Host Your Own Olympic Games

Whether you’re into watching the Olympic Games or not, this is a fun time to put on your own games, whether as a family or in the classroom.

The Chaos and the Clutter has ideas for a fun backyard Olympics, including races, a ring toss, gymnastics in the grass (and crafts and snacks, too!).

If it’s too hot/cold/rainy where you live to have your games outside, check out the living room Olympic Games from the Educator’s Spin on It. This one is all about those movements that are so important in gross motor skill development, like hopping, jumping and walking backward. You can also set up an obstacle course where kids (and adults!) move through obstacles and perform certain movements.

If you have little kids, there’s the toddler Olympics from Rainy Day Mum. It includes activities like a bean bag toss, racing with something held on a spoon (could be a beanbag or a plastic egg), crawling through a tunnel and more.

[Photo: The Chaos and the Clutter.]

Looking for More Resources for Olympics? Check out these Olympic activity resource books on Amazon.

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Outdoor Activities for Summer Fun

The celebration of Our Lady of Guadalupe is important throughout Mexico and other parts of the world. Her feast day is Dec. 12, and the celebrations honoring her appearance to Juan Diego in 1531 begin a few days before that.

Whether you celebrate yourself or just want to share about the celebration at home or in your classroom, Las Mañanitas: The Beautiful Celebration of Our Lady of Guadalupe is a good place to start. The book, by Ernesto Joel Vega Rosales and Jeanette Gonzalez Seneviratne, with illustrations by Dana Sanmar, tells the story of a family’s celebration of the feast day in both English and Spanish.

They prepare with a novena, which is nine days of prayers and preparations. The children, Lucia and Pablo, are given special outfits made by their grandmother that look like what Juan Diego might have worn when he saw Our Lady. The book describes the prayers that are made each day, such as a prayer for respect for life, for families and for the indigenous people of the Americas, to name a few.

As told in the book, Juan Diego was a native Mexican born near modern day Mexico City. His given name was Cuaauhtlatoatzin, which means “He who speaks like an eagle.” When he converted to Christianity his name was changed to Juan Diego, and as he walked to church he passed a hill called Tepeyac. One day he heard the birds singing especially beautifully and a voice called him to go to the top of the hill.

There he saw Our Lady of Guadalupe, who asked him to tell the bishop she wanted a chapel built in her name at the foot of the hill. The bishop asked for a sign that Juan Diego really saw her, and later she had him collect flowers that she blessed and take them to the bishop. When Juan Diego dropped the flowers, an image of Our Lady could be seen on his cloak, which is still on display in her basilica to this day.

The feast day is celebrated as mañanitas, which includes singing, indigenous music and dancing, and children presenting flowers to Our Lady. Juan Diego is remembered today as being humble, brave and faithful, and was the first indigenous American made a saint.

The book is colorful and tells the story in a clear way, and it’s fun to have it both in English and Spanish if you teach Spanish or speak Spanish at home or in the classroom. It’s a great way to learn the basics of the celebration and the story of Juan Diego and why he is still remembered today.

About the book: 40 pages, paperback, published 2024 by Loyola Press. Suggested retail price $14.99.

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