Friday, August 3, 2012

Hale Family Olympics

We have enjoyed the 2012 Summer Olympics!  We watched part of the opening ceremony, parts many sports, but mainly swimming, diving and gymnastics.  We have talked about the athletes participating, their hard work and dedication, the history of the games....
But, I still wanted us to connect to them in another way.  The first was that we randomly drew the name of a country that has historically brought home a lot of medals.  We have charted each medal they've earned, thanks to the daily updates on the internet. 
After the first two day with no medals, I let Beth choose a different country.  She has been a little happier.  However, since she's not winning the overall number of medals, she's been a bit pouty.  We used the opportunity to talk about how the athletes must feel, since they're the ones working so hard and not taking home a medal for their country.  It didn't seem so bad to not get a sticker after that!


To make the olympic experience even more fun, I used some ideas (a little adjusted) I saw in a magazine to have our own backyard events.  The kids were so excited!
First event: Shake It- 4 ping pong ball in a shoebox (I didn't have a rectangle tissue box).  They had 15 seconds to shake out as many balls as they could.


Second event: Ping Pong Toss- from the chair, toss ping pongs into numbered cups.  They had 2 rounds of 15 seconds.  Beth had the advantage with longer reaching arms.


The final (and silliest) event: Snack Toss- Shower caps covered in shaving cream.  Then they had to toss cheetos at each others' heads to get them to stick.  Beth got handfuls at a time, while Jacob was methodical with one at a time.  Of course, Beth had to sit in a chair to even out the playing field, so to speak.  Sadly, this event was cut short when fire ants came to the fun.




With a total score of 18 points, Jacob won the silver (blue) medal.  Beth brought home gold with 31 points.

We all had a great time!  The best part was hearing "thank you" for the fun stuff.  I think we'll do it again.  Thankfully, I have 4 years to come up with more events for our next Hale family olympics.

1 comment :

Jen Rollins said...

God is good! I have been panicking about what backyard games to play when the girl scouts get together this weekend for their back-to-school bash - these sound perfect!! Where do I get the shower caps?