How to Have your own Family Olympics

Today, we had our own family Olympics!

We all made a team flag.

Don’t you love Jeremy’s? He said, “I don’t need stickers..” Then he disappeared downstairs and came back up with an arrow (without the arrow head, of course). Then, he went into the bathroom, got some toilet paper and came back out asking for some tape. Quite creative, that man I married…

But, ordering something like this plain white flag set to decorate would be a very good idea!

Then, we had our opening ceremony. Complete with a candle lighting.

I am sure that our neighbors enjoyed our parade through the back yard.

Next, we held our Olympic events.

The Javelin Throw… Daddy got the gold because he literally threw it so far that he hit our neighbor’s house. our new neighbor’s house. The girls had to run into their yard to retrieve the javelin (old broom handle).

We all tried it… Elayna took the silver and Mommy got the bronze.

We had a short break because they found some bugs… a dead wasp and a cicada shell.

Then, we had the Cotton Ball Shot Put. Daddy did not even medal in this event. Mommy took the gold, Elayna silver and Annalise bronze. I was quite happy about that… (the wind might have been greatly in my favor)

We did a Discus Throw with a paper plate. Annalise took gold, Daddy silver and Abby bronze. These plates would be cute for this activity or for lunch!

Then we kicked a soccer ball… er, toy ball. Elayna gold, Mommy silver and Daddy bronze (he hit this ball so hard that it went up into the tree before falling to the ground)

Next up was the obstacle course. The course was made up of a few fun things: walking a “balance beam”, writing your name with chalk, going down the slide and through the pool, hitting the baseball across the grass and over the jump rope, and then jumping over some logs in the grass.

Mommy totally rocked this event:

Mommy: 22 seconds
Daddy: 25 seconds
Abby: 40 seconds
Elayna: 41 seconds
Annalise: 46 seconds

Once again, I impressed Jeremy with my incredible athletic ability (I actually only beat Jeremy because we forgot to reset the course before Jeremy took his turn, but I still accept the win.) If you know how much I do NOT do athletic activities, you understand the fun in actually winning.

At the end, the girls each got to pick an event to do by themselves. They each got the gold in their event.

Elayna chose gymnastics and Annalise chose synchronized swimming.

Abby chose surfing. on the swing. And she showed us all of her “surfing” tricks.

We had so much fun and it was a great way to not only spend time as a family but also get a better understanding of how the Olympic games work in real life!

Oh, and don’t forget to have a lifeguard on hand at all times.

See this little face?

She declared herself the lifeguard for our events.

The lifeguard of our tiny kiddie pool.

And, she took her job very seriously.

“Just like the lifeguards at camp,” she said.

Too cute… that littlest lifeguard…

For our closing ceremony, we grilled some chicken and had a yummy lunch together.

Here are a few more Olympics resources for you!

2012 Olympic Lapbook from Homeschool Share

Olympics Pinterest Board from CurrChoice

Olympic Themed Booklet from Study Ladder

Go for the Gold Bingo from Real Advice Gal

How to Make an Olympic Torch from Hoosier Homemade

History of the Games by David GoldBlatt

And a few other items to make the day fun!

Olympic Rings

Medals

Olympic Flag

Flag Banner and Tablecloth

It was obviously summer when we held our family Olympics but this would also work great in the winter. Get your kids planning and make sure they are very involved in helping you have your great Olympic day!

Enjoy! Let me know if you have your own family Olympics!

Save

Save