Last week, we had an Olympic Games day at our library, and it was so much fun! The kids really had a blast, and it was so simple to put on—simple but genius, as our librarians tend to always be!-that I decided that we need to host such a thing in our homeschool group, as well.
To host your own Olympics, plan out a few events and invite the kids (or friends—adults can do this, too) over for the event. Be sure to have plenty of water at the ready, as well as snacks for hungry kids. Doing these events at a park may be the easiest way, since you can play real volleyball and such if you want to—but you can also keep it simple with string and balloons like our librarians did. Here are just a couple of fun activities you can do.
Tug-Of-War: This game is easy enough to do if you have a rope. Do it over a mud puddle if you can! I’d say do it over a kiddie wading pool, but that could be quite dangerous, especially if anyone trips.
Volleyball: Hang some string across the yard and divide the kids into two teams. Then use a large balloon as your ball! This is so much fun to watch and play, especially since the balloon takes so much more effort than a real volleyball. This is a great way to tire everybody out and sleep well!
Shot-put: Our librarian had everyone throw a small balloon; after each person’s turn, she marked their progress with a taped piece of paper with his or her name on it. Some balloons didn’t go very far; others were carried off in the breeze! This is something that you could experiment with, using water balloons as well.
Relay Races: You know the drill here; you run around the track and pass off your baton (in this case, rolled up, taped paper) to the next person on your team, making it their turn; the team who finishes first, wins. During our game, the kids had to tag each tree in the front of the library in order to complete a lap.
In addition to all of these fun activities, you can of course feel free to include your own. How about holding something in a spoon (maybe a grape so as not to waste eggs?) and running with it, or potato sack races (you can use pillow cases if you want), or a Hopscotch match?