5 Activities for the Winter Olympics in the Music Room

 

There’s something so special and inspiring about the Olympics! They’re only on once every four years with the whole world tuned in at the same time – how amazing! They will take place in 2026, 2030, 2034, etc. I love watching each athlete and team as they enter, ready to show the world that their hard work and diligence over the past years was worth it.

I remember when I was young, as I just loved watching figure skaters and gymnasts. Each athlete would gracefully perform every element of their routine, hoping for the gold medal. Still to this day, I am so excited to watch the Olympics, especially during the Winter months.

 . Here are some of the activities that I use to celebrate the Winter Olympics in the music room.

 

Winter Olympics Relay Games

During the last Winter Olympics, my students had a blast with rhythmic and melodic relays. They are high-energy and super review games to celebrate winter sports. I break the students up into four different teams or sports – figure skating, bob sledders, hockey players, and skiers. On one side of the room, students sit with their team members. The team has a set of rhythm cards (with their team’s logo) spread out for the group to see.

You can play many different types of games with these cards. My favorite is the classic relay game. The teacher claps, speaks or sings a particular rhythm or melody from the provided list. Students echo it back and then race to find the matching card. One student from each team races to the teacher with the answer.

Sometimes, I will add a little twist, telling students they need to “skate” or ski over with their answer. During that time, I may decide to add a different scoring method too. For example, I’ll say: the first 3 teams to arrive with the right answer, or only the first team, etc.

 

The Olympic Fanfare with Parachute

A main part of the Olympics is listening to the stunning music heard all throughout the 16-day long event. The Olympic Fanfare and Theme is a beautiful and emotional piece, and many students are sure to recognize it.

There are many different themes in this piece, and each one has a different parachute movement. Students should be able to learn and perform this in one class, and it looks great to present to their teacher or to administration.

You could use what I have in the past or even let your students create their own movements with scarves or ribbons.

 

The Olympic Fanfare with Instruments

The Olympic Fanfare and Theme is also a great piece to discussing summer or winter Olympics in the music room. Students add instruments to the Olympic theme music while also performing rhythms together as a class. With each theme, students must actively listen to determine when to play the designated rhythm and instrument for that section.

I use a simplified version with my kindergarten and first graders and the more advanced version with my second and third graders. If you’re interested in using this arrangement, purchase the Olympic Fanfare and Theme arrangement by clicking here. 

 

Winter Olympics Write the Room Activities

If you’re looking for ways to help your students practice writing rhythms and notes on the staff, a write the room game is a wonderful choice. It is also great for social distancing, as students walk around the room on their own with a clipboard, pencil, and paper, searching for the clues to record on their paper. 

A couple suggestions for using these games would be to pre-determine a set amount of time for this activity. Many of your students would go on forever, searching for their “last clue.” Even if a student hasn’t found all of them yet, recognize what they did find. If the activity had 10 rhythms to find, then let students know how they ranked. For example, if a student found 3-5 of them, they receive a bronze medal; 6-8 earns a silver medal; 9-10 earns a gold medal. If you’re looking for winter write the room games, check these out in my store.

 

Winter Olympics Music Bulletin Board

During the last Winter Olympics, my coworker and I decided to hold our own school-wide music Olympics. In the long, bare walls of the music hallway, we created a bulletin board from rather large paper available to us. We printed and cut out giant clip art of kid athletes, with a different sport representing each of the grades in our school, K-3rd. A large piece of white bulletin board paper (rolled like a scroll) next to each grade athlete was perfect to record the medals earned. For some perspective in this picture, each of the kid clip art is around 20-24 inches tall.

Using a Cricut, we cut circles (“medals”) out of gold, silver, and bronze vinyl. For about 3 weeks, we awarded each class based on whole-class behavior and participation in music class. Writing the homeroom teacher’s name on the medals was great for the students to see as they walked down the hallway. 

At the end, we tallied up the total points for each grade – gold medals = 3 points, silver = 2, and bronze = 1. The grade with the highest score earned a free dance day, and our PTO helped by awarding an ice cream party also. 

It was a lot of prep work, but it was absolutely worth it. If you’re looking for an Olympics activity for your whole school, I know your students will have a blast with it. The other Specials teachers or homeroom teachers may enjoy participating in this, as well.

 

I hope you found some of these ideas and games useful for your students and classroom. If you use any of these, I’d love to hear about it! Send me a DM on Instagram (@bethsmusicclassroom) and let me know about your favorite Olympics lessons.

 

Looking for more WINTER music lesson ideas? Click here!