Feeling lost without the Olympics? We were feeling a bit lonely as well. Never fear, backyard Olympics are here! On a recent family vacation, we had our own Olympic fun. Since everyone can’t be Michael Phelps or Gabby Douglas, we played games from Minute to Win It. This was a great way to introduce the real spirit of the Olympics to the kids while literally laughing our socks off. The Olympics are not only about winning medals and breaking records, so much more lies behind the five rings than meets the eye. While the spirit of competition is palpable across the world, many forget about the sense of unity and respect amongst the nations that partake in this grand ceremony.
To play, we had the kids pick teammates and countries to represent. As soon as we had the kids pick their country of choice, I could see a light bulb went off in their heads. Things started to make sense. No longer were the Olympics only about winning the gold medal but about representing your country with pride.
We played a total of 4 games: homemade Ring Toss, Face the Cookie, Shake your Tail Feather, and a Hop Off.
The ring toss was so simple to make. I used an empty paper towel roll, wrapped it in colored tape and attached it to a piece of cardboard. I cut the rings out of paper plates and painted them in Olympic fashion.
Face the Cookie was by far the funniest game. All you need is a few Oreo cookies and a chair. Have your contestant tilt their head back in the chair. Place the Oreo on their forehead and begin. The object is to move the Oreo down your face into your mouth using only your facial muscles all in under a minute.
Shake your Tail Feather required a little more preparation. Save those empty tissue boxes and attach a belt to it and fill it with ping pong balls. Attach the box-belt concoction to your waist just above your rear end. The object here is to shake out all the box’s contents as quickly as possible.
Last but not least, our Hop Off displayed each country’s ability to stay hoping on one foot for the longest.
After four games, Botswana won gold, France won silver, and the United Kingdom came in third with bronze.