BUDDY STICKS

Through partner activities children can develop social skills, cooperation, problem solving, independence, oral language, and creativity. Peer teaching is also a powerful teaching strategy. To avoid common behavior problems that can occur when children pick their own partner, try these buddy sticks.

Buddy Sticks
If you let children choose who they want to work with you might end up with two that shouldn't be together or someone that is left out. Buddy sticks are a great solution!
Put like stickers on the bottoms of two craft sticks. You will need as many sticks as there are children in your classroom. Place sticks in a plastic cup with stickers facing down. Children choose a stick and then find the person whose stick matches theirs. That is their partner.

Note! You can also use matching letters, shapes, numbers, etc. on the sticks.

*For small group work, put like stickers on four sticks. Remember, groups of two or four are more conducive to social interaction.

*When there is an odd number of students, let the last child chose whichever group she would like to be a part of.

Go Together
Glue pictures of things that go together like socks and shoes or dogs and bones on index cards. (You can find these on the internet.) Children match pictures to find their partner.

*Cut playing cards in half and pass out to students. When they match up their puzzle they will find their partner.

Weekly Study Buddy
To make buddy management a little simpler, have children use buddy sticks on Monday to find their "study buddy" for the week. Whenever you want them to work with a partner, just say "study buddy" and you'll be all set!


Elbow Buddies
Children extend elbows and the first person their elbow touches is their partner.

*Come back tomorrow for some interesting activities where children can learn with a partner.