Kindergarten collaboration activities

The turn and talk you already run, rebuilt so both partners talk, five more kindergarten favorites fixed, a free partner sheet, and the Mission we’d run with kindergartners.

  • By Skyler Carr, co-founder and CEO, Mission.io
  • Last updated

Who we are. Mission.io makes Missions: teacher-led, whole-class simulations where students use what they’re learning to work through a real scenario together.

Everything on this page works without us. The Mission we’d run with kindergartners is at the end, free. (On Tellenor, the plants grow longer roots to cope with Moodoo’s polluted water. Your bean plant only has to wait for the pairs to decide.)

On this page

What collaboration looks like in kindergarten

Kindergarten collaboration activities are partner tasks where two five-year-olds have to land on one shared answer, and each child has a part only they can say out loud. This page takes the partner structure you already use every day and rebuilds it to do exactly that.

Five-year-olds tend to see a single way to do a thing, hear words literally, and “think out loud before acting.” So the unit of kindergarten collaboration is the pair, not the table of four: two children can keep one idea between them. And because executive function (working memory, mental flexibility, self-control) is still developing at five, the plan has to sit somewhere other than the child’s memory, on a card or in your voice (Center on the Developing Child, Harvard).

The standard asks kindergartners to follow agreed-upon rules for discussions, like listening and taking turns speaking, and to continue a conversation through multiple exchanges (CCSS ELA SL.K.1). The first exchange happens on its own. The second one is the skill, and it’s what the activity below is built to get.

Six things that make partner talk build collaboration

Students doing the thinking beats students listening to it, and one review of 225 studies said so plainly: college STEM students taught by lecture failed at a rate 55% higher than students in active-learning courses (Freeman et al., 2014). That’s college, a long way from the rug. Closer to it, another review found cooperative learning helped primary students more than secondary students (Kyndt et al., 2013). Below, the six as they look on a kindergarten rug; our K to 8 guide cites the research for each one.

  1. 1. A real problem with stakes the class can feel.

    “What do you think happens next?” has no consequence. “Our bean plant is drooping, and we’ll try whatever you two decide” does, and five-year-olds take that job seriously.

  2. 2. Apply, don't recall.

    At five, the content can be whatever the class is studying this week. What a plant needs to live (NGSS K-LS1-1) gives a pair plenty to disagree about.

  3. 3. Group goals with individual accountability.

    In most turn and talks one partner talks, one partner nods, and from across the rug you can’t tell which is which. Give each child one job nobody else holds. In Slavin’s review, methods that combined a shared goal with individual accountability worked in 84% of studies, and methods missing either worked in 17% (Slavin, 1991).

  4. 4. The teacher leads the thinking.

    Kneel at the pair and ask the same three questions every time. Within a few weeks, you’ll hear partners asking them of each other.

  5. 5. A debrief where the class argues it out.

    “Who wants to share?” gets you a share. A debrief asks which pair changed its mind, and what the partner said that changed it.

  6. 6. A way to see who did what.

    Two children and one card means you can hear both voices. Write down which one asked a question, and you have something no worksheet gives you.

Two kids, one card, both names.

Most kindergarten partner talk hits one or two of the six, usually just the teacher asking. Here’s the structure nearly every kindergarten already uses, rebuilt around the six. Grab the partner sheet →

Turn and talk, rebuilt to hit all six

You run it ten times a day. You stop the read-aloud, ask a question, partners turn knee to knee, and a minute later the class comes back together. It keeps a room of five-year-olds talking, which is no small thing. It also leaves the quiet partner a rumor, because the question has no consequence, nobody owns a part, and “who wants to share?” is the whole debrief.

The fix is one decision the pair has to agree on, two jobs that swap, and a card both partners hold up.

Time
About 20 minutes inside a read-aloud or science block: 3 to pose the plant problem and act out both jobs (a puppet or an aide helps), 2 for the first exchange, 2 for the swap, 3 to decide and hold up cards, 5 for pairs to report, 5 for the rug debrief. Short on time? Do one exchange and the card today, and save the swap for tomorrow.
Groups
Pairs. With an odd count, one group becomes a trio, where the extra child asks questions of both Talkers, and the two Talkers have to agree. Or pair the extra child with your aide.
Supplies
One Asker card and one sun-or-water decision card per pair (laminate them once and keep them), plus a class chart. Under two dollars; the sheet has both cards.
Standards
CCSS SL.K.1a (listen and take turns speaking) and SL.K.1b (continue a conversation through multiple exchanges), with NGSS K-LS1-1 (what plants need) if you run it in science.

  1. The problemStakes

    Bring the class plant to the rug. “Our bean plant is drooping. Partner A thinks it needs water. Partner B thinks it needs sun. You two decide what we try first, and both of you have to be able to say why.” Then mean it: the class tries what the pairs pick.

  2. Apply, don't recallApply

    The decision is the science. To choose between water and sun, a five-year-old has to use what the class learned about what plants need (K-LS1-1), out loud, to someone who might disagree.

  3. Two jobs, then swapAccountability

    Partner A is the Talker first; Partner B is the Asker first. Then they swap, so every child has talked once and asked once before the pair decides. They show the decision by holding up the sun card or the water card, with both names on it.

    • Talker

      Says the idea in one sentence: "I think ___ because ___."

    • Asker

      Asks one question from the card: "Why do you think that?" or "What else?"

  4. You lead the thinkingTeacher leads

    Kneel at a pair, not the front of the rug, and ask three questions: What did your partner say? What did you ask them? What did you two decide, and why? Skip the urge to hint at the right answer. Both answers can be right, and the pair still has to pick one.

  5. The second exchangeApply

    After three pairs report, ask everyone else to turn again and decide whether they still agree. That second turn is “multiple exchanges” (SL.K.1b) happening where you can see it, and it’s where a child first changes her mind because of something a classmate said.

  6. The debriefDebrief

    Five minutes on the rug, three questions in order: Which pair changed its mind, and what did the partner say? Did your partner say something you hadn’t thought of? So what do we try with the plant? Give the first question the longest silence.

  7. See who did whatSee who did what

    Mark four things on the tally as you kneel at each pair: said an idea, asked their partner a question, repeated what their partner said, changed their mind with a reason. You’ll reach three or four pairs a round, roughly one child in three, so the swap and tomorrow’s turn and talk catch the rest. Give it five days and every child has a row.

(Use a plant that’s actually drooping. One thirsty bean plant on the rug does more for the stakes than any story.)

Listen for the first child who asks her partner why without looking at the card. That’s the standard, met out loud.

The bean plant turn and talk, free

Emailed now, ready to copy: the teacher page, the Talker and Asker cards, the decision frame, the sun and water cards, and the four-behavior tally.

It’s on its way.

Check your inbox for the bean plant turn and talk.

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Five more classics, and the fix each needs

Kindergarten is full of things that look like teamwork: everyone holding the same parachute, everyone adding to the same story. Most of them are worth keeping. Here’s how each one usually runs, what it actually builds, and the small changes that turn it into collaboration.

Five more for kindergarten

1. Hula hoop pass

Needs one hula hoop. Whole class, in a circle. 5 minutes.

The class stands in a circle holding hands, and a hula hoop travels all the way around without anyone letting go. Everyone has to wiggle through it, and the whole circle laughs when the hoop gets home. As usually run, though, it’s a timed game with nothing to apply, no part anybody owns, and nothing to write down, and forcing a lesson into it doesn’t work.

The fix

  1. Run it as a five-minute wiggle break between rug times, and call it a wiggle break.
  2. Save the word collaboration for the partner work that comes after it.

No page; wiggle breaks are allowed.

2. Cooperative floor puzzle

Needs one large floor puzzle. Groups of three. A center rotation.

A group of three sits around one big floor puzzle, each child holding some of the pieces, and together they build the picture. Every child has pieces to place, so everyone has a hand in it. As usually run, though, it’s a center where the fastest group gets noticed, with no problem behind it and no talk after it.

The fix

  1. Before the center opens, put a small dot of a different color on each child’s pieces.
  2. Glance at the finished puzzle to see whose dots landed where.
  3. Then have the group tell you the picture’s story, each child pointing to a part they placed.

No page for this one; the color dots are the whole fix.

3. Build a story together

Needs nothing but a circle. A small group or the whole class. A circle time.

The group sits in a circle and builds a story one sentence at a time, each child adding the next line. Everyone gets a turn, and five-year-olds love hearing their idea become part of the story. As usually run, though, it’s a lot of “and then,” with nothing at stake, no line anybody owns, and nobody remembering who said what.

The fix

  1. Hand each child a picture card (a seed, a puddle, the sun) that has to show up in their sentence.
  2. Write the story on chart paper as it grows, with each child’s name beside the line they added.
  3. Read the chart back at the end, and let each child point to their line.

No page for this one; the chart with names on it is the record.

4. Partner reading

Needs one book per pair. Pairs. A daily routine.

Two children share one book and take turns, a page each, while you circulate. It’s a pleasant daily routine, and both partners get to read. As usually run, though, there’s no problem to solve, no content to use, and no talk once the book closes.

The fix

  1. Tuck one question card in the back of the book (What did the bear want?) for the pair to answer together on the last page.
  2. Keep a thumbs-up tally of which partner asked a question along the way.

No page for this one; use the Asker card from the sheet above.

5. Parachute games

Needs a play parachute. Whole class. A PE period.

The whole class holds the edge of a play parachute and lifts and lowers it on your call. The one thing it shares with collaboration is the stakes: the mushroom collapses if somebody lets go. Everything else is missing, and that’s fine, because it’s joy, and joy doesn’t need fixing.

The fix

  1. Keep it exactly as it is, in PE or as a reward.

No page for this one; keep it exactly as it is.

  • Our part · We make Missions

    Or let a Mission pose the problem. The rug stays yours

    Turn and talk on the rug is worth running every day, all year, with or without us. A Mission is a teacher-led, whole-class simulation: in 21 minutes it tells the story, puts the problem on every child’s screen, and leaves you a report on each one. The turn and talk stays yours, at the pauses you choose.

    You're at the helm, not on the hook.

    Tackling Toxins: the whole-class Mission we'd run with kindergartners

    Tackling Toxins · Grades K to 1 · About 21 minutes · One device per student, plus your projector · Free with a teacher account

    A teacher leans toward a table of young students at Chromebooks, who gasp and grin at each other while a Mission question shows on the screen at the front of the room.
    What you'll see: a room of small kids gasping at the same screen, turning to the friend beside them to say what they think, and you leaning into a table to ask why.

    Moodoo has contaminated the water on the planet Tellenor. Your class finds out how its plants and animals are coping (longer roots, animals moving to cleaner water and collecting rain), considers two fixes, water catchers and water cleaners, decides what helps everyone, and sends Moodoo’s ships away. The story plays on the projector.

    Every child works on their own screen. The turn and talk happens where you put it: the Mission pauses on its own at moments made for a class discussion, and you can pause it anytime to let partners talk before anyone answers. You’re at the helm, kneeling at a table and asking what changed for the plants.

    Against the six:

    • Stakes. Moodoo’s contaminated water is changing life on Tellenor, and the class picks the fix.
    • Apply. The class reasons from cause and effect: why the roots grew, why the animals moved, which fix helps everyone (NGSS K-ESS2-2: how living things change their environment to meet their needs).
    • Accountability. Each child answers on their own screen, the story follows the majority, and each child’s own answers go into their report. The shared part is the partner talk you add.
    • Teacher leads. After the five-minute Teacher Preview and Start, crouch beside a child and ask: What changed for the plants? Why did the animals move? Which fix helps everyone on Tellenor?
    • Debrief. The Mission Guide lists five follow-up activities, one of them “Draw a Solution.”
    • See who did what. Every child gets a report on how well they did, built from their own choices and answers across the Mission.

    “Unprompted, the students all began to applaud like you see in the videos of NASA control rooms. It made my day.”

    Charity Perry, Kindergarten teacher, Pony Express Elementary, UT

    Will it work in my room?

    Students join with a class code: no student accounts, no student email, no passwords. Chromebooks, laptops, or tablets, plus your projector. Free for teachers, no credit card. Student data is covered by COPPA and FERPA, and we signed the Student Privacy Pledge. No projector or devices? The turn and talk needs neither, and the sheet still works.

    START FREE →

    Communication first, then this one

    This is one Mission. The library holds 100-plus, plant needs and moon phases among them; any unit can end in one, and every one leaves you a report for each child. Every lesson finally has somewhere to go.

    What the report shows

    A Mission.io class report: the class score in each of six skills, from knowledge and application to collaboration, critical thinking, and resilience, with the class chart across the year below.
    A class report from a real Mission: the class score in each of six skills, then each skill across the year.

    Every Mission produces a report for every student, built from what that student did across the whole Mission, on the skills the Mission captured. The six it can capture are Knowledge, Application, Initiative, Collaboration, Critical Thinking, and Resilience. The first two are what a test already sees. The other four are the human skills every school promises. The test shows what they know. The report shows the rest. This is where collaboration gets practiced, and the only place it gets measured. SEE THE EVIDENCE →

    You taught it. Now find out who can use it.

    Who's behind it

    Mission.io is a research and design organization with one job: make collaborative, active learning something a teacher can run every unit instead of once a semester, and put a report in your hands when it’s over. Over a million students have run a Mission. The research behind them is funded by the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences, and Mission.io meets ESSA Level II standards, as validated by Instructure.

    “I even sent an email to my whole building encouraging everyone to try it.”

    Jen, Veteran teacher, OH
    START FREEMISSION BRIEF →

    Free teacher account, no card. Start with the Communication Mission, marked Start here in your library (kindergartners run the K to 1 version), then Tackling Toxins, and you get a 5-minute Teacher Preview for both.

Questions kindergarten teachers ask

Are kindergartners ready for collaboration?

Yes, in pairs. At five, collaboration looks like sharing materials, taking turns, listening, and keeping a conversation going past the first reply. A partner and one decision is the right size. A table of four usually turns into four separate conversations, and that’s the age, not the class.

One partner does all the talking. What do I do?

Make the quiet partner the Asker first. A question from a card is easier to start than an idea, and “Why do you think that?” hands the floor right back. Then swap, so the talker has to ask too. The tally shows you within a week whether the quiet partner is talking more.

My kindergartners can't read yet. Will the cards work?

Read each card aloud while you model it with a puppet or an aide, and keep the words to one question or one sentence starter. The decision card isn’t something they read; it’s a sun or a water they hold up. The card holds the plan so a five-year-old doesn’t have to.

How do I track collaboration in kindergarten without a grade?

Tally, don’t grade. Ideas offered, questions asked, partners repeated, minds changed with a reason: four marks you make while kneeling at pairs. A few pairs each round, everybody within a week, and a row you can show a parent at conferences.

Collaboration you can finally hear

Start tomorrow on the rug with the partner sheet, or start with Tackling Toxins once you've seen its five-minute Teacher Preview. Either way, the partner talk is yours.

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