The belt race game is a game that requires cooperation. The competitors in the belt race game typically come from a pool of young adults, adults at a party. These adults are then paired with one another. (Often each dating couple stands together.) Each belt race begins with the competitors standing back to back while a large belt forms a circle around their feet. During the belt race the objective of each couple is to maneuver the belt up over their heads.
The winner of the belt race game is the couple that first achieves the objective. As stated earlier, the winning of the belt race requires a significant amount of cooperation. A study of the belt race demonstrates how games can be designed to be less competitive. A careful examination of belt race playing illustrates how any game, even a game for children might be used to teach a commendable type of behavior.
In order to use the belt race game as a prototype for a way to teach cooperation, one needs to look more fully at the basic elements of the belt race. Such a look underscores the fact that the competitors have been put in a situation where the practice of cooperation has become an advantage. Use of cooperation, as opposed to cheating, would help to guarantee victory for those involved in the belt race.
Drawing from that observation, one would come to the conclusion that development of a children's game that is capable of aiding the practice of commendable behaviors would call for creation of a game that forced the participants to focus on whatever behavior one wanted to improve. For example, during the belt race game, the belt race playing calls for the use of cooperation.
What other games might teach cooperation without using a belt race? One that comes quickly to mind is a three-legged race. Another game, one that could be used to teach team building skills divides the players into groups. The members of each group must then work together to build some sort of structure using a deck of cards. The group with the tallest structure wins the game.
The above game represents that rare category of game that is acceptable for use with either children or adults. It would even work with teams that contained children, youth and adults. In that aspect this building game differs significantly from the belt race.
One book by Palabra Publications introduces games for children, and one game is similar to the belt race game. This book, Teaching Children's Classes, Grade 1, contains a short set of directions for a game called "Twins." Here the competitors squat down in pairs with their backs together. In this game, though there is no belt race. In this game the competitors are asked to hook elbows and to then stand up.
Another game in that same book does not teach cooperation, but it does teach sharing. Here, unlike a belt race where each pair gets one belt, an entire group of children gets one low object (such as a tire that is no longer upright) placed before them. The children then need to discover how many of them can fit on this one object. The children learn how to share space on top of the low object.