7 Cross-curricular activities to celebrate Olympic Day at school

Why Olympic Day matters in the classroom

Celebrated every year on June 23rd, Olympic Day is about far more than sports. It’s a global celebration built on three pillars: move, learn, and discover. For teachers, those pillars line up perfectly with what you’re already doing in the classroom every day.

Olympic Day honors the values at the heart of the Olympic movement: excellence, friendship, and respect. Whether your students are graphing race times in math, researching ancient Greece in social studies, or learning about teamwork during PE, the Olympics offer a rich, ready-made context for meaningful learning across the curriculum.

The best part is you don’t need to overhaul your existing lesson plans. The activities below are designed to slide into the subjects you’re already teaching, giving students a fresh angle on familiar skills. So how do you turn Olympic Day into a full day (or week) of cross-curricular learning? Let’s get into it.

7 cross-curricular activities to celebrate Olympic Day

1) Explore the history and origins of the Olympic Games

The Olympics have a story that stretches back thousands of years, and it’s one your students will find genuinely fascinating. Starting with the ancient games is a great way to connect Olympic Day to your social studies and history curriculum.

For elementary students, the video The Ancient Origins of the Olympics explains how a small religious festival in rural Greece became the greatest sporting event on earth. Pair it with Ancient Greece from the 5 Things You Should Know about History series for a quick, engaging overview. For a deeper dive, The Olympics: From Antiquity to Paris 2024 traces the full arc of Olympic history in 21 minutes.

To bring history to life, try having your students create an Olympic timeline. Give them the task of researching key moments from the ancient games through to the modern era. Don’t forget the quirky details that hook students in, like the original Greek “uniforms” (or lack of them) and the origins of the Olympic rings.

You’ll also want to spotlight significant Olympic figures. Jesse Owens tells the story of the star athlete who overcame discrimination to win gold at the 1936 Olympics. Jim Thorpe introduces students to one of America’s greatest athletes and a powerful figure in Native American history. For older students, Why Was One of the Greatest Athletes of All Time Stripped of His Olympic Medals? adds a layer of complexity and a great discussion starter about fairness in sport.

Try this in your classroom:

• Watch one of the history videos above, then ask students to compare the ancient games to the modern Olympics using a Venn diagram, a timeline, or even a children’s book they write themselves.
• Have students research a country that participates in the Olympics and create a flag, a short presentation, or an online pinboard about that nation’s Olympic history.
• Organize a flag parade where younger students color, design, and carry flags of different Olympic nations around the school. As a precursor to the activity, play some “spot the difference” games with the interactive Spot the Different Flag: Visual Attention series.

2) Host a classroom mini Olympics

What better way to celebrate Olympic Day than getting your students moving? Hosting a mini Olympics is one of the most popular Olympic Day activities, and for good reason. It gets students active, encourages teamwork, and brings the competitive spirit of the games right into your school.

Start by watching Physically Active You to talk about why physical activity matters. For younger students, Learn about Playing Together with Ant Active and Learn about Sports and Exercise with Ant Active set the tone for what it means to play together and stay healthy.

Need inspiration for activities? ClickView’s Flaghouse Activities series is packed with ideas. Try the Tunnel Game for an obstacle course, Beginner Juggling for a coordination challenge, or Look Up Volleyball for a team sport students of all abilities can enjoy.

For middle and high school students, use the Essential Skills for Sports: Basketball, Essential Skills for Sports: Tennis, or Essential Skills for Sports: Running series to teach proper technique before your games begin.

Try this in your classroom:

• Divide students into teams and let them create team names, flags, and simple “uniforms” (colored armbands or headbands work well).
• Set up a rotation of activities: relay races, timed jumping jacks, obstacle courses, and skill-based challenges like juggling or volleyball.
• Award points or medals for each event. You could also include non-sport challenges, like a math fact relay or a healthy food trivia round, to keep the competition cross-curricular.
• Finish with an “opening ceremony” style debrief where each team shares what they learned about teamwork.

3) Tackle math with Olympic statistics and data

The Olympics are a goldmine for connecting math to events in the real world. Race times, medal counts, scoring systems, and world records give students real-world data to work with, and the context makes even tricky concepts more engaging.

For elementary students learning about time, Calculating Time Duration and Calculating the Finishing Time connect directly to how race results are measured and recorded. Older elementary students can explore Graphing Distance and Time: A Runner’s Story to see how distance-time graphs work in a sporting context.

Data handling is another natural fit. Use ClickView’s Miniclips: Handling Data series to walk students through the full process of gathering and displaying information.

Try this in your classroom:

• Have students research Olympic medal counts by country and create bar graphs, pie charts, or tally charts to present their findings.
• Time students doing simple activities (running a short distance, completing a puzzle) and ask them to calculate averages, compare results, and present data using the method they think works best.
• Challenge older students to analyze trends across multiple Olympic Games: Which countries have improved the most? Which sports have the closest finishing times? Let students choose how to display their analysis, whether that’s a graph, an infographic, or a data wall.

4) Build literacy skills with Olympic-themed writing

Olympic Day gives you a perfect hook for reading, writing, and speaking activities. The stories, debates, and vocabulary that surround the Olympics make literacy lessons feel relevant and exciting, and students often produce their best writing when they care about the topic.

For a persuasive writing activity, show younger students Sports Day and ask them whether Spot’s alternative approach to racing is fairer. This short, lighthearted clip sparks genuine debate and gives students a clear position to argue for or against.

For high school students, connect to Debating and Public Speaking resources to build formal argument skills around Olympic and sports themed topics.

Introduce students to inspiring Olympic athletes through Little Girl Big Dream: The Story of Olympian Samantha Peszek, an animated storybook about a young gymnast who learns that being an Olympian is about more than being the very best.

Try this in your classroom:

• After reading or watching an athlete’s story, have students write a letter to their favorite Olympian. They can ask questions about the athlete’s training, biggest challenges, and what the Olympic experience was like.
• Assign a persuasive writing task: “Should [sport] be added to the next Olympic Games?” Students research, draft, and present their argument to the class.
• Have students research the Olympic pillars (move, learn, discover) and write an informative speech about sportsmanship in the Olympic Games. Record the speeches and watch them back as a class.
• Create a class word wall with Olympic vocabulary: “perseverance,” “sportsmanship,” “ceremony,” “anthem,” and so on.

5) Design an Olympic mascot, medal, or uniform

Art and design activities let students flex their creative muscles while connecting to the cultural side of the Olympics. Every Olympic Games features its own mascot, logo, medals, and uniforms, and designing these items involves real-world skills in visual communication, problem-solving, and teamwork.

For inspiration, use Celebrate Strengths and Celebrate and Honor from the Create-to-Learn series to get students thinking about what makes their community special and how to represent that visually. Younger students can start with Let’s Look and Sketch to build foundational drawing and observation skills before they begin designing.

Try this in your classroom:

• Challenge students to design a mascot for the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. What animal, character, or symbol best represents the city, and why?
• Have students study the Olympic symbol and determine the meaning of the five rings. Then ask them to design their own version that represents their school or community.
• Ask students to create Olympic medals, flags, or uniforms. For older students, extend this into a STEAM project: design a range of merchandise and put together a pitch to present to the “Olympic committee” (their classmates).
• Combine art and research by asking students to look at past uniforms from a chosen country, then design a new uniform that’s both functional and flattering. What materials and colors would they choose, and why?

6) Investigate the science behind Olympic sports

How do forces affect a swimmer’s speed? Why do cyclists wear tight clothing? What role does wind resistance play in a sprint? The Olympics are full of real-world science questions that connect neatly to your curriculum.

Start with Materials and Their Properties and Materials Matter to explore how different materials behave. Then challenge students to apply what they’ve learned to an Olympic context.

You can also connect to geography by exploring the Olympic torch relay. Use Mapping Skills to teach students how to read maps, then have them plan a route for the Olympic flame through their own community.

Try this in your classroom:

• Ask students to take on the role of a sports scientist. Their task: write a short report on how wind resistance affects athletes in swimming, running, or cycling, and recommend ways to improve performance.
• Design an Olympic uniform using recycled materials. Students investigate which materials are waterproof, lightweight, flexible, or durable, then justify their choices based on the sport their uniform is designed for.
• Map the Olympic torch relay route through your local area. Students use map skills (scale, compass, legend) to plan the route and explain their choices.

7) Champion the Olympic values of respect, friendship, and resilience

The Olympic ideals of excellence, respect, and friendship offer some of the richest discussion material Olympic Day has to offer. These values connect directly to social-emotional learning and character education, making them relevant in every classroom.

For younger students, Living Values introduces core values through song, while Respect explains what it means to treat others the way you’d like to be treated. Extend the conversation with Respect Diversity and Cultural Diversity: Respecting Each Other’s Differences, which help students understand that the Olympics bring together people from every background and belief system. Friendship Basics rounds out the theme by exploring how to make, keep, and navigate friendships.

Resilience is another essential Olympic trait. Use Ronnie and His Grit and Resilience for elementary students. Middle school students respond well to Developing Grit and A Growth Mindset from the What You Need to Succeed series. High school students can watch Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance, a TED Talk that explores why talent alone isn’t enough. You can also explore Self-Awareness and How to Set Goals with older students to discuss what it takes to train like an Olympian.

For a mindfulness connection, try Letting Things Go: The Whiteboard and The Okay Fingers, which teach students the focus and calm that top athletes rely on to perform under pressure.

Try this in your classroom:

• Discuss the Olympic Truce, the ancient tradition where countries at war paused all conflict to allow safe travel for athletes, coaches, and fans. Ask students: how could we bring that same spirit of peace into our own school community?
• Have students work in pairs to write and deliver a speech as if they were introducing the Olympic Truce for the first time. What positives and negatives would they include in their argument?
• Create a class list of ways students can promote fairness, equality, and inclusivity at school, inspired by the Olympic ideals.
• Explore stories of athletes who overcame adversity. After watching the Jesse Owens or Jim Thorpe videos, ask: what qualities helped these athletes succeed, and how can we develop those same qualities in our own lives?
• Practice mindfulness as a class using one of the mindfulness videos above. Connect it to how athletes use focus and concentration to perform at their best.

Tips for keeping the Olympic spirit going all year

Olympic Day is a wonderful springboard, but the themes it introduces don’t have to end on June 23rd. Here are a few ways to keep the momentum going:

Revisit the values of respect, friendship, and excellence when classroom conflicts arise or when you’re celebrating student achievements. The language of the Olympics gives students a shared framework for talking about these ideals.

Use major sporting events throughout the year as touchpoints. The Winter Olympics, the Paralympics, and even local school sports days all offer opportunities to circle back to the activities and discussions you started on Olympic Day.

Build a classroom culture of resilience by returning to the grit and growth mindset videos when students face setbacks. Reminding them that even Olympians fail, and that bouncing back is what matters, is a message worth repeating.

Finally, keep the cross-curricular connections alive. Olympic statistics update every two years, geography shifts with each host city, and new athletes and stories emerge with every Games. There’s always something fresh to bring into the classroom.

Sources

1. International Olympic Committee (2025) ‘Olympic Day’, Olympics.com. Available at: https://olympics.com/ioc/olympic-day (Accessed: 30 April 2026).
2. International Olympic Committee (2025) ‘The Olympic Values’, Olympics.com. Available at: https://olympics.com/ioc/olympic-values (Accessed: 30 April 2026).