The Winter Olympics, a fun time for families, offers numerous learning opportunities for children.
Pyeongchang, located in the Taebaek Mountains in the Ganwon Province of South Korea, will be home to the 2018 Olympic Winter Games (February 9-26). The Games offer parents a unique opportunity to share winter sports activities with their children and to teach them about the world and the qualities needed to become championship-caliber athletes.
And parents won’t need to coax kids, either. According to Wayne Wilson, former director of the Amateur Athletic Foundation, “The Olympic Games are watched by more children (80%) than any other type of sports television programming.”
Maria Mora, a writer for She Knows Parenting frames the learning opportunity this way: “Chances are, your kids aren’t going to weep over medal ceremonies the way you do when you’re watching the Olympics. That doesn’t mean you can’t encourage your kids to find inspiration in the highs and lows of the Olympic Games. Use the games as a teaching tool. At the same time, give your kids the freedom to draw natural conclusions and raise questions as you watch the Olympics together as a family.”
Watching and learning about the Winter Olympics can reinforce strong values. Anita L. DeFrantz, a former member of the International Olympic Committee, said: “Sport is a high-profile institution in America. Literally millions of children follow sports and the athletes who play them. Sport has the potential to develop and reinforce the values of young people. It is inevitable that the way in which media present sports to the young audiences will play a role in shaping their attitudes. Children can learn positive lessons about fair play, respect for others, cooperation, sacrifice, discipline, violence, gender relations and race relations from sport.”
Families can get the most out of the upcoming Winter Olympics by enjoying a visual preview of the Games. There are several interesting videos on YouTube that can orient and entertain your family in preparation for the upcoming games, including this introduction to the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics.
Additional visual resources include:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxE8v72B6xU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3gAJkmm3Rk
You can celebrate the Games by creating crafts with your child, such as making
*Lighting ice cream cone torches
*Olympic ring hoops
*Miniature ice skating rinks
*Snowball ring tosses
*Snowboard half pipes, and
*Downhill bobsled Race.
You can see Olympic crafts from around the web at this site. And don’t forget to prepare an Olympic Family Night activity. Set aside an evening to enjoy some lively Olympic activities. The Activity Village website has developed a series of fun and enjoyable activities for your family, including:
*Winter Olympic Sports Coloring Pages
*Winter Olympics Printables
*Winter Olympics Puzzles
*Winter Olympics Worksheets
*Winter Olympics Vocabulary
*Winter Olympics Crafts
*Winter Olympics Fuse Bead Patterns
*Learn about South Korea, and
*Winter Olympic Recipes.
_________
Reed Markham, a former member of the Olympic News Service for the 2002 Olympic Winter Games, has also served as an Olympics Torchbearer.
