Getting excitied about the Winter Olympics?  We love to curl up on the couch with a stack of books together.

Try heading over to your local library or Amazon and pick up some good books on the subject.

The Boys of Winter: The Untold Story of a Coach, a Dream, and the 1980 U.S. Olympic Hockey Team - $10.04

This is a book about the 1980 U.S. Hockey team and their incredible story.  A bunch of unknown college kids taking on the great Russian team in a time when American spirits were pretty low.  They pulled off an amazing victory with the famous quote by Al Michaels who cried, “Do you believe in miracles? Yes!” as the Americans won. 

The Winter Olympics: An Insider’s Guide to the Legends, Lore and Events of the Games Vancouver Edition - $12.89

This is a fun guide specific to the Winter Olympics, written by Ron Judd, a popular columnist at The Seattle Times.  The book has profiles of the individual sports along with the history, athletes, how each sport is played and judged.

Freeze Frame: A Photographic History of the Winter Olympics - $12.89

Like pictures?  This history of the Winter Olympics takes you through how it all began, the different sports, and highlights of all the games – all in beautiful pictures.

Check out this Winter Olympic Sport Series with books highlighting individual sports, thier histories, greatest moments, famous athletes, and more.  (P.S.  These are part of Amazon’s 4-for-3 promotion, so you get one free if you buy 3)

I had a fun idea to get really excited and involved in the upcoming Olympics:  what if someone set up a Fantasy Olympic League, like the fantasy football my brother and his buds get all crazy into?

Well, these guys have done it:  Fantasy Olympians - with all the rules and scoring information along with a blog about past events.

If you’re curious about how it works, and how fun it is, check out this article on how the Olympic Fantasy League gave the writer a reason to really get into the Olympics.

It sounds pretty entertaining.  I’d love to hear back from anyone who decides to try it.

Enjoy!

Do you have preschoolers who might enjoy the Olympics?  Try some of these for the littles:

• Print, color, and fold Olympic mascots
• A few simple Olympic online games
• Olympic dot-to-dot, patterns, coloring, and other printables.
• Make an Olympic flag or your own gold medals with these fun Olympic crafts.
• Have them choose a stuffed animal to watch the Olympics with and the ‘friend’ can dictate a story for you to type up about the Olympics.
• ABC Teach Olympic directory of printables and projects.

Enjoy!

Have you done an Olympic craft or activity with your preschooler?  Please share.  Thanks!

Are you too swamped to plan anything big, but you want the kids to get excited about the upcoming Winter Olympics?

These ideas are for you – no work, no fuss, only fun:

• Plop down in front of Vancouver Olympic Committee’s official YouTube channel and start clicking.  Watch videos until you’re done.
• Students Live chose 24 students to attend Olympic events and write articles, blog, tweet, facebook, video, etc., about their experiences.  Help your child choose one and see what they’re learning and enjoying about the Olympics.
• Check out the Olympic Torch Relay Interactive Map and click around as the torch makes it’s way to the Opening Ceremony.  Make sure to click on the “Stories” button under each day to read about the interesting people chosen to carry the flame.
• Browse this comprehensive list of Olympic Videos:  Don’t miss Vancouver host videos, cultural Olympiad videos, explore Vancouver videos, Olympic torch relay vids, video galleries by sport, and more.
• Go to the Official 2010 Vancouver Olympic website and have your child pick any of the 15 winter sports arrayed in blue boxes across the top of the page.  They have very cool info including photos, news, about the sport, training, and my favorite: “athlete’s voice” where you get to hear actual athletes describing things like a typical day of training, etc.  Awesome stuff for kids (and adults) to explore.

Enjoy!

Need some fun ideas for lessons or activities about the 2010 Winter Olympics?  Here are some good resources and great information:

• Here is Canada’s Olympic School site – Packed with things like teacher resources including multiple project packs, an Olympic library, a student lounge, and an online playground.
• The Olympic Torch Relay is happening NOW – Here are some complete Olympic Torch Relay Classroom Kits you can download and use now.
• A list of Educational Resources from the Official Vancouver Olympics Site.
• Join the Winter Olympic Games Online project and choose one of three ideas to do.  See what other classes have done, once the games begin.
• Let the kids click through the list of the 15 Winter Olympic Sports, and pick their favorite.  Do a project on that sport, maybe a lap book, draw a picture, make a list of equipment needed, learn about athletes from their country competing in that sport, record that sport when events are on, or watch them online, keep track of the medals, etc.  With multiple kids, they can each choose a sport and the ‘ownership’ helps them get more excited and involved.
• Choose a new country to learn about.  It’s exciting to find the flag and delegation of ‘your’ new country during the Opening Ceremony.  Wikepedia (see participating nations) is a great place to start.  See the country on Google Earth, or check it out at Lonely Planet. 
• Enchanted Learnings Olympic Resources – They always have good printables, information, and lesson ideas – though some are only available through their paid subscription.
• Olympic Math – Creating an Olympic Medal Chart is a great way to make the whole bar graph thing a fun activity.

Enjoy!

Do you have a good lesson or project idea for the Olympics?  Please share.

Want to get the kids excited about the upcoming 2010 Winter Olympics?  Need some information to sprinkle a little learning in with the fun?

Here are some great websites to help you out:

• The Official 2010 Winter Olympics Site – If you only visit one site, this is it.  The official Olympic site offers TONS of information – schedules and results, medals from this and previous Olympics, athlete info, latest Olympic news, photos, video, and more.  There is even a ski jump mini-game, and wallpaper images for your computer.  I also love how everything in inter-linked, so you can always find what you’re looking for.
• NBC Olympic Site - Offers your Olympic TV schedule, video, news, and more.  Check out the handy Olympic Winter Sport page with all the info in one place.  For the techies, they also offer mobile phone Olympics, alerts, widgets, and RSS feeds.
• Official U.S. Olympic Committee Site – A great resource for Olympic history, and also detailed information on the U.S. team and the process involved in ‘making the team.’
• Vancouver’s Website – Curious about where the Olympics are being held, this is the website for Vancouver, BC in Canada, along with their information about the Olympics.

Enjoy!

You can’t have fun watching the 2010 Winter Olympics if you don’t know when everything is happening.

Here is the official Olympics schedule with the Opening Ceremony starting Feb. 12th @ 6 pm, and the Closing Ceremony on Feb. 28th at 5:30 pm.

Take a minute with the kids and scan all the great sports that are listed on the schedule – Have your kids heard of the luge, curling, the nordic combined, or the skeleton? 

And even better, each of the events listed on the Olympics schedule is clickable and you can then see:

• Where the event will take place
• All other times the event is planned
• More about the sport and it’s history
• More about the athletes competing in that sport
• Photos and news about the sport.

Enjoy!

Looking for a fun unit study?  The Winter Olympics are coming in a few weeks, and there are TONS of resources and ideas for you and the kids to enjoy and follow along while they happen.  I’ll be doing a series of posts with my favorite resources.

First is Currclick: a great homeschooling resource for e-books, lapbooks, and online classes that you join via the internet.  The prices are great, and you get most of the products instantly as PDF documents that you can read on your computer or print if you’d like.

Here are the best-priced 2010 Olympics selections:

1. The Winter Olympics 2010 Lapbook with Study Guide – $4.00 - Get ready for the 2010 Winter Olympics with this educational, hands-on 3-folder lapbook by A Journey Through Learning!
2. Vancouver Olympics Unit Study – $9.00 - This unit study is designed to teach students about the past and present Olympic Games as well as the Paralympic Games. Students will read about the significant historical events of the Games and complete activities including research, creating time lines, and writing a newspaper column. Students are also provided with a medal tracking sheet to keep track of the 2010 events.
3. Live Class – Winter Olympics – $30.00 - 5 Class Sessions, Ages 8-12, Tuesdays from 1:45 – 2:30 pm Central, February 2, 9, 16, 23 and March 2
4. 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympic Games- A Unit Study & Lapbook Project – $6.85 
5. Wonderful Winter Lapbook with Study Guide – $13.00
6. Winter Olympic Games – $16.00
7. Plus lots more Olympic selections . . .

Enjoy!