While the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo were postponed due to Covid, they are now set to begin on Friday, July 23rd, 2021 and end on Sunday, August 8th.

I have found many great Summer Olympics Activities and Resources that could be used not only for this year, but for any year of the Summer Olympic Games.

Even though we are off from official school during the summer, events like the Summer Olympics are something we try to engage with and learn about as they are happening as that is when they are most interesting and exciting.

There are resources here for students of all ages with many adaptable to use with multiple ages!

Summer Olympics Activities

Here are some of the Summer Olympics activities and resources we are using to help us learn about the games and to keep us more actively involved in this major event in history.

1. You Are An Artist

My daughter has loved using chalk pastels from the moment we first picked up one of the You Are An Artist books. {Note: You will often see us use oil pastels with these as well.}

We have started diving in to the Summer Games  book as we watch the Olympic Trials and follow along on the road to the 2016 Summer Games.

2. Online Resources

1. Summer Games Online Unit Study

This course has five modules:

• History of the Olympics
• Traditions of the Olympics
• Becoming an Olympian
• 2021 Summer Games
• Project: Olympics Puzzle Collection

2. The home of the Olympic Games

This is the official Olympic site with links to the past and future games as well everything you want and need to know to keep up with the action! This is a GO TO RESOURCE!

3. All About the Olympics Power Point

Perfect for whole-class teaching, this colorful Olympics PowerPoint Presentation is packed with illustrations and interesting information to help support your teaching and engage children in the Olympic Games.

By downloading this Olympics PowerPoint Presentation, you will receive informative slides to introduce your students to the history of the Olympics. This includes when the Olympics began, and all about the fascinating Ancient Greek Games. 

Students will then be presented with real-life action shots of various Olympic sports, including long jump, running, shot-put, gymnastics, shooting, and judo. This aims to increase students’ knowledge about the Olympics, as well as inspire children to get involved with new sports and activities.   

Students will also be introduced to Olympics medals, the Olympic torch, and Olympic rings. These are all key elements of the Olympic Games and helps student’s to understand their use, symbolism, and importance. 

This Olympics PowerPoint Presentation also covers the Paralympic games, helping students to gain a wider understanding of the development of sport and inclusivity. 

Finally, alongside recent hosts of the Olympic Games, students will be also introduced to the 2020 Olympic Games, which will be held in Tokyo, Japan, in 2021. 

4. Mathematics and the Summer Olympics

In this Webquest you will explore basic facts about the Summer Olympics and math connections to this international event. You will also engage in several related activities. These tasks will require a computer, access to the web, paper and pencil.

Here are some of the activities:

• Choose your favorite countries and make a graph of their medal counts for past Olympics. How do you think they will fare this summer in London?
  
• Keep track of your favorite athletes. For example, compare your favorite athlete’s performance during the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing to his/her performance in the 2012 Summer Olympic Games. Does the athlete’s performance improve or decline? By how many points? meters? seconds?
  
• Keep track of the numbers and types of medals earned by certain countries participating in the 2012 Summer Olympic Games. They can then compare this medal count to those earned in 2008.

5. Olympic Fun Facts

Check out this collection of facts about the Olympics including things like:

• What do the 5 rings represent?
• What country has won the most medals?
• When was the Olympics first televised?
• And More!

3. Printables

• Olympic Medal Count Printable
• Gear Up for the Summer Olympics from Scholastic includes short history of the Olympic Games as well as printables.
• Olympic Medal Count Bulletin Board Printables – While this was for the 2012 Olympics, it can easily be used again with slight modification.
• Summer Olympics Scavenger Hunt As soon as they see an event or a symbol on TV have them mark it off. You can add as many rules as you want. For even more fun have them start a scrapbook where they include photos or stories that match the scavenger hunt items.
• Famous Olympians – a collection of posters, colouring pages, worksheets, writing pages and fun facts about some of the most famous Olympians of all time!

FREE Summer Olympics Lapbook

This lapbook includes:

• Geography: Mapping the route of the Olympic torch; Flags;
• Math: Graphing medals;
• History: Traditions & Symbols of the Olympic games; Olympic Timeline; Ancient Olympic History; Modern Olympics
• Science: Health & Nutrition;
• Language Arts: Write an athlete’s biography; other writing exercises
• Art: Design an Olympic Logo

FREE Summer Olympics Printable Pack

Summer Olympics Pack contains over 100 pages:

• (Part 1) 3 Part Cards, Which one is Different, What Comes Next?, Prewriting Practice, Pattern Cards, Matching Cards, 4 Piece Puzzles, 10 Piece Puzzles, Clip & Count to 15
• (Part 2) Beginning Sound, Find the Same, Cutting Practice, Size Sequencing, Sorting, Sorting by Size, Wall Cards, Trace Beginning Sound, Trace the Word, Write the Word, Medal Math Hands on Page (Addition, subtraction, Greater Than/Less Than, Counting)
• (Part 3) Color the Pattern, Color by Size, Fill in the Missing Pattern, Read Write and Count the Room, 8 page Small Books, Ring Color By Number, Dot Marker Olympic Rings, Stamp Beginning Sound
• (Tot Pack) Solid Line Prewriting, Counting, Cutting Practice, 2 Piece Puzzle, Color the Ring Book, Matching Cards, 9 Piece Puzzles

The Summer Olympic Games – Tokyo 2020 (2021)

In this FREE Summer Olympics unit study, you and your children will work through an 9-day guide with reading passages (included), printable maps, and notebooking pages.

This free download contains everything you need for a thorough overview of Japan—perfect for the history and geography components of your Summer Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 homeschool unit study.

• Discover Japan’s active volcano—Mount Fuji, or Fujiyama
• learn how Japan has become one of the world’s top economic powers
• meet the people of Japan and explore Japanese culture
• sketch a simple timeline of major events in Japan’s history
• create a calendar marking various Japanese holidays
• create a Japanese-English dictionary
• participate in a traditional Japanese tea ceremony
• and more!

Gold Silver and Bronze Medals

4. Book Resources

What are the Summer Olympics?

Learn all about the history of the summer games by reading this Who Was Book… What are the Summer Olympics?

Use these FREE Printable Who Was Notebooking Pages for kids to write what they learned!

~ Originally Published July 2016 for the Rio Games