40 Winter Olympics Activities for Kids & Free Unit Study

Published:
December 6, 2021

Sarah Shelton

Contributor:
Sarah Shelton

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The Winter Olympics will be here soon. If the Olympics is a favorite thing to watch in your family, you may want to get ready for it now. These Winter Olympics activities for kids and free printables will help you create a fun unit study on this historical event.

Picture of a tower and snow outside with text Winter Olympics Printables and Unit Studies Instant Download

40 Winter Olympics Activities for Kids & Free Unit Study

It is almost that time of year again! The winter Olympic events are coming soon. This is a great opportunity to spend some quality time with your family and teach your children about the different winter Olympics sports. 

There are so many great activities and free printables to put together your own winter Olympics unit for your children.

Be sure to download our free Winter Olympics Printable Pack found at the bottom of this post!

Watching the Olympic Winter Games

I have fond memories of watching the Olympics each year with my family. I have now passed that love down to our children. They really enjoy watching the opening ceremonies.

The Olympic winter games are fascinating for my children because we have never lived where it snows. They aren’t very familiar with winter sports for this reason. They can’t seem to fathom the Olympic athletes performing such hard winter sports in freezing temperatures and snow. 

Our whole family enjoys watching the winter Olympic games together. It is a lot of fun to keep track of how many gold medals that are won. The kids like to watch the Olympic medal count for the different countries that are participating.

Winter Olympic History

The first winter Olympic games were held in the French Alps in Chamonix, France in 1924. The games were originally staged for International Winter Sports Week sponsored by the International Olympic Committee. It wasn’t until 1925 when the committee decided

The games were a success. People were thrilled at the 6 sporting events they saw in such performed in the winter wonderland. It wasn’t until 1925 when the committee decided to amend its charter establishing what was called the Winter Games.

It was then that the Chamonix, France games of 1925 were considered the first Winter Olympics.

What sports are in the Winter Olympics?

Starting off with only 6 Olympic events, there are now 15 sports available for an Olympic athlete to compete in. These are the different sports in alphabetical order:

  1. Alpine Skiing
  2. Biathalon
  3. Bobsleigh
  4. Cross-Country Skiing
  5. Curling
  6. Figure Skating and Freestyle Skating
  7. Ice Hockey
  8. Luge
  9. Nordic Combined
  10. Short Track Speed Skating
  11. Skeleton
  12. Ski Jumping
  13. Ski Mountaineering
  14. Snow Board
  15. Speed Skating

How often are the Winter Olympics held?

The winter Olympics are held every four years just like summer. Some people get confused and think they are every two years. That is because the summer Olympics and winter Olympics alternate every two years in that four year time period. They are both held in alternating even numbered years.

Where is the 2026 Winter Olympics Being Held?

The 2026 Winter Olympic games will be held in the host country of Italy in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo. They will begin on Friday, February 6, 2026 and end on Sunday, February 22, 2026.

Winter Olympic Unit Studies

Some great winter Olympic activities for learning about the Olympics is with a unit study method. You can even create your own lesson plans for the Winter Olympics with these free printables. 

Geography Studies

Have your children find some interesting facts about the games or countries participating. This is a perfect time to have them gather their info and write a report about it. 

Olympic Flag Pages – This is a fun way to be able to recognize the flags that are flown for the different countries by coloring the different flags.

Winter Olympic Country Research – Use these printables to do some country research for the countries participating in the games.

Create a Lapbook – 11 page set of printable templates for your kids to create their own lapbook about the Winter Olympic games with flag and country information.

Winter Olympics Coloring Pages 

These fun coloring pages will help your younger kids to get familiar with the different sports and are a a great addition to a unit study.

Speed Skater – Speed skating is a fun and intense sport in the games, color the speed skater in this printable.

Snowboarder – Snowboarding is a new sport in the winter Olympics. Your kids will enjoy coloring this fun snowboarder.

Bobsled – Color the bobsledders at the starting gate of the race.

Ice Hockey Coloring Page  – Color the ice hockey sports player.

Ice Skater – Figure skating is one of our favorite sports to watch. Color this beautiful figure skater.

Olympic Rings and Torch – Color the Olympic Torch and the rings with the different colors of the Olympics brand.

Winter Olympics Coloring Pages – There are some fun coloring pages for alpine skiing, biathlon, curling, bob sled and more.

Olympics Math Worksheets

Anytime I can find ways to incorporate math skills into our lessons I will try. These word problems and practice sheets are a perfect addition to an Olympics unit study.

Winter Olympics Math Puzzles – Get help with some problem-solving skills with these winter Olympic word problem puzzles.

Bar Graph Reading: Winter Sports – Teach your children how to read a bar graph with this winter sports themed math activity.

Ski Race Math Facts – Help the skier down the ski slope by solving the math problems as fast as you can.

Winter Games Fraction Activity – In this fun project students will pick a country and find fractions for the medals that the country won. 

Ode to the Olympics Winter Math – Learn about the math and physics behind the winter Olympics sports with this free workbook.

Winter Olympics Language Arts Printables

Here are some fun reading, writing and language arts activities with an Olympics theme to them.

Winter Sports Crossword Puzzle – Practice reading, writing and spelling with a fun winter sports crossword puzzle.

Non Fiction Text Winter Olympics – Readers will practice navigating a non fiction text about the winter Olympics with this reading comprehension worksheet.

Olympics Writing Prompts – There are 6 fun writing prompts that are geared for middle and high school students.

Winter Games Reading Comprehension – Learn about alpine, freestyle and cross-country skiing in this article. Then then answer the questions on the reading comprehension quiz.

Printable Games about the Winter Olympics

Winter Olympics Puzzles – These useful printables include fun mazes, printable games and winter Olympic themed activities to keep your kids busy this winter.

Roll and Color Dice Game – Teach your preschoolers the different colors of the Olympic rings in the games with this fun roll and color printable game.

Winter Olympics Bingo Game – This is a fun picture bingo game with bright colored images of the winter sports.

Medal Count Tracker – Keep track of the medals won for each country with this printable medal tracker.

Winter Games Junior Bingo – 

Ages 2-9 Printable Pack – Looking for early learning fun for young kids? This winter Olympics printable pack is geared for young learners and comes with over 120 learning printables and activities.

Winter Games Activity Pack – This pack includes scripture copywork, vocabulary words, favorite athlete writing worksheet, geography, maze games and more.

Winter Olympics Activities

Bath Tub Ice Cube Curling – This is a fun sensory activity that kids will enjoy playing with to pretend they are curling.

Wooden Train Ski Jump – Make a ski jump out of old wooden train tracks and pieces for hours of fun.

STEM Olympic Games – Create your own winter games with these fun STEM building activities.

Montessori Style Math Activities – There are so many fun hands-on math activities with an Olympics theme.

Hockey Science – Learn about the science behind hockey with this fun ice hockey science experiment.

Ice Skating with Small Toys – This is such a fun sensory activity your little ones will enjoy.

Crafts for the Winter Olympics

A great way to involve little kids in what you are learning is with crafts. They are a wonderful way to get them excited about the topic and to help build fine and gross motor skills.

DIY Olympic Gold Medals – Create your very own Olympic medals for your children to wear when they are watching the fun games.

Olympic Rings Craft – This simple craft uses paper plates that you cut into rings and paint.

Modern Olympic Art – Create a modern style art piece on canvas with paint and plastic cups for the circles that resemble rings.

Olympic Torch Craft – This is another simple craft that uses tissue paper and toilet paper or paper towel rolls to create the torch.

Mini Hockey Sticks – 

Edible Medals – Kids will have a great time making their own medals that they can eat.

Free Winter Olympics Activity Pack

Kids will have fun using our free Winter Olympics printable pack that will have them doing a little bit of research looking into facts about the Olympics.

What’s Included:

  • Pages for mapwork identification and geography
  • Story starter for creative writing 
  • Winter Olympics Acrostic Poem
  • Sports Matching Page
  • Simple copywork with sketch boxes and word tracing
  • Winter Olympics Champion Tracker

Pictures of various winter Olympics activity pack worksheets

Instant Download: Winter Olympics Activity Pack