever possible I try to join for the end of their game and if they didn't win I guide them to brainstorm a strategy or sometimes encourage them to try the game with fewer owls if they were being too ambitious with all 6 owls on the board.  This is hands down the best cooperative learning game I have come across and a favorite among the majority of the kids in my classroom!  It's a hoot!

What sort of cooperative learning activities do you do with your students?