If you know me {IRL, that is!} you may know that I am slightly obsessed with the Olympics. When the Summer Olympics were in Atlanta, I remember getting a plastic torch water bottle and pretending to run around. Every Olympics thereafter, I always snagged a new shirt, pencil case, jacket, you name it!
One year {again, I think it was the ’96 Atlanta Olympics!} my sister bought me a highlights VHS and I watched that thing all. the. time. {Friends…I was super cool 🤣} These days I don’t buy the highlight DVD BUT I still love the excitement, camaraderie, and pageantry of the Olympics!
So obviously, I love to share the excitement of the Olympic Games with my students in the classroom!
Keep reading to find some fun ideas for celebrating the Olympics in your classroom with games and activities for your students!
Language Arts Ideas for the Games
My favorite way to incorporate the Winter Games is sprinkling in the fun into our learning. These Language Arts Centers skills cover important skills that your students are already trying to master – from alphabetizing to parts of speech.
This Winning Words activity gives your students a chance to create real and nonsense words.
And we all know how challenging it is for our young learners to distinguish between asking and telling sentences {espeically if you’ve EVER opened up the floor during a read-aloud, right?!}
Five Language Arts activities, along with printable worksheets can be found in the pack!
Math Ideas for the Olympic Games
Slipping in some math practice with the Olympic Games theme is sure to get your students excited about the events! This math unit includes five activities covering skills from matching clocks to true and ordering numbers.
These place value puzzles give your students exposure to flags of the world at the same time they’re practicing important number recognition strategies.
Can you think of a harder skill for young mathematicians than true or false equations? Sheesh! This fun Olympic activity will motivate your students to sort and record the answers in the correct column.
You can find five activities plus five math worksheets for the Winter Games inside the Math unit!
Want to use both the Math and Language Arts activities in your classroom? Check out the Olympics bundle!
Related: Printable Math Worksheets for 1st Grade
Kindness Medals
We all love a good excuse to sneak in a cute craft + writing prompt, right? Well, I’ve got TWO writing FREEBIES for you to celebrate kindness in your classroom with a Winter Games tie-in.
Hand out Kindness Medals to your students when you catch them being good!
Related Reading: Student Recognition Ideas
Or…invite classmates to give out Kindness Medals to their classmates. You could throw everyone’s name in a bucket and each student pulls out a name and writes about that student.
How cute is this Kindness Medal bulletin board you can create?
Kindness Torches Activity
I absolutely love this Kindness activity that you can turn into a darling Winter Games bulletin board! Each student gets a chance to write about a classmate and how they have been kind.
And if you’re students are a little too small to write, you can always make a fun handprint torch!
Luke was quite proud of his torch {and he started running through the house 🤣}
Want to snag these FREE Winter Games Crafts? Enter your info below! {Btw, it’s best to enter your personal email address – school spam filters make it tough to get through!}
Olympic Activities for Students Recap
Certainly. Here’s a slightly less casual version while still maintaining a touch of enthusiasm:
You now have some great ideas for engaging in Olympic-themed classroom activities, games, and crafts in language arts, mathematics, and character education.
From skill-building exercises to creative kindness projects, these ideas offer elementary teachers fun ways to incorporate the spirit of the Games into their daily lessons. With these resources, teachers can inspire their students to reach for gold in their studies and interactions with others.
I hope you will spread the Winter Games love in your classroom!
