Fun Ways to Celebrate the Olympics with Kids
Torch Bearer’s Obstacle Course
The opening ceremonies are WAY too slow to keep children’s interest. So stage your own (while you watch it in the background if you would be disappointed to miss it.) Tape bits of orange and yellow tissue paper to a flashlight, then work out an obstacle course for each child, so they have a chance to pass the torch on to the next runner. The last runner can “light the olympic flame” if you make a poster with a slit in the middle. When the child touches the “torch” to the poster, pull a tab in the back to pull the “flame” (more tissue paper) out of the slit. The kids will understand what they are doing a little better if you have shown them pictures of some of the runners carrying a torch, and explained the history of the olympic flame, and told stories of the run up to this olympics--how the flame nearly went out during a leg of the race in a drenching downpour, etc.
“Olympic Rings” Dessert
Whether you kick off the olympic season by simply putting colored icing on 5 plain doughnuts and arranging them in the olympic pattern, or whether you make it a real extravaganza by making a track and field event on top of a sheet cake with Teddy Grahams as olympic athletes, it is sure to be a huge hit. When it comes to kids, food bumps up the excitement value of any event! You can make it a regular party by decorating yourselves and the house with the colors of the flag. If each person has a flag, you can all wave them to cheer on the athletes as they are straining to win a medal. Use noise makers to celebrate each medal as it is awarded. The more raucous the celebration, the better!
Re-Tell the News
As the Olympics approach, when ever you hear something in the news that might pique your kids’ interest, tell them about it and show them any pictures or video clips there might be. The more of the back story they know about particular athletes, the more exciting the events will be. What kid wouldn’t be fascinated to hear that male gymnasts use honey on their hands to keep from slipping off the parallel bars (Wall Street Journal.) In the last summer olympics, there was a legally blind archer, and a double amputee runner with titanium blade feet. The back-stories this time will be different, but your kids are not likely to hear about them unless you tell them.
Make or Buy a Chart
Look online for websites have that have charts of the various olympic events. For a homemade version, get a poster board, and make a chart. Let your kids keep track of each medal won by your country’s athletes. Gold, sliver, and bronze stickers would be fun, or they can just draw the medals under a heading for each event. If you want to keep it even more simple, simply draw one each of a gold, silver, and bronze medals across the top, then write tally marks as each medal is earned. The kids won’t know when this happens, so you will need to keep up in the news, then let them know what has happened. It is much more exciting if you watch the events, but you may not be able to watch them all.
Chocolate Gold Medals
If you want to keep the enthusiasm at fever pitch, pass out chocolate coins wrapped in gold foil each time an athlete wins a gold medal. Of course, if you follow the olympics closely, you may have to hand out as many as 40 “gold medals,” so you may want to keep it to the events you are following closely!!
Find Out About the Host Country
Kids love to find out about other countries, so use the olympics as an excuse to find out all about the host country. Whether you try the food, watch their movies, check out books about the country from the library, or watch travel shows, it can be fascinating for kids! Of course you could find out about all kinds of countries, or hold a competition to see who can learn to identify the most flags.
Design a Logo or Mascot
If your son or daughter is an artist, he or she may not be so interested in the sports aspect of the games. However, if you show them the logos and mascots from past olympics as well as this one, they might be inspired to come up with their own design for the next olympics. Make it a competition, and everyone in the family can submit entries. Then everyone can vote on the winner. If having one winner would cause problems, make sure each child gets an award--the funniest, the most colorful, the most unusual, etc.
Design Uniforms
My kids loved designing sports uniforms and shoes as they were growing up. Even in high school, my son got permission to design the uniforms for their basketball team. So if you have an artist or fashionista in the house, this could be a really fun activity. They can draw the designs, or put together outfits that they put on from their own clothes. If they don’t have items that work, you could make a trip to Goodwill and find needed items. They could design T-shirts on the computer like the ones sold at the olympics, and print them out on special paper sold at craft stores. You can iron on the design for them, and let them wear their own designs during the olympic weeks. Be sure to take photos!
Vote for the Most Stylish Uniforms
Let each person in the family vote for their favorite uniforms as they watch the various events. An easy way to do it would be to write the names of countries down the side of the paper, then let each person write a score from 1 to 10 for each of the categories-- evaluate the sporting uniform, the clothes they wear at the medaling service and the opening ceremony. (article in Time Magazine)
Be the Commentator
If you have a talker in the house, capitalize on that strength and let him be the commentator. Turn down the sound on the T.V., and let your child be the commentator. Of course, the more your child knows about that sport and the competing athletes, the better she can talk about it. A real microphone is the most fun, but a flashlight or hairbrush will stand in just fine.
Figures to Re-enact the Events
If your children play with dolls, be they GI-Joe or Barbies, help them make sports equipment so they can re-enact the events they watched on T.V. Fill the bathtub with water for swimming, diving, or synchronized swimming. Draw basketball or soccer lines on ping-pong balls, and rig goals out of paper cups (for basketball) or cardboard boxes (for soccer.) Special gymnastic Barbies come with jointed limbs and are packaged with parallel bars to flip around. My daughter got these for a present when she was taking gymnastic lessons. If your daughter is fascinated with gymnastics, and if these are still sold, it might make a great birthday gift. Toy horses can enable them to re-enact equestrian events. You can probably come up with even more ideas.
Olympic Newspaper Written by Kids
If your kids are really excited about particular events, stretch out that interest, and encourage them to write an article about each event they watch--all your kids can participate. Then make copies of the newspaper, and circulate them around to friends and family. Getting feedback from people who read their newspaper can be a huge encouragement, and could even spark an interest in writing.
Read Books and Magazines about Olympics Past and Present
Take advantage of libraries and the internet to find out about sports heroes. The library can be a goldmine for this. If you can’t find kids’ books about the olympics, go ahead and check out books or sports magazines for adults, and show them the pictures, and retell the interesting stories so they can understand it.
Adapt a Board Game
Cut out squares of paper, and keep them handy near the T.V. along with some pens or pencils. Everyone can make up questions about the events as they watch them, and write them on the papers. Fold the papers in half, then put the answer on the inside, so no one will accidentally read the answer. Use a game board you already own along with the question cards that everyone made up, and adjust the rules, if needed. This activity is a fun way to encourage writing skills, thinking skills, and memory skills.
Throw a Victory Party
Whether it is a party to rejoice over the final count of medals, or if it is a celebration for a hard fought contest, a party can extend the jubilee. Food, of course, makes any event feel like a party. Any food is fine, but having at least one food to be in the shape of the olympic circles will make it feel like an olympic party. Decorations in the colors of the flag can be fun, but are not essential.
If you don’t act quickly, the opportunity will pass you by--the olympics only last a couple of weeks, and by the time they roll around the next time, your kids will be in middle school or high school! The good thing is, what ever you get excited about watching, chances are good that your kids will follow your lead, and get excited about it, too. Realistically, a lot of the olympic drama plays out so slowly that it is hard to keep the kids interested. Here are a few ideas to work around those boring aspects.
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Family Fun > Fun Ways to Celebrate the Olympics with Kids
Family Fun > Fun Ways to Celebrate the Olympics with Kids