In the spirit of Olympics, part 2

After kick-starting our Olympic study with delicious cookies and some flag fun, the kids were ready to participate. I planned a few simple “Olympic” events for the kids to participate in: cycling and running, as well as the balance beam and the discus throw. Our left-over blue painter’s tape came in very handy for the events, as well.

Middlest is fiercely competitive yet hopelessly the “little” sister; thus, I made sure that the emphasis was not as much on winning as it was on having fun. Of course, someone has to win; but I kept everything moving and didn’t dwell too much on the victories. And for those events where winning was all the fun (like running through the painter’s tape at the finish line), we took turns winning.

Then, we concluded with our own Awards Ceremony, complete with the “Olympic Fanfare” playing on my iPod followed by a performance of “O Say, Can You See,” and a picnic.

By then, Littlest had all the fun he could take. (He’s not a fan of the great outdoors right now.) We headed back to the house where I fed the little man and the “big kids” prepped themselves for the swimming events. Later, Oldest mentioned to me that he really wanted to play “Opening Ceremonies” and run with the torch, suggesting that we use our left-over July 4th sparklers. I couldn’t resist.