2012 Summer Olympic Games Teaching Resources

From July 27 through August 12, all eyes will be on London, England for the 2012 Summer Olympic Games. Whether watching at home with your children or planning activities for school, camp or day care, these activities will enhance watching this, the Games of the 30th Olympiad.

The Ancient Olympics were quite different from our modern-day Olympics. Then the sports included Boxing, Equestrian events including Chariot racing and Riding, the Pankration - a grueling combination of boxing and wrestling, the Pentathlon which included the Discus, the Javelin, Jumping, Running, and Wrestling. Other events were Running, in four different kinds of races and Wrestling. Athletes had to be free men who spoke Greek - and athletes from other countries were not allowed.

The Ancient Olympics were a far cry from our Modern-day version. In 2012, there will be 45 different sports, 302 events, and more than 10,000 athletes from 204 countries are expected to go for the gold during this year's games.

In the Ancient Olympics, no medals were awarded to the winners. The first place winner wore an olive wreath on his head. Nothing was given to second or third place winners.

In the modern Olympics, medals are given to the first, second and third place winners. Gold is given to he first-place winner, silver to the second place winner and bronze to the third place winner. On the front of each medal is are pictured a Greek goddess, the Olympic Rings, the coliseum of ancient Athens, a Greek vase known as an amphora, a horse-drawn chariot, and the year, number of the Olympiad, and host city. The host city can design the back of the medal as they choose.

The Olympic Rings were adopted in 1913, and signify the five major regions of the world: Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe, and Oceania. Every national flag in the world includes at least one of the five colors of the rings, which are (from left to right) blue, yellow, black, green, and red.

The Olympic Flag debuted at the 1920 Olympic Games in Antwerp, Belgium. It is now a tradition that at the end of each Olympic Games, the mayor of that host-city presents the flag to the mayor of the next host-city. It then remains at the town hall of the next host-city for four years until the Opening Ceremony of their Olympic Games.

Visit the official schedule of events for all of the competitions at this year's Olympics.

Here are a few Olympics-related activities to try with your child.

Olympic Timelines: Students use library or online sources to create time lines of various events that took place during the modern Olympic Games.

Quest for the Gold is a complete unit plan on Olympics of the past and present.

Olympic Records through Time: Compare the records of gold medal Olympic winners for the last 100 years.

Olympic WebQuests:

London 2012 WebQuest
Summer Olympics London 2012
Olympic Lesson Plan 2012

Enjoy the Summer Olympics - they only come around once every four years. They will be held next in 2016 in Rio de Janiero.

Copyright 2012 Irene Taylor.All rights reserved.