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History: Where did the Olympic games begin?
The Greeks took part in the Olympic Games to celebrate the Greek gods,Zeus and Hera.
Task: Create a fact file about the Olympic games in ancient Greece. Youcould use the headings to help organise your ideas. Include pictures andfun facts!
Events Important dates Participants Awards
The Olympics occur every 4 years. Different countries host the Olympic games every 4 years. Can you find out how different they are to the ancient Greek games?
You could create a table like this:
Or you could talk about it with an adult.
History: What are the Olympic games like today?
Geography: Which country has hosted the Olympic games?
Geography: Which country has hosted the Olympic games?
Science: Investigate how exercise effects your heart rate.
Speed bounce
Using a chalk line, a straight stick or the line between two paving slabs, jump two footed back and forth over the line with your feet facing the same way as the line. How many jumps in 30 seconds?
Target throw
Find 5 balls/rolled up socks and challenge your family to see how many you can throw into or onto a chosen target. (Target could be a box, a hoop, a circle made from a skipping rope.
Colour reaction run
Ideally outside where there is more space, set out between 5 and 10 different coloured objects in a circle around the person in the middle (about 2 meters away in each direction). A family member then calls out different colours, and the person in the middle has to touch the correct colour object and return to the middle before the next colour is called. Count how many are touched correctly in 30 seconds.
Keep up challenge
Using a tennis racket and ball, challenge your family members to see how many bounces you can do in 30 seconds. If you don't have a tennis racket, use a rolled-up pair of socks and a hard backed book. Something like a Beano annual works well.
Possible events for your Olympic games could include the following;
Olympic Events
long jump
running
shot-put
gymnastics
shooting
judo
Art: Create your own Olympic Medals.
Olympic medals are awarded to athletes who come 1st, 2nd or 3rd intheir event. Gold is awarded to the winner who came 1st, silver isawarded to 2nd place and bronze to 3rd place.
Art: Olympic Ring Collage
The symbol of the modern Olympic Games is five interlocking rings. Thefive rings are blue, yellow, black, green and red. The five rings representthe five continents, or parts of the world which took part in the firstmodern Olympic Games.
Art: Olympic Ring Collage
The Olympic Torch
A torch was lit outside of the Temple ofHera using flames created from rays fromthe Sun. Messengers took the torch aroundthe country so that people knew about thegames.
Today the torch is lit as it was during theancient Olympic Games. The flame travelsaround Greece and then to the countrywhere the games will be taking place.
Make an Olympic torch
Can you create an animation using ScratchJr (free to download, better for younger children) or by using the Scratch website (https://scratch.mit.edu/).
If using ScratchJr here are some instruction that you can adapt to create you own Olympic version (https://www.scratchjr.org/teach/activities/run-a-race)
Don't be afraid to experiment and get things wrong, that how we learn and improve!
Olympic Animation
Many different composers have written music for the Olympics. Could you compose your own music using instruments you have in your house?
Every Thursday night you hear people using pans and wooden spoons to clap the NHS. Could you use this idea to create rhythmic patterns to clap the athletes as they win the race? Have a look around your house and see what you can find to compose some music; be as creative as you can be!
Here are some inspiring pieces of music that have been performed at the Olympics to listen to-
John Williams Olympic Fanfare and Theme
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWdOFgDQIn0
"I believe" by Nikki Yanofsky
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x31kimm
Olympic Music
