Fun Ways to Watch and Enjoy the Olympics with your Kids

The 2014 Winter Olympics can be fun for the whole family. Getting the kids involved in the excitement of the Olympics can bring everyone together and can be a learning experience as well. There are some things that you can do at home to encourage your kids to want to learn more about the Winter Olympics and watch some of the events with you.

Host your own Olympic Games. Turning something into a game is an easy way to get kids excited about something. To bring the Winter Olympics to life in your home make your own Olympic games. Make sure that the games are age appropriate and something that the kids will enjoy. For the event of ice skating, have your kids put on their sneakers and pretend like they are ice skates and have them show off their own figure skating routine. For ice hockey, you can use brooms for hockey sticks and balls for pucks. Get creative and have the kids help you think of ideas. Don’t forget to hand each kid their own medal after they have competed.

Research the games together.  The best way to teach your kids about the Winter Olympics is to learn about it together. Research things like the different events that will be played as well as the history of the Olympics. Set up a poster board and have the kids write down points about the Winter Olympics that they think are important. You can even have them make a list of events that they want to watch as well as what time they will be aired.

Cook Olympic inspired snacks. What kids doesn’t love a fun snack? There are many different special Olympic inspired treats that you and your kids can make together. Kids can take 5 donuts and put different colored frosting on each one to symbolize the Olympic rings. You can also fill an ice cream cone with vanilla ice cream and pour red sprinkles over the top to make it look like an Olympic torch. I have seen the same done with an ice cream cone and cheddar cheese popcorn to look like a torch. Decorate cupcakes and use different color fruit loops on top to represent the Olympic rings.

Olympics Crafts:  Use left over paper towel card board and construction paper to make an Olympic torches.  Use red, blue and gold ribbon and construction paper to make medals. There is Olympic Bingo and lots of free coloring pages you can print online as well.  Research the craft projects together to see which ones interest your children the most.

Throw your own Winter Olympics viewing party. Everything is better with friends. Allow your children to invite some of their friends to come over and view the Olympics with you. Your children and their friends can cheer own their favorite athletes together while eating some of the Olympic inspired snacks you made earlier. Encourage your child to tell their friends about some of the things they learned while researching the Olympics.

Make the Olympics a family affair. This is the perfect opportunity to make memories with your children. Since the 2014 Winter Olympics are being broadcast from February 7 through February 23 there will be many different opportunities to bring your family together to cheer on your favorite athletes. Follow our board on Pinterest!