Lessons in Cooperation or What My Kids Did While on Christmas Break

I have noticed a spirit of me-first going around my house lately.  Okay, really it hasn't been lately---it has been ongoing for a while.  During the holiday break I decided that the children needed to work on some projects that would force them to cooperate.  One afternoon Aaron, Kaelan and Jackson worked together to build this gingerbread house.  I would like to say that they worked well together, but I think they were more concerned about who was eating more candy.  They really didn't enjoy creating the gingerbread house at all.  They did eat some of it and I threw the rest of it away the next day.  Don't worry about all that money going to waste, though.  I bought the kit on clearance after Christmas for less than five bucks.

Such detail...HA!

Miss Gingerbread and Mr. Snowman are lazily leaning against the house.  Their work ethic needs some....um, work?

However, an earlier project I gave them was highly successful.  A few YEARS agoI purchased the really big super-duper KNEX set from Timberdoodle.  It contains several smaller sets consisting of bridges (lots of different types of bridges with instructions and all kinds of engineering info) and simple machines (also with lots of teaching materials).  We constructed all of these items, but never did the third large set- The Big Ball Factory, which is a five foot roller coaster.  I challenged Aaron, Kaelan and Jackson to get the set put together no matter how long it took.  They took up the challenge and spent three days together in the boys' room with the door closed.  Jordan even joined them a couple of days when he wasn't working at The Homeschool Channel or on his book--which he finally finished.  They worked for hours...I heard laughter and much friendly talk.  Like I said, it was a success.  Here is a short video of the Big Ball Factory at work with Kaelan and Aaron demonstrating.  So what did your kids do during the Christmas break?

Addition:  I am having trouble with the video.  Please let me know if you are able to view it by leaving a comment.  Thanks.

K'NEX Big Ball Factory from Anita Chamblee on Vimeo.