Are you looking for ideas of things that you can do to celebrate a grandchild’s birthday? Why not have an Olympic event? Invite all of your grandchildren to participate – or invite the grandchild’s family, or have just the two of you if others are not able to attend. Be sure to make appropriate adjustments for age and size differences. The purpose here is to have fun – not to discover an Olympic contender for the next games. You could do this activity out of doors or adapt activities to be played inside.

Here’s a list of activities that you could do.

Discus. Have a paper plate or a lid from a frozen whipped topping container. Give each contestant 3 tries to throw the ‘discus.’ Mark the longest throw. The one who throws the farthest is the winner.

200 meter run. Mark a short distance. Each contestant runs backwards the entire length. The one who does it in the shortest time is the winner.

Shot put. Blow up a large balloon. Contestants throw the balloon. The one who throws it the farthest is the winner.

Javelin throw. Each contestant throws a straw. The one who throws it the farthest is the winner.

Broad jump. Mark a line for contestants to stand behind. Each contestant will stand on one leg behind the line and make one hop. The one who hopped the farthest is the winner.

100 meter relay. (This will only work if you have a group.) Divide contestants into teams. Give each contestant a straw. Each team is given a Life Saver candy. When someone says ‘go,’ the first team member will put his straw in his mouth and put the Life Saver over his straw. He will turn to the player next to him and slide the Life Saver from his own straw to the next contestant’s straw. Contestants will pass the Life Safer from straw to straw until it gets to the last team member. The team that gets it on the last team member’s straw first is the winner.

Diving. Get 4 small buckets or pails. Fill them half full of water and place them 3-4 feet apart from each other. Each contestant will run to the first bucket and jump up and down one time inside the bucket. Then, he will continue doing this until he has jumped in all of the buckets. The player that does this in the shortest amount of time is the winner.

Hurdles. Get 5-6 boxes of varying heights (making sure they are not too high for your grandchild to jump over). Put them about 4 feet apart. Each contestant begins at a starting line and runs to the finish line jumping over each box as he goes. The one who finishes in the shortest amount of time is the winner.

Pole vault. Set up an a-frame ladder. Get a small beanbag. Have contestants stand 3-4 feet way from the ladder. Contestants will take turns throwing the beanbag over the ladder. The one who throws it the farthest is the winner.

Long jump. Mark a starting line. Each contestant stands at the line. Then, the contestant makes a standing jump. The one who can jump the farthest wins.

Swimming. Get a tub of water, a ping pong ball, and a spoon. When someone says ‘go,’ the contestant will put the ping pong ball in the water. Using the spoon to splash water up on the ping pong ball , the contestant will move the ball from one edge of the tub to the other. The one who does it in the fastest time is the winner.

Each contestant gets one point for winning an event. At the end, the one who has the most points is the gold medal winner. The one who has the second highest number of points wins the silver medal. The one who has the third highest points wins the bronze.

You may be able to find ‘play’ Olympic medals at a party supply store. Or, you could go to a dollar store to buy inexpensive prizes/toys to give to the winners. Or you could give the gold medal winner a 100,000 Grand candy bar, Smarties candy to the silver medalist, and Runt candies to the bronze medal winner. If it is just you and your grandchild, maybe you could have a cake frosted with a gold medal design on it and serve it with ice cream.

(Remember the golden birthday idea? You could do this on your grandchild’s golden birthday.)

Have a grand time!
Digi-Gram

Related posts:

1. Water Activities for Grandchildren On your mark, get set — SOAK ‘EM!! These...
2. Celebrating A Grandchild’s Birthday One of my friends is an English teacher. (Actually,...
3. Play Bocce with Grandchildren I have discovered a fun, fun activity — playing...
4. A Grandchild’s Golden Birthday Before we had children, I heard about the idea...
5. More Water Activities for Grandchildren Grandchildren love to play in water — whether in...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.