Olympics for Kids - Classroom Activities

We are always looking for ways to engage our students, including catering to their interests or introducing completely new interesting information. Many younger students have not yet had the exposure to different sporting events and different countries across the world. The Olympics are an excellent chance to promote cultural awareness, sportsmanship, fitness, hard work, and more.

Introducing the Olympics to Students

The Olympic Games are very exciting, especially for those who have never experienced them. Athletes come together from all over the world to compete and test their skills in sporting events. The Olympics are a great chance to encourage global unity. The world comes together during the Olympic games. Have students “sponsor” specific athletes, countries, or events. Research different ones and present information. Whether you focus on summer games or winter games, there are many activities that you can do to engage your students.

Take your Olympic lesson plans to the next level! You can have Olympics for kids too. The Storyboard Creator has several characters and scenes that are specifically for different sporting events. The sports characters even have special positions and props for playing their various sports. If the item you want isn't under the "Sports" character tab, type what you want in the search bar!

Our characters are customizable, so you can show many different "people colors" and match clothing colors to a country's flag. Type "flag" into the search bar to see our available flags, or make your own flags with our shapes and pattern backgrounds! Photos for Class comes in handy when looking for the right flag too, but it is perfect for digging up safe-to-use photographs of previous Olympic Games.

What are you working on in your class? Trying to build character, promote leadership, encourage cooperation, instill tolerance and cultural appreciation, develop research skills, practice presentation skills, learn about decimals, show the benefits of discipline, write a sports story? There are lots of things you can do to incorporate the Olympics into different areas of your curriculum.

Check out the following topics and ideas for a little inspiration for using the Olympics in your classroom!

• Countries of the world
• Sporting events
• Challenges of team events and individual events
• Perseverance and determination
• Planning of Olympic Games
• Olympic/Sports poetry
• History of the Olympics
• Training regimen from student in school to Olympic athlete
• Opening ceremonies
• Anatomy and body movement
• Stories/biographies of specific Olympians
• Word problems (ordering numbers, simple arithmetic, more complicated physics problems)
• Story/non-fiction article of a tense game or competition
• Research Olympic Games that were disrupted, boycotted, or cancelled
• Difference between professional and Olympic sporting events
• Track the number of medals a country wins

Make sure you check out the Official Olympics Website for information about current, past, and upcoming Olympic Games!

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Image Attributions

• Athlete John Winter winning the high jump event at the London Olympic Games, August 1948. • National Library of Australia Commons • License No known copyright restrictions (http://flickr.com/commons/usage/)
• Australasian swimming team, winners of the freestyle relay, Olympic Games, Stockholm, 1912. • National Library of Australia Commons • License No known copyright restrictions (http://flickr.com/commons/usage/)
• Banksy Olympic Javelin Thrower • dullhunk • License Attribution (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/)
• British Women’s Olympic swimming team, London, 1948. • National Media Museum • License No known copyright restrictions (http://flickr.com/commons/usage/)
• 'Decathlon reflections', Olympic Games, London, 1948. • National Media Museum • License No known copyright restrictions (http://flickr.com/commons/usage/)
• Football played barefoot, Olympic Games, London, 1948. • National Media Museum • License No known copyright restrictions (http://flickr.com/commons/usage/)
• Lacrosse at the Olympics, London, 1948. • National Media Museum • License No known copyright restrictions (http://flickr.com/commons/usage/)
• Larsson of Sweden wins 400 meters hurdles Olympic heat, London, 1948. • National Media Museum • License No known copyright restrictions (http://flickr.com/commons/usage/)
• Lionel Cox competing at the Helsinki Olympic Games, 1952 • National Library of Australia Commons • License No known copyright restrictions (http://flickr.com/commons/usage/)
• Opening of the Olympic Games in London, 29 July, 1948. • National Media Museum • License No known copyright restrictions (http://flickr.com/commons/usage/)
• Sweden and Yugoslavia in Football final at the Olympic Games, London, 1948. • National Media Museum • License No known copyright restrictions (http://flickr.com/commons/usage/)
• The finish of the men's 400 metres at the Olympic Games, London, 1948. • National Media Museum • License No known copyright restrictions (http://flickr.com/commons/usage/)
• Women’s final of 80 metres hurdles, Olympic Games, London, 1948. • National Media Museum • License No known copyright restrictions (http://flickr.com/commons/usage/)
• Wrestling at the Olympic Games, London, 1948. • National Media Museum • License No known copyright restrictions (http://flickr.com/commons/usage/)