If you’ve been wondering how to put together Greek Olympic games in your classroom, you’re in the right place!
These are the classroom Olympic events that we used at our school. Feel free to borrow and adapt these ideas to create a special day for your students!
Prepare for the Olympics!
Introduce the Greek Olympics to your class. Explain that the Olympics were so important to the ancient Greeks that wars were stopped, to allow participants to attend. So important were these Olympic games to the ancient Greeks, that we are going to hold our own Olympics. In ancient Greece, each city-state sent a team to represent them in these famous games. At our Olympics, we will have representatives from 5 different city-states.
- TO BE GREEK: The ancient Greeks all spoke the same language, believed in the same gods, and shared a common heritage. They perceived themselves as Greeks.
- TO BE A CITIZEN OF A CITY-STATE: Each city-state was a separate political unit, having its own personality, goals, customs and laws. Ancient Greeks were very loyal to their city-state.
- Assign each group one city-state (Sparta, Athens, Corinth, Argos, Corinth)
- In ancient Greece, the Olympics were held in honor of Zeus. Today, our Olympics will be held in honor of the Ancient Greeks.
- Direct students to start designing their flags. Have books or material on flags of the world available for their use.
Feel free to use the city-state descriptions at the bottom of this post, or have your students research the character of city-state they have been assigned.
HANDOUT: Give each group a handout on the Olympic Events as we have created or one you created, with events of your choice. Have each team select one representative, for events that require a single representative. (Remind your Olympians that they will need to select a song to hum for the Music Appreciation event. Encourage them to practice the tongue-twisters.)
8:00 Opening Procession
Join your city-state. The Olympic coordinator (the teacher) will time the events. Best time wins! First place receives a bow. Send a runner (but walk!) to stick this bow on your flag! The teams with the most bows wins 1st, 2nd, & 3rd place
Hail Greek athletes from Argos, Athens, Corinth, Megara, and Sparta! All Greece thanks and honors you!
8:30 Event 1: Olympic Tongue Twisters
- One member, selected in advance, from each team. Selected Olympian will say, three times, the tongue-twister they have drawn at random from the Olympic Tongue Twister Shoebox.
- I would if I could, and if I couldn’t, how could I? You couldn’t, unless you could, could you?
- She sells seashells on the seashore. The seashells she sells are seashore seashells.
- Ripe white wheat reapers reap ripe white wheat right.
- Blake’s black bike’s back brake bracket block broke.
- Swan swam over the sea. Swim, swan, swim. Swan swam back again. Well swum swan.
- Buckets of black bug’s blood.
- Five fat friars frying flat fish.
- Betty bought some bitter butter and it made her batter bitter, so Betty bought some better butter to make her batter better.
- Ray Rag ran across a rough road. Across a rough road Ray Rag ran. Where is the rough road Ray Rag ran across?
- A Tudor who tooted the flute, tried to tutor two tooters to toot. Said the two to the tutor, Is it harder
8:50 Event 2: Music Appreciation
- (Humming) One or more Olympians compete per team, as a unit. You may either hum the tune you have selected as a team, or select one or more members of your team to represent you in this activity. Team members, selected in advance, will hum a tune for the Olympics coordinator (the teacher). Try to select a tune your Olympic coordinator might know. Best time wins!
9:10 Event 3: Javelin Throw
- For this event, they made javelins out of paper. Then, they turns seeing how far they could be thrown. First place receives a bow. (You may choose to substitute the javelin toss with any toss game.)
9:45 Event 4: Shot Put
- To keep this event classroom friendly, it was done with cotton balls.
Evacuate the Chariot. (This was due to a surprise bus drill. )
10:10 Event 5: Long Jump
10:40 Event 6: Boxing
- For this event, we showed them a box full of items. Then, they had to remember as many as they could after being allowed to view it for 60 seconds. Finally, the students who write down the most items win!
11:05-11:35 Lunch
11:35 Event 7: Greek Mythology as Reader’s Theater (This is found in the bonus material)
12:00 Event 8: Greek Art
- Students had to guess what they were drawing, as in “Win, Lose or Draw.”
12:30 Event 9: Balls in a Basket
- All Olympians compete. Your goal is to toss balls into a basket. Best count wins. Team score. First place receives a bow.
12:45 Event 10: Foot race
1:00 Closing Procession
- Honor First, Second, and Third place winners. Winners selected by totaling number of events won at the Olympics. Take your place to be honored! All Olympians cheer winners in the Greek way – HAIL HAIL! The Olympics coordinator will award bows, for you to add proudly to your city-state flag.
- All city-states, get your flags. NO talking in the hall! Line up inside the classroom, by city, alphabetically (a Greek invention!), by teams, with flags. March proudly around the table at least twice. Exit the Olympic Arena. When all Olympians have exited the Arena, the games are officially over.
1:15 Clean up to leave
1:30 Dismissal
This a just a sample of how you might want to incorporate the Olympics into your classroom. I hope you enjoy these ideas! Be sure to check out the link below if you would like additional resources related to Social Studies and ELA.
Background on the five Greek City-States
SPARTA
You are a Spartan! Be proud! You have endured unbelievable pain and hardship to become a superior Spartan soldier and citizen! Taken away from your parents at age 7, you lived a harsh and often brutal life in the soldiers barracks. You were beaten by older children who started fights to help make you tough and strong. Sometimes you were whipped in front of groups of other Spartans, including your parents, but never cried out in pain. You were given very little food, but encouraged to steal food, instead. If caught stealing, you were beaten. To avoid severe pain, you learned to be cunning, to lie, to cheat, to steal, and how to get away with it! Some of you are members of the Spartan secret police and enjoy spying on slaves. If you find a slave who is showing signs of leadership, you have orders to kill them immediately. You are fierce, capable, and proud of your strength. You know you are superior and are delighted to be Spartan!
Spartan Goals and Behavior at the Olympics: Win at all costs. Lie, cheat, do whatever it takes. If you can’t win, at least beat your archrival, those silly citizens of Athens. You are the proud and fierce Spartans! Dress alike with matching arm bands or buttons. Be loud but polite to your teacher who is your superior officer. You are on time and disciplined. Make up a secret salute, and salute your fellow Spartans. Cheer only for your fellow Spartans at each event. Good luck at the games.
ATHENS
You are an Athenian! Be courteous. You have been superbly educated in the arts and the sciences, and trained to be extremely productive and capable in times of peace or war. You are an achiever. Until age 6 or 7, you were taught at home by your mother, or by a male slave. From age 7-14, you attended a day school in the neighborhood where you memorized Homeric poetry and learned to play that magnificent instrument, the lyre. You learned drama, public speaking, reading, writing, math, and perhaps even how to play the flute. You attended four years of higher school, and learned more about math and science and government. At 18, you attended military school for two additional years! You are proud to be an Athenian! Famed for its literature, poetry, drama, theatre, schools, buildings, government, and intellectual superiority, you have no doubt that your polis, Athens, is clearly the shining star of all the Greek city-states.
Athenian Goals and Behavior at the Olympics: You know your archrival, those horrible Spartans, will do anything to win, even lie and cheat, but you are Athenians – you would never stoop to such boorish behavior. Cooperate with your fellow Athenians to defeat those brutish Spartans, and do your personal best! Say witty things to impress representatives from other city-states. Be courteous to all Greeks, no matter what inferior city they represent. You are Athenians, the clever, creative, courteous representatives of that shining example of all that is fine and noble, the polis of Athens. Good luck in the games!
CORINTH
You are a Corinthian! As a coastal city-state, you have a glorious history as a cultural and trade center. Although your schools are not as fine, perhaps, as those of Athens, you have been educated in the arts and the sciences. As a child, you were taught at home by your mother, or by a male slave. From age 7-14, you attended a day school near your home where you memorized poetry and studied drama, public speaking, reading, writing, math, and the flute. You attended a higher school, if your parents could afford it. You also went to military school for at least two years. Your polis is famous for its bronze statues, pottery, and vase painters. You are creative problem-solvers. To solve the problem of foreign money pouring into your coastal polis, your city-state created it’s own coinage, forcing traders to convert their coin at your banks. (For a fee!) To solve your problem of unemployment, you created a huge and successful public works program. Literature, culture, art, and businesses thrive in your city-state. You are proud to be a practical, productive Corinthian!
Corinthian Goals and Behavior at the Olympics: If you can’t win, help Argos and Megara to defeat those vain Athenians, and those animals, the Spartans. Do what it takes, but be honest about it. You cheer the winner of each event, whoever that might be, and greet your fellow Corinthians with warmth and good sportsmanship whenever you see them. Do not need the nonsense of secret handshakes or salutes. You roll your eyes each time you see one. You are Corinthians and proud of your abilities, your achievements, your honesty, and your obviously superior city-state. Good luck in the games!
ARGOS
You are an Argive! Educated in the arts and the sciences, and trained to be productive and capable in times of peace or war. Although your close neighbor, Corinth, is on the coastline, your polis is located on a plain, where the weather tends to be hot and dry in the summer, and cold and wet in the winter. Your soil is not especially fertile, and you must fight the elements to grow food. In spite of this hardship, your magnificent stone sculptures of athletes, rippling with muscle, are the envy of many a Greek city-state. You are famous for your wonderful musicians and poets. Drama reached new heights in your polis. Plays are performed in open-air theatres, drawing crowds of 20,000 or more Argive citizens! Unfortunately, you have a problem. When Athens and Sparta asked your polis to send supplies and troops to fight the Persians, after the battle of Thermopylae in 480 BCE, you refused. For this decision, you are held in disgrace by the other Greek city-states.
Argive Goals and Behavior at the Olympics: Your goal is to reverse the negative reputation you currently hold in the ancient Greek world. You will have to work hard to convince other city-states that your athletes, soldiers, scholars, orators, architects, poets, dancers, and artists are as fine, if not superior, to the other city-states. You cheer Argive victories, and win as many events as you can. Your goal is to make sure that Athens and Sparta don’t win at all. (Your plan is to throw your support to Corinth or Megara toward the end of the competition if it appears you can not win.) You are Argives, hard-working, honest, loyal, clever, creative, courteous representatives of Argos, and of her glorious past. Good luck in the games!
MEGARA
You are a Megarian! As a coastal city-state, your history is similar to Corinth’s, your neighbor. You believe your schools are as fine as those of Athens, although you have no doubt that any Athenian would disagree. Your training is in the arts and the sciences. As a child, you were taught at home by your mother, or by a male slave. From age 7-14, you attended a day school near your home where you memorized poetry and studied drama, public speaking, reading, writing, science, poetry, the flute, the lyre, and a great deal of mathematics. Like most Megarians, you love money and have been trained to be an excellent accountant. You attended a higher school, and went to military school.
Your polis is famous for its glorious textiles, which are the envy of other Greek city-states. You have, of course, your own coinage, an idea you copied from Corinth. Literature, culture, art, and businesses thrive in your city-state. You believe you offer your citizens even more freedom than Athens. (After the Peloponnesian War, Athens’ famous philosopher, Plato, moved to Megara, where he remained for 10 years, so perhaps you are right! You also founded the city of Byzantium, also called Constantinople, now called Istanbul, way back in 630 BCE.) You are proud to be a Megarian!
Megarian Goals and Behavior at the Olympics: If you can’t win, help Argos and Corinth to defeat those boastful Athenians and those militant fanatics, the Spartans. If it comes down to Athens or Sparta, cheer for Sparta, loudly. (They might be militant, but those are good friends to have in time of war!) You are Megarians, proud of your history, your flourishing businesses, your world famous textiles, your freedoms, your schools, your coastal advantage – your rich and vibrant city-state, Megara. Good luck in the games!
Happy Teaching!