Unit Study: Winter Olympics

For the 2010 Winter Olympics, the St. Louis County Library held a unit study as part of their Homeschool Exploration program.  It was a great time of learning about Canada, doing science and math experiments, and learning more about the sports in the Winter Olympics.  We came home and did a lapbook on the subject.

Coloring Pages:  http://homeschooling.about.com/od/freeprintables/ss/olympiccolor_all.htm
One of the fun things about the coloring pages is that you can add facts about the sports for older kids.  Have them do some research on the rules of the event, who is competing, etc.  This is very easy to make age-appropriate.

Mascots:  Look up the mascots for that year's Olympics.  The kids can make a mini book in their lapbook that shows the mascots and their meaning or significance to the host country.

Olympic Medal Chart:  http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.activityvillage.co.uk/olympic_medal_chart.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.activityvillage.co.uk/olympic_printables.htm&h=306&w=240&sz=20&tbnid=ZvjHPbRyXPpITM:&tbnh=90&tbnw=71&zoom=1&usg=__uLyRm70KhNG5-NVbyOfZL9LLVps=&docid=0lO1wVJZRyxz5M&hl=en&sa=X&ei=Un4oUJPaAsWC2gX04oDYBA&ved=0CGoQ9QEwAA&dur=3092
I loved this idea of choosing 5 countries (or however many you choose) to follow during the Olympics.  This is great for a chart-making lesson!

Metrics:  This is a great time to do some conversions to metric for kids old enough to do so.

Both www.homeschooling.about.com and www.ActivityVillage.co.uk have some great printables to add to your activities, like word searches, craft ideas, snacks, etc.

This is a FUN unit study during an Olympic year!  Implement all aspects of your lessons (math, science, language arts, history (influential people, etc.), p.e.) into this and have fun!!