an exciting and inspirational international event, the Olympic Summer Games occurs only every four years. Mark the occasion at your club by organising a theme of Olympic proportions. There are so many activity possibilities it would be hard not to go to town.
STARTING BLOCKS
This summer, the games run from 13 to 29 August, and will take place in Athens, Greece. The Paralympics follow from 17 to 28 September. The venue is special because the Games are returning to their Greek birthplace, where the first recorded events in 776BC included perilous chariot racing.
The Olympics has a rich and colourful history and many traditions that are still observed today, so why not focus on this in advance of the Games? That way children will understand and look forward to not only the sporting events, but the journey of the symbolic Olympic torch to the stadium, and the spectacle of the opening ceremony. There will be much media coverage, starting ahead of time, and it can be fun for children to collect and bring in clippings from newspapers and magazines, collaborating to make a club scrapbook of this important international event, that represents so much more than sport alone.
A visit to the public library should lead you to many books on the history of the Games. However, up-to-date information about the 2004 events can currently be found on the official website of the Olympics and Paralympics at www.athens2004.com (Remember, you can log on for free at the library).
Inspired to hold your own club version of the Games? There's no better way to start than with your own opening ceremony. Children could choose to dress up and role-play a section of the actual ceremony that appeals to them (you could video the extravaganza to share together), or perhaps they'll interpret it in their own style of a street festival with lively background music and dancing, or with a marching jamboree of instruments and whistles.
OLYMPIC IDEALS
Children can get crafty to create an Olympic display, featuring a version of the linked Olympic Rings, the symbol of the Games that represents the unity of the competing five continents and the athletes of the world.
Children can wind strips of appropriately coloured crepe paper around hula-hoops, or paint cardboard cut-out rings to suspend, or lean against a wall.
Children can also make an Olympic torch by drawing the shape on to two pieces of stiff card (a recycled cardboard box would be ideal). Next, they create a template by outlining the shape of a single flame on to card and cutting it out. They then use the template to make a number of flames from tissue paper and cellophane in shades of red, yellow and orange. These are gathered together in a bunch.The bottoms are secured with an elastic band and then sandwiched between the two halves of the torch, which can be stuck together with masking tape. Finally, the body of the torch can be painted (you can effectively paint over masking tape).
The real Olympic flame will burn at the Athens stadium throughout the Games to remind the world of the Olympic values of 'participation, brotherhood and peace' - admirable ideals to promote to children. You can combine a role-play of carrying the treasured torch with a game. Designate one end of the playground as the stadium, and have children standing at intervals from a start line at the opposite end. Children can each run a leg of the journey to the stadium, holding the torch and passing it between them relay-style. They can repeat the activity several times, aiming to beat their collective time.
EXCITING EVENTS
When it comes to your club's Olympic events, many children may be enthusiastic about trying some sporting activities straight from the Olympics, such as track and field events. This theme presents a fantastic opportunity to invite a professional coach to work with the group on a chosen sport, and if you contact your local council, you may even find funding available to enable this.
While it's great to encourage children to have fun being active and to give them the opportunity to develop real skills in the arena of sports, these events are unlikely to appeal to everyone. It's a good idea to plan a range of activities in close consultation with the children, so that there is something everyone will enjoy.
There's no need to stick to official Olympic events, of course - perhaps children would like a game of Frisbee doubles as well as a tennis match?
You may like to include plenty of team events as well as those enabling children to practise and develop their skills individually, and to provide a balance of both competitive and non-competitive pursuits. You could have 'training sessions' just for fun, as well as events that will earn winners gold, silver and bronze (coloured!) medals. Remembering that not all children are likely to experience winning at traditional events, you could also make up your own criteria for winning other medals - awarding them for good sportsmanship, for example. Appoint a 'marshal' to keep track of medals earned if you plan to present them later on.
How about including some funny events devised by the children too? You could play 'blow football' with ping-pong balls and straws perhaps, or have a paper aeroplane-throwing event, or a flapping fish relay where children cut a fish shape from one sheet of newspaper and flap it along the ground with the remaining paper. Since you're likely to have children of varying ages and abilities taking part alongside one another, you can utilise funny events to even the playing field. Of course, you can also place children in different age-related heats.
INTERNATIONAL FLAVOURS
Alternatively, you could split the group into 'countries' (teams). Just like the real Games, children can compete for their country, even in individual events. That way, successes are shared, and children will root for one another. Consider assigning a playworker to each team who can enable investigations into the countries during the course of the Olympics, helping children to track their success in the actual Games. Children could find out about the country's modern culture (what do children do for fun and how are they educated, what sort of work do adults do and where do families live?), as well as the traditional festivals and celebrations.
Over the course of the Games, each team could take a turn to organise activities connected to their country. With their playworker facilitating, children could organise food for everyone to try, and perhaps some games or craft activities that originate from the country. Children could also make their team a replica flag with fabric painting on material (or for a bold, alternative banner-making technique, see 'On the March', Out of School, May 2003). On the Internet, children can visit www.thenationalanthems.com to download their country's national anthem.
FINAL FLOURISH
Why not end your theme with an award ceremony, role-playing the real thing? (It may be a good idea to share another video recording of an actual presentation prior to your own ceremony). Children can easily build a makeshift medal rostrum from wooden palettes or crates (often available at scrap stores), stacking them as necessary to give extra height to the silver and gold winners' podiums. They can be secured with a few nails - no woodworking skills necessary! Drape the rostrum with scrap fabric (old sheets or curtains are ideal), ensuring that you staple it carefully in place so children won't slip.
Enhance the atmosphere by playing children a verse of their country's national anthem while their team members raise their flag in salute to them and 'officials' place homemade medals around their necks. (Create medals from discs of card covered in shiny paper or painted with metallic paint and threaded on to thin ribbon - if paint is used, varnish the medals with a coat of PVA glue mixed with water so that the colour doesn't come off on children's clothes).
It's great to take photographs of each child receiving their medals for prosperity. You could invite the local press along too, generating your own genuine press cutting to close the club's scrapbook.
After the excitement of receiving their medals, children are likely to be in great spirits - just the time for a closing ceremony, giving them the chance to parade their Summer Olympic medals and flags one last time...
until 2008, that is!