Fun Olympics activities for families

Use these fun activities to continue the excitement of the Olympic and Paralympic games at home. We’ve rounded up five challenges related to the games to enjoy with sports lovers in your family.

You don’t need any special equipment for these Olympic challenges. They are a mix of quick activities and creative tasks that you can do at home. For some rounds, you might also like to visit your local library or head outdoors.

Are you ready to give it your best shot? The challenges get more difficult as you progress through the stages, just like the Olympic Games, but feel free to pick and choose the activities in any order!

Round 1: Olympic Events

Think of an Olympic event you would like to compete in. Describe it to your teammates without using any words associated with the sport. Can your teammates guess the event? You can’t use ball if you’re describing tennis, or bat or court or Andy Murray! It’s harder than you think.

Here are 12 events from the Olympics to get you started:

• Athletics
• BMX freestyle
• Diving
• Football
• Karate
• Rowing
• Skateboarding
• Swimming
• Table tennis
• Tennis
• Trampoline
• Weight lifting

Next, here are all twelve events as anagrams. Split into teams and race against the clock to see who solves them first.

• taarek
• abiegonkstrad
• stinen
• intenseablt
• iwrong
• nightlife twig
• bets my reflex
• giidnv
• bat flolo
• in mm wigs
• ant implore
• cash title

Round 2: Time travel

A lot has changed since the Olympics first began in 1896. We challenge you to do some time travelling and find out what the games were like then.

Here are some of the events from the first Olympics:

• Track and field
• Cycling
• Swimming
• Weightlifting
• Wrestling
• Fencing
• Gymnastics
• Shooting
• Tennis

Pick one event and find out how the athletes took part back in 1896 then compare it with today. You could visit your local library or use the internet to do your research. Think about their equipment, diet, training routines and the technology they had to support them. Can you draw both athletes and highlight their differences? Who has the best shoes? Which year would you prefer to be part of?

Round 3: Catching the action

Can you make a video of your favourite sport? What part is the most exciting for you? The explosive starts, the elegance of the action or the race over the line.

Set up you own athletics stadium and get moving. You could use your video to improve technique, that’s what athletes do to improve!

Round 4: Get writing

Write a spoof event report on someone in your family completing an everyday activity or a sporting event. Here are two examples:

McLellan Family kickabout

Dad showed a real lack of energy during this match, especially when compared to the speed he ate dinner last night.

Catch

Jasper the spaniel showed real dedication as he waited patiently for the ball to be thrown. Unfortunately after all his hard work he lost control on the hill and scored only a 6.2 due to a double forward roll that stopped him catching the ball.

Round 5: Reading Olympics

This challenge is really simple but you do need to be as committed as an Olympian to come out on top.

Hold your own Reading Olympics and see how many sports themed books or articles you can read. If you’re going for gold, we have lots of great sports themed book lists to help you. You can also boost your count by following the news and reading Olympic stories about today’s athletes.