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Stuffed Animal Olympics

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Stuffed Animal Olympics | P is for Preschooler
  We've been talking about the Olympics this year. Last time they rolled around, Kay was 2 and definitely not interested. Now she's a little more open to hearing and learning about the different sports and how all the countries send people to participate. Whenever she sees a sport on TV or in a book, she now asks "Is this in the Olympics?" 
  So we set up our own mini-Olympics. Having made the Olympic rings we started with the bobsled competition. She gathered up the contestants (her favorite stuffed friends) and we set up the sleds (various boxes and a basket) and the race was on. 
Pretend bobsled basket
  There was also a little learning component as she noticed that the box with 4 animals went down faster than the box with just 1. 
Bobsled pretend play
Day 2: Skiing! The contestants geared up with their skis (craft sticks attached with elastics) and skied down the ramp. I also showed her what ski-jumping was and she was very interested in that. (Poor stuffed animals who had to do that demonstration over and over again!)
Skiing pretend Olympics event
   Finally, the last competition...ice hockey/ice skating. Now for this we needed, well, ice. I set a large container outside that would have been perfect for miniature ice hockey. And then I waited. And waited. Those were the days winter in New England didn't get below 50 degrees. Go figure. So eventually I used a much smaller bowl, filled it with water, and we did an even-more-miniature version. Kay liked seeing how her toys slid on the ice and also touching the ice and seeing how it was melting. 
Cars on ice pretend Olympics
   Well, with all the events over, there was only one thing left to do...medal ceremony! I traced a circle shape on paper and explained how the first place winner got a gold, second a silver and third a bronze. She scribbled them in, we cut them out and used pipe cleaners to hang them. We made a big production of announcing the winners, which were chosen at random by Kay (I think she picked the ones that were within arm's reach!) We did the whole clapping thing. 
Winners of the stuffed animal Olympics
Then there was a little drama when another stuffed animal came over and Kay pretended that she was mad that she didn't get the gold medal. Don't worry - it was all settled amicably in the end!
Pretend ice hockey with bottle cap and spoons
  Are you doing anything to celebrate the Olympics in your house? I'd love to hear about it!

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