Summer Games Activities for Kids

I love the Olympics. I know I have bragged about my Grandmother being an Olympian before, but seriously how rad is that? I grew up with her memorabilia in our basement ( yes, the medal too) and have always loved cheering for my country during the Olympics. We have countless pictures of my petite grandmother smiling with athletes of every country. That trunk full of memories also gave me a keen understanding that this isn’t about competition as much as it is about a global community. These summer games activities for kids are simple ways to do that, get familiar with flags, and then know who you are cheering for while watching the games! Use special events like the Summer Olympics as a way to broaden your child’s or students’ worldview with summer games activities like these.

Gather your materials. You will need these free printables, a pencil or marker, scissors, and a map or globe ( optional). You will notice I intentionally did not label the flags. That’s part of the activity. I did try to include a variety of flags from nations that participate in the summer games.

Ready for the different activities you can do with these flags?
Download the flag printable ( 16 pairs of flags) here for FREE.

Find & Label – for really little ones, feel free to do this yourself, but I’d encourage you to do this with preschoolers and up. This list on Wikipedia is pretty good, and you can see flags from all the other participating countries too. If your child can write, have them write out the names under each flag.

Now it’s time to cut them out. Oh, one quick note if you are cheap like me and don’t buy super thick printer paper grab a dark-colored pencil and shade over the back of the flags, so the colors are blocked.

Flag Memory

After writing the names on the flags, cut the cards out along the orange lines. Shuffle. Place however many pairs you want facedown on a table or tray. Flip two cards over. If they match, take them and place them in a pile. If they don’t, turn them back over, and it’s the next person’s turn. The person with the most matches at the end wins. If you are using this for preschool, this is a great teacher table or small group activity.

Flag Hide, Seek, and Match

Keep one set of flags at a home base ( I used my kitchen table) and hide the matching pairs. Hunt them down and match them up. Thats is, but it’s a great indoor activity to get kids moving when it’s too hot outside or if you have a younger sibling napping and you can’t go galavant around town.

Flag Go Fish (2-3 players)

Shuffle the cards. Deal 3 to each player and make a pond of face-down cards between you. Just like regular go fish, you are trying to match up pairs. If players aren’t familiar with the flag or can read, that’s ok. You can show the flag to the other players. If you are playing with your child or students, label it as you play.

Find the countries on a map or globe.

Invite your child or students to choose one or more flags to find on a map or globe. Spend some time asking them what they think that country might be like. Have they ever traveled there? Do they know anyone who has? If they are really into this, go deeper, do some research and learn more about other countries together.

Make Your Own Flag

Grab a plain sheet of paper and whatever art supplies you have and make your own flag to cheer on your country.

NEED MORE PRESCHOOL ACTIVITIES AT HOME?

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Over 100 simple preschool activities that use everyday materials. You don’t need to invest a lot of money to teach your child at home.
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The book is organized into nine categories of learning; literacy, math, science, sensory, art, fine motor, gross motor, social-emotional, and bedtime reading tips.
Activities have been created using various state standards for PreK and have tips for making activities easier or harder to fit your child.
An Appendix filled with links to free printables, song lyrics, nursery rhymes, my favorite playdough recipe, and more.
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HERE IS A SNEAK PEEK INSIDE EVERYDAY PRESCHOOL

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