CraftsToddlersPreschoolers7 Comments
Thanks to Kitchen Counter Chronicles for passing on the Olympic torch to me in the Kid Bloggers Go Olympics. I now have a chance to race to the finish line and WIN! Or not, as part of a group effort, we’ll all win in celebrating the Olympics with our kids, together.
I mentioned winning because winning is obviously a huge part of the Olympics. Who doesn’t want a gold medal?
Do you talk to your kids about winning and losing? At what age is this appropriate? I’m not sure and I do think this is highly debatable as I know many teams, leagues, sports for children don’t keep scores and don’t have winners or losers.
What are your thoughts on that? I’m curious.
Henry has been very competitive lately. Always being the first one somewhere. Being the fastest, biggest, slowest, jumping the highest, or whatever it is that he needs to be the best at. He thinks he’s it, whether or not he really is.
A fun way to encourage competitiveness, but also to show the meanings of these words to Henry was by creating a race so we had the opportunities to discuss them.
A simple race by blowing fabric across the kitchen floor with a straw.
The setup was a piece of tape to make the starting point. Two pieces of fabric (of equal size, of course, so there’s no advantage) and two straws.
On your marks, get set… Blow!
The boys (okay, really it was just Henry) raced to see who could blow their fabric to the edge of the kitchen the fastest.
George didn’t quite know what to do, but that’s okay. He giggled in Henry’s excitement.
When Henry finished, I asked him questions like…
Who was the fastest one?
Who finished first?
Who won the race?
To encourage his knowledge of the terms that he’s been so frequently using lately.
While it wasn’t much of a competition, it was good fun and lots of giggles from the boys. And gave us the opportunity to discuss the words that often come with winning and losing. The Olympics can bring about the same conversations with your kids, take advantage of it!
Thanks Kitchen Counter Chronicles for passing the torch on to me (check out their Olympic Flag art!), now its time to pass it on once again. And I have double duty of passing it along to Ready. Set. Read! and Reading Confetti! Tomorrow, they’ll enlighten you with medals! (Maybe I’ll win a gold after all?)
Be inspired to celebrate the Olympics with the many ideas shared below! Feel free to share your own ideas too!
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The Iowa Farmer's Wife says
So cute I can’t even handle it!
OneMommy says
Fun! We did an Olympic day with friends this week. We might have to try the straw races next!
Jackie says
I’ll give you a gold medal for this great post ;) This is a huge deal at my house right now. My oldest is a little obsessed with winning everything. The other day his little brother put his shoes on first and won something (I think for the first time!) It actually upset him that he didn’t “win”. I wasn’t really prepared for that so I probably didn’t handle it great. It’s a great idea to set up games and situations where kids can win and lose and can discuss how that feels and how to deal with it! I think we’ll have to try your simple blowing fabric game.
JDaniel4's Mom says
This looks like fun!
Cerys @ Rainy Day Mum says
What a fun activity – I think that winning and loosing is important and learning to deal with both as children helps as adults as well. I know many adults that are very poor losers and winners
Angelique says
It’s great Jamie that you let your odler ene experience these terms by himself!
Thank you for particpating to our’ Kids Bloggers Go Olympics’ event,
with love,
Angelique
Jen says
The Olympics are such a great opportunity to talk about winning and losing! My daughter was “booing” another country yesterday and we had a conversation about good sportsmanship…it was awesome. Great post!