Fun Olympics-Inspired Activities for Preschoolers

Every 4 years the world comes together to celebrate the summer games. 

Unfortunately the 2020 games were canceled, along with so many other celebrations around the world.  That makes this year’s upcoming World Games even more exciting.  

Watching the games as a family is always fun.  But why stop there?  

This year bring the games to life in your own backyard with these Olympic Activities for Preschoolers.

Being one of the people chosen to carry the torch is a huge honor.

Your child will love creating their very own torch to celebrate the games. 

Olympic Torch Craft for Preschoolers  

Trace your child’s hand 3-4 times on orange construction paper.  You can also use a mixture of orange, red, and yellow to make it look even more like the flames.

Cut out the handprints and use clear tape to secure them to the inside of an empty paper towel tube.  

Take it a step further, and recreate running and passing the torch to each other. 

Preschool Olympic Games

Host your own family version of the games with these events inspired by some of the traditional events.  

Shot-Put Activity: 

• Fill water balloons ahead of time.  You will need at least 1 water balloon for each participant.    
• Draw a line on the sidewalk with sidewalk chalk, and have kids stand on the line and throw the water balloon shot-put style (with their hand at their shoulder to start).  
• Measure and see who throws the balloon the farthest.

Standing Long Jump: 

• Use sidewalk chalk to draw a line at the edge of the sidewalk.  
• Have the kids stand on the line and then jump as far as they can.
• Measure how far each athlete jumps.   
• You can have each child jump twice and see if they can beat their own distance.

100 Meter Sprint:

• There are 3 different sprinting events in the real games:  100 meter, 200 meters, & 400 meters.  
• Determine how far you think your participants can run, and mark the start and finish lines.  (We made ours 100 feet.)
• Line your athletes up and let them race! 

Hurdles:

• Gather up a few empty packing boxes and line them up in the grass.  Make sure to leave plenty of space between them.  
• Have kids take turns running and jumping over the cardboard box hurdles.  
• Want to see who was fastest?  Use a timer and make it official.  Or, just let them run the hurdles for fun.  

Ring Toss:

• While a ring toss is not an actual event, there is a discus throw.  This idea was inspired by that, and created with preschoolers in mind.  
• Tape your torch to the floor.  
• Create rings with paper plates by cutting out the inner circle.  
• See who can toss the ring to land over the torch.  (We discovered that thicker paper plates worked better for this.  The super thin and light ones had to be dropped over the torch.)

Silly Preschool Games: 

• Grab some pool noodles and create your own events that will make them giggle, including a frisbee toss and pool noodle arches to go through. 

Medal Ceremony:

• Have several athletes competing?  
• Hold a medal ceremony after each event, or at the end of your backyard games.  
• You can easily make your own medals.  Or you might even find some at the dollar store.  

Olympic Activities for Kids

Flag Craft:  Recycled cardboard tubes help even the littlest crafters to create the flag from the famous World Games.

World Games Yoga:  Have fun with these yoga poses inspired by the events.

STEM Relay Race:  Discover what the rings on the flag from the Olympics mean.  Then use those rings in a fun and super simple STEM activity.  

Rings Color Sort:  Create your very own set of paper plate rings and use them in this color sort activity that is perfect for toddlers and preschoolers.  

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• Preschool STEM Activities