Tomorrow is the opening ceremony of the 2012 Summer Olympics. Every four years I look forward to the Summer Olympics when it comes. I love to watch as much of it and as many of the different competitions as possible. I watch everything!
It inspires and amazes me to watch athletes perform at the world’s highest level. I love learning about what it took for them to get their and appreciate their hard work and dedication.
A Family Affair
This year is extra special because I will get to enjoy it with my family. The last time around our oldest child was 7 and the youngest at the time was 2. This year they will be 11, 6, and the youngest/newest is 2. And all three of them enjoy watching sports with me. We plan on making it a family experience. Although my wife isn’t a huge sports fan, she gets into the personal backgrounds and stories of the athletes.
No matter your interest level in sports, take advantage of this once every four year experience and create some Olympic family fun! Here are some suggestions on what you can do:
1. Learn some Olympic history and facts. Do you know what the Olympic motto is and what it means? Did you know the gold medals are not real gold? What do you know about the host city and some of the participating countries. Go to the library together, or open up your favorite search engine and find some cool and interesting facts.
2. Find interesting Olympic athletes and stories. This year there is an athlete competing who does not have a country. Talk about me against the world! To many athletes competing in the Olympics is the ultimate goal of their life and have amazing stories of trial and triumph just to get there.
3. Olympics bracket challenge…March Madness style. We will all be pulling for the United States to rack up as many gold, silver and bronze medals as possible. However, you can add some fun by each family member randomly choosing countries and keeping track of the medal count. Find a list of competing countries, put them in a hat and randomly draw them out. The family member whose country, or countries, collects the most points/medals wins. You can decide on the prize.
4. GETActive Olympic style. Go bike riding, run a mile as a family, play volleyball or tennis at the park. Have a sit-up, chin-up, or balance competition. Make sure it is something that everybody can do to some extent and try one activity per day during the Olympics. You can spend 30 minutes per day doing this. Have the kids create some medals with construction paper or cardboard and complete the competitions with Olympic medal ceremonies.
5. Challenge your friends and other families. Contact some of your friends and extended family, and challenge them to a friendly competition. Create a list of relay competitions for each family to compete, meet up at someone’s home, or the park and compete family against family! If possible have the kids from each family create medals for each of the events. Have fun friendly Olympic-style competition with your friends and extended family.
Setting up fun family activities and Olympic-theme competitions will only add to the excitement and enjoyment of this year’s Olympic games. Try some of these suggestions out, or create your own. When all is said and done you will be creating wonderful experiences and memories that your family will remember for a long time.
Question: What ideas can you add that will create a fun family experience to enjoy this year’s Olympics? Please share in the comment section below.
SPACE
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