WEEK 6
OLYMPICS
Activity 1: Learn about the Ancient Olympic Games
Activity 2: Make an Olympic Medal
Activity 3: Host your own home Olympics
Activity 4: The Twelve Olympian Gods – Write an acrostic poem
Activity 5: Make a Laurel Wreath and dress as an Ancient Greek
Activity 6: Sir Mo Farah – Writing interview questions
Activity 7: Explore the World
Activity 8: What have I learnt?
LEARN ABOUT THE ANCIENT OLYMPIC GAMES
Did you know that the very first Olympic Games happened over 2000 years ago in ancient Greece? What do you imagine those games were like? Was anything similar to the Olympic games today?
Watch these two videos to learn about the origin of the Olympic games, and what the Olympics were like in Ancient Greece. The second is from the Horrible Histories television series.
[h5p id=”7″]
After you’ve finished, really think about what it would have been like to be an Ancient Greek:
- How would it feel to watch the ancient Olympic Games?
- How would you feel if you were a woman in Ancient Greece?
- What do you think Ancient Greece would smell like?
- What would it feel like to do sports without any clothes on?
- Would you like to try any of the ancient sports, live javelin throwing, chariot racing or discus? Why or why not?
- What would it feel like to wear a toga?
Make a poster to show what the Olympic Games were like in Ancient Greece, and how they were different from the Olympic Games today
MAKE AN OLYMPIC MEDAL
MATERIALS REQUIRED.
STEP 1
Ask an adult to take a bottle opener and use the spike to pierce a hole in the lid. Once it’s in, wiggle it around to make the hole slightly bigger.
STEP 2
Ask an adult to use the bottle opener to push the ribbon through the hole. Be careful as the hole will be sharp on the other side!!
STEP 3
Pull the ribbon through to make a loop and then push the ends of the ribbon through the loop you have just made. Pull the ends to tighten.
STEP 4
Draw your Olympic rings on a piece of card or paper. Drawing around a pen lid can help you to draw circles.
*If you have a permanent marker, you could draw your rings straight onto the lid*
STEP 5
Cut out your Olympic rings and stick them onto your medal.
HOST YOUR OWN HOME OLYMPICS
MATERIALS REQUIRED
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to compete in the Olympic Games? Well now’s your chance.
Create your own Olympic games in your living room. Start by thinking about what games you would like to include. Don’t worry if you don’t have sports equipment. You can scrunch up paper to make a ball, use a sweeping brush as a bat, use a towel as a net, use tins as floor markers… the list goes on. If you live near a park, or have a garden, you could also include some outdoor games to play in your local park or garden.
As well as physical games, you could try to include word or maths games too.
For example, Word Tennis is a great way to practise phonics. It’s a two-person game and all you need is somewhere to keep score:
- Choose a letter – for example, C
- Person 1 says a word beginning with that letter – e.g. “cat”
- Person 2 says another word beginning with that letter – e.g. “crumpet”
- Then person 1 says another – “cool”
- Then person 2 another – “cinema”
- Do this backwards and forwards until someone cannot think of a word, or says a word that actually starts with a different letter (like, ‘koala’)
- Whoever said the last correct word wins a point
You can also play vocabulary tennis with themes – for example, ‘animals’.
Be creative, but if you get stuck, here is a list of ideas.
Once you’ve chosen what games you will host, draw up a score board to keep track of who’s won each round, and what points they have.
At the end, add up all the points. KS1 – You could use counters to help you with the sums. KS2 – see if you can use column addition. Here’s a video to help you.
Present the winner with the medal you made!
KEY STAGE 1
Watch and listen to this video which shows you the 12 Olympic Gods and tells you a little bit about each one.
KEY STAGE 2
Watch this video which shows you the 12 Olympic Gods and tells you a little bit about each one.
THE TWELVE OLYMPIAN GODS – WRITE AN ACROSTIC POEM
STEP 1
People in Ancient Greece were ‘polytheistic’, which means they believed in lots of different gods. Watch the appropriate video on the left and then, listen to this rap below, that will help you to remember some of what you’ve learnt about them.
STEP 2
Now that you know about a bit about each of the twelve Olympic Gods, choose one that you would like to focus on. Just to recap, they are:
Zeus – King of the Gods
Hera – Queen of the Gods
Hades – God of the Underworld
Poseidon – God of the Sea
Ares – God of War
Athena – Goddess of Wisdom
Artemis – Goddess of Hunting and Wild Animals
Apollo – God of Music and Poetry
Hermes – the Messenger of the Gods
Demeter – Goddess of Agriculture (growing plants)
Hephaestus – God of Fire
Aphrodite – Goddess of Love
Dionysus – God of Merriment (being happy)
Choose one of them and brainstorm all the things you associate with that God.
STEP 3
Write an acrostic poem that uses the same letters as the God’s name. For example:
reAding
Poems
sOunds
Lovely
Listening
Orchestra
MAKE A LAUREL WREATH AND DRESS AS AN ANCIENT GREEK
MATERIALS REQUIRED
Follow this video to make a laurel wreath – a circle of leaves that Ancient Greeks used to wear on their heads.
Wrap a sheet around yourself like a toga, and put on your laurel wreath.
Ask yourself this:
- Describe how it feels
- What do you think it would have been like to wear this every day?
- If an Ancient Greek travelled in time to today, what would they think of our clothes?
SIR MO FARAH – WRITING INTERVIEW QUESTIONS
Mo Farah is a double-gold Olympic medallist from the UK. Watch this video below to get a sense of what Mo Farah is like.
Explore the page, and if there’s a word in blue that you have questions about you can click it to find out more. For example, if you’re not sure where Somalia is, click the blue writing which will take you to the Kiddle page that is all about Somalia.
As you’re looking through the page, write 10 questions that you would ask Mo Farah in an interview.
Watch the interview on the right that Mo Farah did for a Weetabix advert, and see if anyone asks any of your questions.
EXPLORE THE WORLD
Write a letter to one of the children in the videos, explaining what life is like where you live.
205 different countries will compete in the next Olympic games, which were due to be held in Tokyo, in Japan, this year. Unfortunately, the Olympic Games have had to be cancelled for the time being but they should be rescheduled for next year or the year after.
With so many countries coming together to participate in such a massive global event, the Olympics are a great time to celebrate the amazing diversity of the people and landscapes of our world!
Use this BBC Bitesize webpage to explore different countries of the world. There are links to games and activities that relate to 8 countries, which might be too much to take in in one go, so scroll down to see which county you’d like to learn about first.
For KS2, BBC Bitesize also has this page, which takes you through a series of activities to help you learn how the world is mapped out. You can then try this fun interactive exercise on Britannica School, which is recommended by BBC Bitesize.
After, Scroll to the bottom of this BBC teach page and choose one of the videos which will show you how children’s lives differ when they live on opposite sides of the globe.
If you’re not sure which one to choose, why not choose the second one which compares life in London and Tokyo, where the next Olympic Games will be held?
After you watch, help your child to develop literacy skills by asking these sorts of questions:
- Describe one of the places in detail – what does it look like? What is the weather like? What do people wear?
- What do you think would happen if…?
- How would you feel if you were in…(Tokyo)?
WHAT HAVE I LEARNT?
Draw 3 shapes (stars, circles, blobs) on a piece of paper. Write the following headings in each one for your child:
- Things I’ve learnt this week
- My favourite activity and why
- What do I want to learn next?
Help your child to write some thing in each one, or let them fill them in.
