The Olympic Games are a global celebration of athleticism, respect and excellence. Bringing the spirit of the Olympics into the classroom can inspire students, foster teamwork, and create an engaging learning environment. Here are ten exciting classroom activities that will immerse students in the Olympic experience, enhancing their knowledge and skills while celebrating the essence of this historic event.
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Host Your Own Opening Ceremonies
Kick off your classroom Olympics with a vibrant opening ceremony! Begin by having students create flags representing different countries participating in the Olympics. Older students can enhance this by researching their chosen country, noting details such as location, capital, population, main industries and so on. I put a free flag template and other resources in the description below..
Next, showcase clips from past Olympic opening ceremonies to set the tone. These performances captivate students and add a festive atmosphere to your classroom event. Do the opening parade. Students walk around the class, waving their flags. When they sit down, each student comes to the front of class to introduce their country.
Conduct Your Own Olympics
Turn everyday tasks into a fun and competitive relay game. Organize students into teams, giving each team member a task card. Each student must complete their task before the next teammate can start. The team that finishes first wins, promoting teamwork and adding excitement to learning activities.
Other possible games:
Olympic Spelling Bee
Hold a spelling bee using words related to the Olympics, such as “gymnastics,” “decathlon,” and “ceremony.”
Olympic Reading Relay
Divide the class into teams. Each team reads a passage about the Olympics and answers comprehension questions. Passages get progressively harder. Students stand in the back of class, place the passages in front. Students take turns to run to the front, read the passage, then going to the back and answering the comprehension questions.
Olympic Fact Hunt
Hide fact cards about the Olympics around the classroom. Students find the cards and complete a worksheet with questions based on the facts they discover.
Ring or Bean-Bag Toss
Set up targets and have students throw rings or bean bags to score points.
Meet the Athletes! Research Project
Students can choose an Olympic athlete to research and present to the class. They gather information about the athlete’s home country, sport, age, past victories, and personal background.
Students can showcase their findings through:
PowerPoint or Google Slides presentations
Pretend interviews
Posters
Timelines
Social media profiles
News anchor role-plays
First-person narratives
Diary entries
Podcast episodes
Create Your Own Sport
Encourage creativity by having students invent a new sport. They should outline the rules, explain how it’s played, and create illustrations or models. This activity promotes creativity and descriptive writing skills.
Olympic Medal Predictions
Students predict which countries will win the most medals and track their progress throughout the games. Create a big poster in class, let the students participate and add medals to their country each day. Play a game or let students take part in a lottery to choose who gets which country.
They can write short reports on the outcomes, fostering analytical thinking and writing skills.
Sports Commentator Simulation
Show short clips of Olympic events and have students practice being sports commentators, describing the action in English. This activity improves speaking and descriptive language skills. Alternatively, students can research and narrate their favorite Olympic stories, sharing notable achievements and events.
I made another video for our English channel on 100 useful expressions to do at the Olympics.
Map Host Cities
Use geography to help students learn about the locations of past Olympic Games. Mark the host cities on a classroom world map or provide individual maps for students to label. This activity enhances spatial reasoning and global awareness. A quiz on dates and host cities can reinforce learning.
Design an Olympic Mascot
Students design their own Olympic mascot and write a description explaining its significance and characteristics. They can also design a team uniform using the Team Uniform worksheet, imagining they are representing their country in an international sports event. Additionally, crafting an Olympic torch can be a fun and symbolic activity.
Olympic Sports Charades
Students act out different Olympic sports without speaking while their classmates guess the sport. I’’ve added a worksheet with activities, cut them out and place them in a bowl. A student comes to the front of class, picks a sport and acts it out. This activity encourages physical activity and sharpens non-verbal communication skills.
Host the Closing Ceremonies
Conclude your classroom Olympics with a closing ceremony. Create traditional silver, gold, and bronze medals for students, or transition this into your end-of-year award ceremony. Honor each student with title like Class Comedian, History Buff, and Kindness Champion, making the event memorable and inclusive.