6 Ways To Study Greece And The Olympics Without Nodding Off

You know how some people are history buffs? Well, I am a history bluff. I totally faked my way through every single history class--memorizing answers just for the tests.

Graduated with honors, people!

And then it came time to teach history to my kids.

UGH.

I'm not sure who called my bluff first--me or the kids. But it hasn't been pretty. For three years we've plodded through books reading about every god and sod and bod that there is. And that made me only 0.0024% smarter. Fabulous.

So this year we're not gonna just read about history, we're gonna LIVE SOME OF IT OUT!

Fortunately, we can skip past the Civil War Era seeing as we already reenact that EVERY. DAY. OF. THE. WEEK.

But the Olympics--they're fun. And so is Ancient Greece. Mm-hmm.

What follows is a rather lengthy description of the history party that we put on. Maybe there's something in here that will help you learn a bit of history too.

6 Ways to Study Greece and the Olympics Without Nodding Off

1. Play the games of the pentathlon

(vocabulary--penta "five" athlon "contest")  (physical education)

• Hurling the discus :: Spin around and throw a frisbee
• Throwing the javelin :: Throw chopsticks or sticks
• Jumping :: Run and jump a long distance
• Racing :: Run as individuals
• Wrestling :: Wrestle with the arms
  
  

2. Make victory wreaths to wear

(arts and crafts)  (history)

• Supplies needed
• Fake (or real!) greenery that looks vaguely like olive leaves, roughly two feet per child
• Wire cutters (or garden scissors, if using real greens)
• Masking tape

• Instructions
• Measure the greenery around each child's head, making sure to leave about five inches of overlap
• Cut the strand of greenery with wire cutters, or bend the strand back and forth several times to break it
• Use masking tape to secure the two ends together

•  Notes
• The only place I could find strands of greenery was at the Wal Marts. And what they had made my kids look more like living room decor than Olympic champions. Nevertheless. It was memorable. And that's the point, right?
• To add depth, talk about why the wreaths were significant. 

3. Make medals to wear

(arts and crafts)  (history)  (language arts)

• Supplies needed
• Cardboard circles
• Aluminum foil
• Colored paper, cut in circles to match the cardboard (one per person, plus extra)
• Yarn
• Scissors, hole punch, glue stick, pencils

• Instructions
• Wrap aluminum foil around each cardboard circle
• Have the kids write their names on the colored paper
• Then have the kids write their names using the Greek alphabet, giving them a template to work from
• Once the kids are happy with the way their names look, have them glue the circle of paper to the foil-covered cardboard
• Punch a hole in the top of the medal and string some yarn through so the child can wear it around her neck

• Notes
• Have a short lesson on the Greek alphabet, tying it into other things the kids already know
• A shortcut to this craft would be to leave out the cardboard and foil. But I liked that these two things made the craft look more like a medal.

4. Study Ancient Greece and the history of the Olympics

(history)  (reading skills)  (handwriting)  (math)

• Read segments of any of the following books:
• Story of the Olympics
• Ancient Greece
• Ancient Greece!: 40 Hands-On Activities to Experience This Wondrous Age
• Adventures in Ancient Greece
• If I Were a Kid in Ancient Greece: Children of the Ancient World

• Look online at the following sites:
• Enchanted Learning
• Library Point
• History for Kids
• Olympic Games Homepage

• Have the kids (neatly!) write the following sentence: "The very first Olympics were held in 776 BC in Olympia, Greece."
  
  
• Using an Olympic timeline, have the kids estimate how many years the ancient and modern Olympic events have been taking place. Also discuss the meaning of "Olympiad" and figure out the dates for the next Olympics to come.

5. Learn about modern Greece
(geography)  (world cultures) 

• Find and color Greece on a map
  
  
• Color the flag of Greece
  
  
• Sample Greek foods: grapes, olives, figs, pita bread and hummus
  
  

6. Experience the modern Olympics
(geography)  (world cultures)  (history)  (critical thinking)  (music)

• Color a picture of the Olympic flag
• Discuss the meaning behind the rings
• Decorate cupcakes with M&Ms in the style of the rings (blue, yellow, black, green, red)

• Watch recent Olympic events, comparing and contrasting the ancient and modern games
• Discus: Mens finals, 2008, Beijing 
• Javelin: Mens, 2004, Athens 
• Jumping: Carl Lewis, long jump, 1984, Los Angeles 
• Running: Michael Johnson, 400m, 2006 Atlanta 
• Wrestling: US Wrestling team, 1992, Barcelona

• Listen to the Olympic theme music

I did that whole list of things, with six kids (age seven and under, five of them boys) in approximately three hours. And I lived to tell the tale.

Feel free to add your own ideas--or to link up to any other Greek or Olympic-themed sites you are aware of.

Subscribe to this blog's feed and follow me on twitter!