The Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics/Paralympics will be starting soon! (To avoid redundancy, I will just say “Olympics” when referring to both the Olympics and Paralympics.)
Watching the Olympic Games is so much fun. You get to see different kinds of winter sports that you may not be familiar with. While you enjoy the two week-long festival of the winter sports, you can also experience the Olympics in many more meaningful, healthy ways as a family in the comfort of your own home. Healthy activities don’t have to stop even if it’s too cold to go outside, or you don’t have access to skating rinks, ski slopes, or other winter sport places!
Come to Tasty Tuesdays with yummy snacks and share your experience about the Olympics at home!
1. Sock skating.
My colleague Jillian McNamara and I hosted “Skating Day” at the Museum in January. One of the activities that Jillian planned was sock skating, which is easy to implement at home. All you need is a smooth floor space and a pair of socks. Children can slide around and pretend to figure skate! You can also implement the same idea to do hockey, curling, and any other ice-based sports.
2. Blanket bobsledding.
You need multiple people to do this, so it can be a good family or party activity! Especially if you are competing, you need at least 2 people for each team. To play this game, have a child sit on a blanket and the other person pull the blanket to the goal. If you really can’t find enough people to play with, you can always use an object on a blanket, such as stuffed animals, books, etc (something relatively heavy is better, especially with older children).
3. Healthy food for watching the Olympic Games.
Watching the Olympic Games is a fun family activity. Often, people eat snacks during the games. So let’s have some Olympic-themed fun, healthy snacks, which can be really simple!
One idea is to make Olympic torch carrot sticks. You can stuff ice cream cones (the whole wheat ones are better) with carrots so it looks like a torch.
You can also make Olympic rings using fruits and vegetables of each color and arrange them in the shape of the Olympic rings. It’s always good to eat various bright colored vegetables, and using Olympic ring colors is a good way to mix a variety of food in a playful way!
Enjoying the Olympics is not only about watching the games and cheering on your favorite country or athletes. Especially for small children, Olympic fun can mean a playful time with family and friends!
The Power of Play 