The Olympics in Art

If you're like me, you've probably been spending the past few days watching the Olympics. My art teacher brain was so excited to see koinobori during a "Road to Tokyo" segment. I was wondering how many of my former students saw and recognized them and I hope they shared their knowledge with their families.

What a great year to make connections for your students. Some of the ways that I have used the olympics in my elementary art room include:

Token response critiques. Students give out gold, silver and bronze medals during a gallery walk. During my 1st year of teaching elementary art, I painted the backside of a small (dessert sized) plate with gold silver and bronze paint. On the first day of school I placed several artworks on the board and let students award the winners and explain their choices as an icebreaker. 

One of my favorite discussion topics is how to judge things that do not have a clear winner. For example, running and swimming are easy to judge. How do we judge gymnastics and skateboarding. Students usually mention the level of difficulty. This is a great connection to grading in art class.

They also designed a medal for themself that doubled as a nametag which GREATLY helped me the first few weeks of school. I kept the medals in my classroom and they got to wear them through September. Being at 3 elementary schools with 800+ students, this was a life saver. It was also a quick way to get into making on the first day. They traced a circle, cut it out and got to draw and add a pattern border. They drew something they thought they could "medal" in such as "baking brownies" or "playing video games". Also a great tool for social emotional learning.

Keith Haring bodies in motion. I have students study the pictographs used throughout the olympics past and present as inspiration for this project.

Pediment poses. This lesson is a great way to tie in the history of the olympics and of course, greek architecture.

If you want to go a little more 3D with your ancient Greece lesson, these model magic vases are so much fun and perfect for those without a kiln (or those teaching on a cart this year).

Alexander Calder Pipecleaner Circus People (Adapted for gymnasts of other athletic poses)

Will you use the Olympics to connect with Japanese or Greek culture this year? What's your favorite way to incorporate the Olympics in art class?