Fair or Not Fair? game previewNEW

Fair or Not Fair?

A short interactive social game about fairness, and what to do when everyone wants the same thing.

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How to encourage kids to share

Kids argue over whose turn it is all the time. That everyday conflict is exactly why this simple social emotional learning game works so well.

In the game, the Catbears characters fight over a glue stick. Kids help them solve the problem, think about fairness, and find a way that works for everyone.

It is an easy SEL game for kids that you can play in class, in therapy, or at home. It turns a familiar moment into a real conversation about sharing, fairness, and conflict resolution for kids, giving them a simple tool they can use again the next time a turn feels unfair.

Classroom games for kids that start the talk

Teachers can put this up on the screen at morning meeting or as a 5-minute SEL warm-up. The kids see the conflict, vote on what feels fair, and you have the whole class engaged and ready to talk. It works as a stand-alone classroom game, or as a quick intro before any group activity that day.

A classroom of kids watching the Fair or Not Fair Catbears game on screen while the teacher leads the discussion

Social scenarios for kids, ready to use

Therapists and parents can use the game one-on-one to bring up small social scenarios kids actually run into. Pause it after each choice and ask why. The story is short and concrete enough that even quieter kids will tell you what they think, which is usually the hard part.

How to get the most out of it

You can sit with the kids, play it through, and have a chat about what they saw. That works. But the better way: play the game before any other activity. The game gives you the words, gives the room a name for the social skill you're practicing that day. Then when you move to the activity and a real disagreement comes up, the kids already have the language for it. The activity becomes the safe space where they get to try the thing they just learned.

From watching to doing

Two Catbears kids spinning a glue stick on the table to decide whose turn it is

A smarter move than fighting over the glue

When two kids grab the same thing, the fight usually ruins it for everyone. The glue stick gets dropped, the activity stops, and nobody ends up getting what they wanted. The game gives kids a different reflex: pause, look at what's going on, and find a creative way to share it. After watching the Catbears try force first and see it backfire, kids pick up the smarter move on their own.

Catbears kids sharing the glue stick while working on a craft together

Practice in class, until it sticks

Watching the game once is the start. The real change happens when kids practice it in a regular activity right after. Our team has seen classrooms that use this lesson before group work shift fast: less grabbing, less force, more kids pausing to find a fair way. Teachers stop having to enforce sharing. It starts becoming second nature, which is not something you see every day.

About Catbears

Catbears is about helping kids get good at handling conflicts, starting young. This is one of our first social-emotional learning games. We're working on more, each one taking a real situation kids run into and giving the grown-up in the room a way to talk about it.

Fair or Not Fair? game preview

Ready to play Fair or Not Fair?

Questions parents, teachers, and therapists ask

Sharing is hard when both kids have a fair claim, so start by giving them a rule that feels fair to everyone. The game introduces one: when nobody can really say who should get it, you put the object on the table and spin it. Whoever it points to gets it now, and the next turn goes clockwise from there. Kids accept this much faster than 'you should share' because no adult is picking sides. Play the game once, then use the same rule the next time a real fight comes up at home.

Open it on the smartboard at morning meeting or as a 5-minute warm-up before a group activity. Pause after each choice and ask the class who thinks it was fair. You don't need to tell them the right answer. The disagreement IS the lesson. It works as a stand-alone classroom game for ages 4 to 8, and as a quick setup before any activity where small conflicts are likely.

Yes. The scenes are short, concrete social scenarios for kids: one friend takes something that belonged to the group, the others have to react. Pause after each option and ask why the child picked what they picked. It's a low-pressure way to get kids talking about fairness, perspective-taking, and conflict resolution.

A few friends are playing together. One of them grabs something that belongs to the whole group. The other friends notice, and the kids watching get to vote on what they think is fair. The game walks through three options the friends try: using force, telling the teacher, and putting the object on the table to spin for it. The first two fall apart. The spin works.

Telling the teacher is a real option, and the game shows it. But the teacher is often busy, and what we really want is for kids to handle small conflicts themselves. Spinning works because nobody is picking sides. The kids accept the result because the rule applied to everyone equally. That's the core idea behind a lot of conflict resolution for kids: fair process beats picking a winner.

Yes. Fair or Not Fair is a social emotional learning game focused on fairness, sharing, taking turns, and basic conflict resolution. It's designed as a discussion starter, not a quiz. Kids practice naming what's happening and choosing how to respond.

It works best for ages 4 to 8. The scenes are short and the choices are clear, so younger kids stay with it. Older kids enjoy the discussion that follows.

It's free. No account, no app to install, no ads. It runs in any browser on a phone, tablet, or computer.

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