The Olympics: 8 Fun Activities for Families to Get the Most Out of It! by Christine Jones

The Olympics have started!! It’s one of my family's favorite TV events! Watching Michael Phelps win eight gold medals in 2008 had a huge impact on our oldest son. He joined a swim team and soon switched to water polo, which is now his passion. I can't wait for the 2016 games to begin. Watching the games can be a terrific opportunity to teach your kids some valuable lessons while spending quality time as a family.

• Fun Craft: In advance of the opening ceremonies, have the kids make Olympic torches out of paper towel rolls, tissue paper and aluminum foil. You can see from the photo that we got a jumpstart on this one!
• Geography: Watch the opening ceremonies with an atlas or even a globe and learn about different countries. Start with Rio and move on from there!
• Character Development: As you're watching the games, engage kids in meaningful conversations about perseverance, competition, sportsmanship and disappointment. None of these athletes got to where they are without going through tough challenges.
• Human Interest Stories: There are so many inspiring stories about athletes. Look online at the profiles of the athletes, read the stories of their journey and let your kids pick one or two that they want to follow throughout the games.
• Math Fun: Have your kids practice math facts by tallying up the medals won. Give them scenarios such as, if the U.S. wins six more how many will they have.
• Dream Big: Let little kids in the house have some fun by dressing up as an Olympian and telling you what sport they'd want to compete in! Dreams needs to start somewhere!
• Olympic Themed Snacks: For fun snacks make these patriotic ice cream sandwiches with red, white and blue sprinkles, team USA fruit kebobs or these fruit torch cones.
• Family Bonding: Best of all, host your own family Olympics either out in the backyard with some fun games and races or with easy indoor “minute to win it”type games and keep a medal tally of your own.

For the full schedule and other information about the Olympics, check out the official NBC Olympics website. For more ideas click here. Have fun watching with the kids!