5 Points to Help Explain The #Olympics To Your Kids

The above photo was taken in 2009. It’s a photo of me and my girls holding a real Olympic torch at playgroup.

With the London 2012 Olympics in full swing, you may have already been watching it with your children, or perhaps not. Maybe you thought your children were too young to care or understand, or you weren’t sure how to explain it to them.

I think a child as young as 3 can understand the very basics and should be told about the Olympics. They probably won’t remember what you said when the next Olympics come around so you’ll have to explain some things over and over again as they get older, that is how children learn (repetition.)

Depending on your child’s age, more explanation may be needed in each section. My girls are six and five and I added explanations for athlete (someone who does a sport) and compete (go against each other to see who is better at the sport,) etc…

5 Points About the Olympics

1. The Olympics is when athletes from around the world compete against each other to see who is the best at each sport.

I pointed out the country each person was from while we watched and explained things. I pointed out that although each athlete does different sports than other people in the same country, they are all considered a team. e.g. Team Canada, Team USA and that they want to see others from their country do well.

2.  The Olympics is for the absolute best athletes.

I made sure they understood that these people have been training for years and that they must practice their sport many time a week at least to get this good. Since we were watching Gymnastics at the time, I pointed out that if they took a class in Gymnastics, they would go once a week and learn the very basics but if they really liked the sport and were good at it and wanted to one day be on the Olympics, they would have to take classes more often and practice all the time for years.

3. The Olympics is held every 4 years in a different country but there is two types of Olympics (Summer and Winter) and they alternate so there is an Olympics every 2 years

I had a little trouble explaining this one but eventually hit it on the head when I said that this is the Summer Olympics, in two years will be a Winter Olympics, then two years another Summer Olympics, then two more years a Winter Olympics, etc. Also explain that there are different sports in the Summer and Winter.

4. The Olympics have been around for many, many years.

The Olympics games were around back in Ancient Greece and in the last 1700s they were emulated and they eventually morphed into the ones we have today.

5. There are rules and judges and awards for the top three places.

Your children may ask things such as why do the swimmers wear swim caps and why are the runners all wearing the same shoes or why do they have numbers on their shirts. I explained that each sport has it’s own rules and the judges are watching the athletes and making sure they follow the rules and do what they are supposed to be. Especially for sports where you are given a score (Gymnastics.) I explained that if they fall or their feet touch the ground in some cases, points are taken off.  I explained that the top three athletes receive medals in this order: Gold, Silver and Bronze.

So tell me, are your children watching the games? Did you have to explain anything to them about it? Did you cover the top five above? What would you add as #6?

Summer Fit Learning Series–Exercise for the Brain and Body While Away From School

 

Studies show that children lose some of their school learning over the summer. That’s why the first few weeks back to school is review.  Also while some kids spend Summer outdoors getting lots of exercise, others spend it indoors sitting around watching TV and playing video games.

The Summer Fit Learning Series was founded by George Starks in 2010 after leading the Summer Bridge Activities workbook series for Rainbow Bridge Publishing for 10 years.

Summer Fit Learning Works the Brain and Body

The brain exercises such as reading, writing and math bridge what they have already learned in the grade they are leaving with what they will learn when they move up. So instead of it being a Grade 1 or Grade 2 workbook, you would see a Grade 1-2 workbook for students moving from Grade 1 to Grade 2.

The body exercises include fitness, nutrition and values. There is a wide variety of Aerobic, Strength and Play Exercises plus Core Values to learn.

How it Works or Inside the Book

The book is designed to be used every weekday starting right from when school lets out. After all the parental information and explanations, you will find a Progress Check where you can check off each week as it is finished and how you are doing with the fitness.

Then you will find the introduction to Week One. It tells you what brain knowledge you will cover (missing letters, counting coins, finish the pattern, vowel sounds, subtraction etc.). Then is the reminder to pick an activity from the aerobic, strength and play/sport activities this week and to warm up first with some ideas of how to do that. Finally we are introduced to the core value of the week with a little explanation of what it means.

Turn the page to find the Incentive Contract. A parent or guardian fills in an incentive for completing the weeks and signs it. There is a spot to check off that you did the mind and body sections for each day that week and a spot to write down three things you did this week to show your weekly value. Then Congratulations and the parent can sign.

For each day there is only two pages of work plus the fitness section so it’s not like your child is working for hours each day all summer long. It could be 5-20 minutes depending on how well your child remembers/knows the material. For fitness you choose from one of the three activities shown and pick a “level”. It’s set up so you do fitness as follows:

Day 1 – Aerobic (Green level is to do it for 10-30 seconds. Blue level is 31-60 seconds and Purple level is 61-90 seconds.)
Day 2 – Strength (Green is 3-10 reps, Blue is 11-19 reps, Purple is 20-29 reps)
Day 3 – Aerobic
Day 4 – Strength
Day 5 – no mind work, something on the core value (info, questions, book suggestions and other activities) and you do one of the sports.

Are you in Canada?

My only problem is that the pages that have you count coins, have you count American coins. But don’t worry! You can download the pages with Canadian coins from the website in the Canada section!

Connect!

You can find Summer Fit Learning on Facebook and Twitter. Also the website has some extra resources like a summer reading list, other fun ideas and more.

*Disclosure: I received the product(s) mentioned above free of charge by the company or PR representative for evaluation purposes. No other compensation was provided. See my Disclosure Policy for more information.

REVIEW: Jennifer Gianni's Fusion Pilates: Four DVD Pregnancy Series

When you are pregnant or trying to conceive, you are excited about your (hopefully) impending baby. Often though we have a fear of gaining weight because we know it's not common to lose all of it after birth (except for celebrities!)


Jennifer Gianni's Fusion Pilates is a set of four DVDs for different parts of your journey from TTC to After Baby.

Triple Threat - Get in shape before your pregnancy.
Pilates for Pregnancy - Maintain strength and prepare for birth.
Post Pregnancy & C-Section Recovery - Get your pre-pregnant body back.
Exercise with Baby - Bond with your newborn and stay in shape.

I love the little saying on the cover of the DVD case:

"Become STRONG for pregnancy, PREPARE your body for labor. Bounce back QUICKLY after birth SAFE for mom & baby."

The DVDs come all together in one DVD case which is nice because often times DVD sets take up a lot of room on your shelf or don't fit in your DVD holder.

The workouts are not too intense and have a comforting feel to them. This isn't a drill sergeant workout, it's a fellow mom leading you in exercises. The one for exercising with baby includes your baby in the workout which is HARDER than it sounds. Laying on your back and lifting baby up is HARD WORK. Especially with the big babies I make.

Recommended for yourself or as a gift for a special someone who is expecting.


*Disclosure: I received the product(s) mentioned above free of charge by the company or PR representative for evaluation purposes. No other compensation was provided. See my Disclosure Policy for more information.