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The 2014 Winter Olympics are providing a great excuse for us to do a mini-unit study, watch tv and make crafts! I don’t know how in-depth we’ll end up going but we are having fun with some introductory activities for all ages. Here are some of the crafts and lessons we have worked on so far plus a few resources:

Olympic Diorama

One of our first crafts was to make an Olympic torch. You can find a ton of examples on Pinterest. We just kept ours simple with what we had on hand: toilet paper tube, paint, and non-flame colored tissue paper :). My girls, ages 3 -7, each made their own torch. Then my 15yr. old and 7 yr. old worked together to create an Olympic ice-skating diorama box. First they watched an ice-skating routine online, then they gathered paint and hot glue and worked together. Figures were hand-drawn by my 15 yr. old. My 7 yr. old painted, glues and drew other details in the scene. What was great about this project was that I didn’t plan it! It was something the two of them decided to do together! It makes me smile that they forgot the “n” and had to add it in there. Great collaborative project!

Olympic Chalk Art

We are big fans of Nana’s chalk art tutorials from @southerhodgepodge! Of course we had to check out her newest tutorials: (afflink) A Simple Start in Chalk Pastels: Winter Olympics. What I love about these tutorial is that children of all ages can do these lessons. Sure, they won’t all turn out the same, but I can gather my kids ranging from 3yrs. old to 15yrs. old and have them all work together!

Olympic Chalk Art

On this particular day we worked on a bobsled project. It didn’t matter that the 3 yr. old only wanted to draw people. She learned how to handle the chalk and she loves being a part of the art action. See how proud she is of her work?

Edible Olympic Medals

Edible Olympic Medal

I did not come up with this on my own, but my 15 yr. old dd found it on Pinterest. Oreos and fruit tape! Such a great idea. My girls enjoyed this activity.

Olympic Unit Study by Amanda Bennett

We have used Amanda Bennett Unit Studies on and off through the years. I usually purchase them for my children to learn about specific interests they might have. I really like that she has everything planned for you, and if you have an independent reader, that child can work through most of the work on their own. I saw that she had a unit for the Olympics, so of course in order to make things easier for me, I picked it up! Every day students read and visit carefully screened videos on the topic. There are map activities, notebooking, book recommendations and more.

On the first day we pulled out our favorite World Map and the girls had to find Russia. (We practiced singing about the 7 continents too while the girls jumped on each continent.) Next we viewed several online videos about the Olympics (that were linked in the unit study) and then filled out our own map. All three girls now know where Sochi is on the map!