Eyes to See - Bring the Olympic Spirit Home // 7 Ways to Make the Olympics Exciting for Your Kids

Bring the Olympic Spirit Home // 7 Ways to Make the Olympics Exciting for Your Kids

February 25, 2014 by Denise in Family and Faith

7 Ways to Make the Olympics Exciting for Your Kids

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I still clearly remember watching the Olympics as a child — the joy, the heartache, the triumph, the patriotism. But what I remember even clearer are the Olympics I re-created — the ice skating routines in my living room, the bobsledding in my yard, the racing on my skis.

At two, my oldest, was already obsessed with snowboarding, and he walked around our house for weeks in great anticipation of the Sochi Olympics. “Watch the ‘lympics mama?” We woke him up to watch the men’s snowboard halfpipe final; and sure enough, the next morning he was using a blanket to make a halfpipe between the armrests of a chair and practicing tricks with his Toy Boarders.

Needless to say, with the return of the games going on now, I’d love to pass on the inspiration and excitement to both my boys.

Here are a 7 ways to make the Olympics exciting your kids:

Create a mini indoor winter wonderland! For B’s 5th birthday, we had a snowboard theme. In July. So, we found some fake snow and used the mini boarders to create an awesome mini halfpipe in a container. We also use flour as fake snow on a regular basis. And of course, if you’re like us, living in Maine, you can just go outside!
- Get some fake snow: SnoWonder Instant Snow Artificial Snow – Mix Makes 10 Gallons of Fake Snow
- Toy Boarders are endless fun: Mindtwister USA AJ’s Toy Boarders Snowboard Series 1 Action Figures, Original Green
- Play some mini-figure hockey: Kaskey Kids Hockey Guys – Includes 2 Full Teams and More
Get Outside! It’s so fun to skate, sled, snowboard or ski, all while dreaming of being able to mimic the Olympians on TV. They make it look easy, and with a little imagination, we can be right there with them. You can even help them dress the part!
Host award ceremonies. Stairs make the perfect podium, and you can play the anthem on your phone. Pick up some Gold Medals to hand out, color some American flags (and even Olympic flags, too) and have yourself a ceremony!
Watch the games! This is a little obvious, but it’s a huge part of the fun. To make it extra special – and memorable – wake the kids up to see their favorite sport or let them stay up late!
Do some activities!
- Woo Jr. has some excellent free activities: coloring pages and Bingo
- I love this sticker activity book from Usborne: Usborne Winter Sports Sticker Book
- Make the Olympic rings – you can use Legos or
- Have a good map book around to talk about where all the athletes are from. I love this Maps book, and it has all the countries flags in the front and back flaps, which could make a fun spotting game during the opening ceremony. There’s a company book, too: Maps Activity Book.
Watch inspiring Olympic movies.
- We just watched Miracle a few days ago, and I would say Cool Runnings is a must.
Read some Olympic books!
- Here’s a whole series of books including: Winter Olympic Sports: Speed Skating, Winter Olympic Sports: Bobsled and Luge Winter Olympic Sports: Figure Skating, Winter Olympic Sports: Skiing, Winter Olympic Sports: Snowboarding, and Winter Olympic Sports: Ice Hockey and Curling.
- For younger kids, these picture books look great! SNOWMAN PAUL at the WINTER OLYMPICS (Volume 2) and Snowman Paul Returns to the Winter Olympics