I LOVE the Olympics. We are totally watching them every day this summer. With the summer Olympics only rolling around every four years, I jumped at the chance to welcome them and celebrate, to make them extra special and exciting for our family! So we had our own Backyard Family Olympics, and it was such fun! We might turn this into an annual family event! Today I’m showing pictures of the final activities, but next Saturday I will have the tutorials posted for everything you see here.

CRAFTS:
The week before we had our Olympics, we did the prep work, (which was just as much fun as the actual game day)! We made our own team t-shirts, headbands, medals, sign, and torch. I bought all of my supplies at Hobby Lobby, and used what he had around the house. Tutorials to come! The actual planning of the games was the easiest part.

LET THE GAMES BEGIN:


Opening Ceremonies-
We began our festivities with the opening ceremonies. It’s all on film. Yes, we sang the National Anthem and passed the DIY Olympic torch around. We took a moment to explain what the Olympics mean, and also what it means to be a good sport and a team player.




Crepe Paper Rhythmic Gymnastics-
This was the most fun game. We all loved it! Each family member had their own color of crepe paper. The contest was to see who could unroll theirs the fastest. If you throw it up in the air, it goes so far, and has a huge tail of crepe paper flying after it. I would totally recommend doing this! Each roll was less than $2. So totally worth it.

Rock, Paper, Scissors-
This was our 6 year old’s idea. 🙂

Parent/Child Marco Polo-
The parent closes their eyes and yells “Marco” while the children yell “Polo!” Then you run all over the yard chasing after the kids.

Egg on a Spoon-

Trampoline Simon Says-

Bowling-

We didn’t take our games too seriously, as you can see in these pictures. 🙂
How do ya like my Tim Tebow impression? haha

Other game ideas-
obstacle course, ring toss, baseball, firefly catching contest, hula hoop contest, relay, 3 legged race, swingset routine, bike race, water balloons

Notes-
It would also be really fun to invite other families to participate in your Family Olympics. I think older kids/teenagers would enjoy the competition! Since it was our “first” family olympics, I decided to keep it pretty low key. Regarding the competition and medals, we didn’t really keep score of anything. We just had fun playing the games. Every person won a gold medal, in honor of their “personal best.” Maybe as our kids get older, we’ll be a little more competitive, but it was perfect for their age.

DESSERT:
I thought it would be fun to end the night with an English dessert, since this year’s games are being held in London.

DECOR:
I made this little craft for fun. I used vinyl from Oh My Crafts.

GIVEAWAY:

I’m giving away a sporty Olympic headband!

To Enter:

All you need to do is be a follower of Skip to My Lou, and Family Ever After.

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Extra Entry:

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That’s it! Giveaway ends on the opening day of the Olympics, on July 27. I’ll immediately get the headband in the mail! Open to US residents only. Chances of winning depend on the number of entries. Must be 18 or older to enter.

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