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Homeschool Resources For Learning About The Winter Olympics

Enjoy these homeschool resources for learning about Winter Olympics! The Games are a great opportunity for all kinds of hands on art activities and fun around a favorite sport.

Does winter make you want to burrow into a cozy nook and sleep the cold away? For some of us, that’s our reaction to the onset of cold and snowy days. But for other people, especially winter sports enthusiasts, winter is time to step into some skis, skates, or other gear and have a great time in the snow and ice!

Even if you do like to huddle close and stay warm, your family can enjoy winter sports as spectators of the Winter Games! 

Enjoy these homeschool resources for learning about Winter Olympics! The Games are a great opportunity for all kinds of hands on art activities and fun around a favorite sport.

The Winter Games: An Overview

Much like the Summer Games, the Winter Games are held every four years, but staggered on the even years when there are no Summer Games. And in the winter, of course! The focus is on sports played on snow and ice, whether indoors or out! 

Although the Summer Games hark way back to ancient times, the Winter Games were first played in 1924. They feature a variety of sports that your children may never have heard of (curling?), and can be a great opportunity to introduce your family to new favorite sports in the snow!

China is the host country of the 2022 Winter Games opening ceremonies and the ice sports competitions will be held in Beijing. The games are numbered with Roman numerals, so this is the XXIV Olympic Winter Games! Two other regions, Yanquing and Zhangjiakou will also host some of the events. You can follow along with this 2022 Winter Olympics Schedule

The Winter games is not just fun to watch, but it’s also an educational event you can discover in your homeschool! Chalk Pastel has so many video art lessons that serve as wonderful introductions to the Winter Games. Clubhouse members can enjoy the I Drew It Then I Knew It workbook. The workbook offers a planner, questions, and fun facts and interesting details about the most popular Summer and Winter Games events. 

If your family plans to enjoy watching the Winter Games, there is also a new Games Medal Count printable in the workbook, so you can track your favorite countries achievements!

Enjoy these homeschool resources for learning about Winter Olympics! The Games are a great opportunity for all kinds of hands on art activities and fun around a favorite sport.
homeschool art lessons for the Winter Olympics

Homeschool Winter Games Video Lessons

Bring out the chalk pastels and get ready to enjoy the Winter Games in the warmth of your dining room or study area. Nana’s winter games lessons cover the main ice and snow sports of the Winter Games. The various sports included in the Games have changed slightly over the years, but the fan favorites remain the ones Nana has included in her lessons. 

Ice skating art lesson for your homeschool

Ice skates are a common piece of equipment in various events at the Winter Games: Figure skating, speed skating, short track skating and hockey. Nana covers how to draw a basic ice skate, and teaches kids about the different parts of a skate: boot, blade, laces. She talks about the special laces competitive skaters use. 

Hockey is one sport that uses ice skates, and Nana has a lesson dedicated to this sport! My kids didn’t know much about hockey, but they enjoyed going virtually with Nana to a hockey game to learn about this sport. Nana encourages kids to personalize their drawings by giving “pizzazz” to their hockey stick and puck. I love that although Chalk Pastel lessons are step by step, there are always opportunities to get creative and make the picture your own. 

Enjoy these homeschool resources for learning about Winter Olympics! The Games are a great opportunity for all kinds of hands on art activities and fun around a favorite sport.

The bobsledding chalk pastel lesson gives kids an opportunity to create their own four-person bobsled team and decorate the helmets and sled to their liking. Or, they can follow Nana’s lead and make a Team USA sled! 

For more Winter Games fun, paint the Downhill Skier lesson. This lesson is unique in that artists will paint a silhouette of a skier. This both introduces artists to the concept of the silhouette, and makes drawing people attainable for young artists, because there are no faces or details to draw!

Hockey and snowboarding winter games art lessons
Enjoy these homeschool resources for learning about Winter Olympics! The Games are a great opportunity for all kinds of hands on art activities and fun around a favorite sport.

Painting a snowboarder is a bit more detailed and takes a little time. My oldest enjoyed working on his painting of this sport. In this lesson, Nana paints Olympic athlete Shaun White flipping through the air on his snowboard in a previous Winter Games in South Korea! This is an exciting “action shot” painting! 

I love how in many lessons, Nana stresses the importance of being forgiving with your art! This is so helpful to my youngest, who wants his pictures to be so perfect. I love how Nana reassures him that even if we make a small mistake or paint outside the lines, we can be forgiving as we create! Nana’s positive influence is very helpful to me as a parent teaching my children art! 

Enjoy these homeschool resources for learning about Winter Olympics! The Games are a great opportunity for all kinds of hands on art activities and fun around a favorite sport.

Fun Activities To Help You Learn More About The Winter Olympics

Besides drawing, there are so many winter olympics resources to help your kids learn more about the Winter Olympics! 

Check out this Winter Olympics Homeschool Ideas post to find ideas for celebrating the Opening Ceremonies, the geography of different countries represented at the Games, and creating fun decorations or enjoying foods from around the world. The author also has game schooling, history, book and movie recommendations for homeschool moms to pick from and create a delightful diversion from regular lessons. 

Fun activities to help you learn more about the Olympics
Homeschool video art lessons for your family

One thing we did to make our Winter Games chalk pastel time a little different than usual, was create Winter Games flashcards to learn the different sports. 

I made a simple flashcard template that we used with each Chalk Pastel lesson. Each winter Olympic sport is listed at the top. The boys painted with Nana in the larger box. Then we read through the I Drew It Then I Knew it workbook pages for each of the sports. I had the boys take turns filling in the text box with a one-sentence summary of what they had learned about each sport. 

You could laminate these flashcards and cut them apart for some matching fun with younger kids who are more visual. 

You can get the flashcards template here to try this out in your homeschool! There is a flashcard labeled for each of Nana’s Winter Games lessons, plus a blank page for using this with other events you study. 

More Homeschool Video Art Lessons For Your Family

If you’re looking for more resources to round out your lesson plans: my Ancient History Reading List can provide a literature component to your Winter Games study. It includes suggestions for fiction and non-fiction about the Greeks. Or, segue from an ancient games study to a study of ancient poetry and art with my Ancient History Classical Morning Menu set!

How To Draw an Olympic Torch for The Games

Continue building excitement for the Winter Games before and during the event with Nana’s other lessons that coordinate so well: 

Kids can create their own Olympic torch relay, or learn about the opening ceremonies with Nana. Since the Games originated in ancient times, explore the ancient olympics and paint the Greek coliseum and a Laurel Wreath.

Sometimes it can be hard for kids to connect to sports that are unfamiliar or events that are far away around the globe. Painting the equipment and athletes of the winter games and including other art projects and hands-on activities about the history of The Games brings kids right into the moment of excitement as these athletes compete for gold medals. With these great Olympic resources, you and your family will celebrate a memorial Winter Games this year!

Enjoy these homeschool resources for learning about Winter Olympics! The Games are a great opportunity for all kinds of hands on art activities and fun around a favorite sport.

Julie is a teacher, writer and homeschool mom. Her blog Happy Strong Home shares encouragement for cherishing children, enjoying motherhood, and growing strong families. Discover homeschool resources, natural living tips, and family activity ideas. Julie has been featured on Million Praying Moms, The Old Schoolhouse Magazine, and the Melissa and Doug blog. She offers writing workshops and a “homeschool neighborhood” community to support parents in their homeschool adventures. Find Julie on Instagram to be the first to know when new workshops and community events are available. 

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How to Draw an Olympic Torch with Chalk Pastels

Learn how to draw an Olympic Torch with chalk pastels and Nana’s homeschool art lesson for The Winter or Summer Games! There are so many art lessons ready for you the celebrate The Games in a hands on way in your homeschool.

How To Draw an Olympic Torch for The Games

How to Draw an Olympic Torch with Chalk Pastels

You can enjoy this sample lesson, The Torch. This is one of the many lessons for both summer and winter games included in The Games Clubhouse Edition in the You ARE an ARTiST Complete Clubhouse.

Suggested supplies: white construction paper. Blue, light blue, black, white, red, orange, yellow chalk pastels.

Share your art! Draw an Olympic Torch with Chalk Pastels with Nana’s art lesson and please tag us on social media. You can tag @chalkpastelart on Instagram and use the hashtag #youareanartist – we can’t wait to see!

More Homeschool Learning with The Games

Celebrate The Games with Chalk Pastel Art Ideas – From ancient Greece and the Roman coliseum to the modern games and all the sports competitions, this is a great opportunity to build a homeschool unit study around The Games. Plus, chalk pastels are a fun addition to your Olympic learning.

Paint The Games medal ceremony!
Paint The Games medals or a medal ceremony!

You ARE an ARTiST Complete Clubhouse members have access to ALL of Nana’s art lessons for The Games for both summer and winter sports! Plus, artist clubhouse members enjoy a wonderful I Drew It Then I Knew It The Games companion curriculum workbook with Fun Facts, a printable medal tracker and more!

Celebrate the games in a hands on way in your homeschool.

Enjoy the upcoming Games by using these art lessons to connect kids to the historic and symbolic nature of the world’s greatest competition!

Growing a love of art at You ARE an ARTiST is a multi-generational passion! Tricia is Nana’s daughter and a mama of five children. Nana shared her first chalk pastel art lessons with her grandchildren around Tricia’s kitchen table. Homeschooling since 2000, Tricia has seen the fruits of home education with three homeschool grads so far! She shares the art and heart of homeschooling at Hodgepodgemom and is author of the book, Help! I’m Homeschooling! She and her husband, Steve, are also owners of Homeschool Nature Study and The Curriculum Choice.

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Celebrate the Summer Games with Chalk Pastel Art Ideas

The Games are back! The Games are a great opportunity to celebrate culture, history, sports, and healthy competition with your kids. Every family has their favorite sport to watch during these events, whether summer or winter. Gather the kids and celebrate the Summer Games with Chalk Pastel Art. Enjoy Ancient Greece lessons for the history of the Games. Then illustrate important aspects and moments of the modern Games! It’s a fun I Drew It Then I Knew It experience.

Ideas to Celebrate Summer Games with Chalk Pastel Art:

The boys and I went through a “mock Games” celebration to create activity and art ideas to go along with this summer’s games. We had so much fun learning, painting, and acting out various Games’ moments! Here’s how we enjoyed our home-grown sporting event.

How to Paint The Games Torch with chalk pastels.

Pass the Torch Relay!

Historically, the torch relay connects the initial Games of Ancient Greece with today’s version of the Games. The torch is lit and the flame passed from Olympia, Greece, to the current host location.

Symbolically, the passing of the Flame represents handing down knowledge and life through generations.

Pass the torch relay idea! The boys ran around the house, passing the torch, symbolizing the Torch Relay that begins the Games.

With Nana’s Ancient Greece lessons, my son drew the Torch on larger 12×18″ construction paper on a diagonal. He positioned the bottom of the handle about two-thirds across the bottom of the paper, then drew the torch across the paper so the flame would end up in the upper left corner. Then, we rolled the paper into a conical shape, so the bottom narrowed, and the torch was visible on one side of the cone. A little tape will keep this torch nicely rolled!

The boys ran around the house, passing the torch, symbolizing the Torch Relay that begins the Games. (During the actual Torch Relay, you can watch LIVE and recorded clips on the official Games site!).

The Games Torch Video Art Lesson

You can enjoy this sample lesson, The Torch. This is one of the many lessons for both summer and winter games included in The Games Clubhouse Edition in the You ARE an ARTiST Complete Clubhouse.

Opening Ceremonies

This might be my favorite part of the Games. I love the parades and choreography, the anthems, and colorful flags and uniforms! The purpose of the Ceremonies is to learn about the culture of the host country.

We drew a map of Japan and looked at various geography books about Japan. You might even want to trace the path of the torch using Nana’s map of Japan!

Ancient Greece Lessons

After painting the Opening Ceremonies lesson (use Nana’s Coliseum lesson to hark back to Ancient Greece as another option!), we hung the boys artwork up and marched around to classic fanfare music from past games.  Leo Arnaud’s Bugler’s Dream and John Williams’s “Olympic Fanfare and Theme” combined is a classic and well-recognized opening song. Nana also has a John Williams composer art lesson!

Let the Games Begin!

Now the real fun starts! There are so many sports represented at the Games, it’s hard to pick a favorite.

Archery, swimming, volleyball, diving, sailing, gymnastics, running, surfing. Nana has any number of sports-themed lessons for kids to enjoy. Pick a favorite, or draw them all!

I had the boys pick a few to draw, then set up mini Games competitions.

Archery – We made a bow and arrow out of a plastic hangar and chopstick, then tried to hit a paper plate target.

Sailing – The boys launched paper boats (which they made beforehand) in a kiddie pool and raced to blow them to the other side.

Tennis – The boys competed to see who could bounce a tennis ball off their rackets the most times.

Get together with the kids and invent more “Games” ideas based on their favorite sports, Nana’s art lessons, or just whatever you have around the house. Make silly versions of popular games to keep it short and light.

Medals Ceremony

The top three winners at the Games receive gold, silver, or bronze medals. In ancient times, winners received a Laurel Wreath to symbolize victory. Kids will enjoy hearing about the history of these awards during Nana’s lessons. If you have any old medals or trophies, let your kids receive them like the athletes do; we dug around and found old running medals to wear!

The Games Medals Ceremony - Kids will enjoy hearing about the history of these awards during Nana's lessons. If you have any old medals or trophies, let your kids receive them like the athletes do; we dug around and found old running medals to wear!

When my boys do chalk pastel lessons, I feel we’re all winners! Nana includes so many little details and facts as she demonstrates, that kids walk away with knowledge as well as a beautiful piece of artwork.

Every piece of art is a victory for our little artists, isn’t it? Nana champions every artist as they paint along with her. And the best prize is kids are learning while they’re painting with chalk pastels!

After the boys completed their victory pictures, we hung all our Games drawings up to enjoy. They are excited for the real Games to start this summer!

Drawing with Nana embodies the same ideals as the Games themselves: excellence, friendship and respect. With Nana as your art teacher, your children will be encouraged in all three of these areas to create with excellence, enjoy the friendship of a delightful art teacher, and to respect their work, because they ARE artists!

Drawing with Nana embodies the same ideals as the Games themselves: excellence, friendship, and respect. With Nana as your art teacher, your children will be encouraged in all three of these areas to create with excellence, enjoy the friendship of a delightful art teacher, and to respect their work, because they ARE artists!

Enjoy the upcoming Games by using these art lessons to connect kids to the historic and symbolic nature of the world’s greatest competition!

Nana is adding many new lessons to The Games Clubhouse Edition for your celebration!

Gather the kids and celebrate the Summer Games with Chalk Pastel Art to illustrate important aspects and moments of the Games!

Julie is a teacher, writer and homeschool mom. Her blog Happy Strong Home shares encouragement for cherishing children, enjoying motherhood, and growing strong families. Discover homeschool resources, natural living tips, and family activity ideas. Julie has been featured on Million Praying Moms, The Old Schoolhouse Magazine, and the Melissa and Doug blog. She offers writing workshops and a “homeschool neighborhood” community to support parents in their homeschool adventures. Find Julie on Instagram to be the first to know when new workshops and community events are available.