The 2024 Olympics are around the corner! Get into the spirit of games with these Olympics-themed activities.
Assign a research project about past Olympics
Throughout its 100+ year history, the Olympics have gone through many interesting world events. Assign your students a research project about the Olympics and uncover the trials and tribulations the games have faced over the years.
Olympics newspaper project
With the global nature of the Olympics, hundreds of local newspapers in each country focus on different athletes and feature varied headlines. Group your students and have them pick a country to represent. Assign them the task of reporting for their “local” newspaper, featuring the latest athlete news for their country of choice.
Ask your students to create a mock front page for their paper, complete with headlines, pictures, and short articles. For example, if a group chooses to represent Canada, they could write short blurbs about decathlete Damian Warner or sprinters Lucia Stafford and Melissa Bishop-Nriagu for their articles.
Help your students learn a little more about how other countries view the Olympics by putting them in their shoes.
Biography of favorite Olympics athletes
Olympians often come from a multitude of different backgrounds, working hard in order to get to where they are today.
Inspire your students by having them read up on their favorite Olympic athletes and share what they find with their classmates.
Introduce a new sport to the Olympics
The Olympics already feature 33 different sports and 339 events. This year, the International Olympic (IOC) Committee approved four new sports to the games, adding breaking, sports climbing, skateboarding, and surfing to the roster. Not every sport is recognized, but wouldn’t it be nice if you could submit your own requests directly to the IOC?
Ask your students to write up a proposal for the sport of their choice — whether it’s four square, dodgeball, or even a made-up sport they’ve invented on their own. Refine your students’ persuasion skills through this exercise!
Design your own Olympic mascot
What’s covered in blue, white, and red and is shaped like a Phrygian hat? You’d be correct if you guessed Olympic Phryge, the official mascot for the 2024 Paris Olympics!
Every time the Olympics come around, the host country comes up with a mascot for the games — often with their own strange superpowers and wacky designs. In the past, there’s been Soohorang, the white tiger; Vinicius, the hybrid Brazillian animal; and Wenlock, a drop of steel with a camera for an eye, just to name a few.
Challenge your students to create their own creative and colorful Olympic mascot!
Olympics in your own city
What if the 2024 Summer Olympics were headed to your city? Where would the athletes stay? Where would they compete? What kind of events will be thrown?
Ask your students to imagine that they’re in charge of planning the 2024 Summer Olympics in their hometown. Give them an unlimited budget and have them imagine what kinds of structures they would build in order to accommodate the world’s athletes. What kinds of local delicacies would they share with the world, and how will they make their Olympics better than all the rest?
This creative project showcases the best of what your city has to offer and allows your students to flex their creative muscles.
