I can’t believe the Winter Olympics will be here soon! In honor of the Winter Games, I have lots of resources for you related to the winter sports that are Olympic events. I also have our new Montessori-inspired winter sports pack (subscriber freebie)!
In addition to our new winter sports pack, I have a special instant download from The Montessori Company with a hand-painted winter sports culture card!
The links are for free winter sports printables for preschoolers through 1st graders. To keep my list manageable, I don’t share coloring pages unless a page has a specific educational purpose related to winter sports. To keep this post focused, I’m not focusing on other aspects of the Olympics than the sports themselves. For example, I’m not focusing on activities related to the location of the Olympics or medal counts. I’ll focus on those in other posts!
Free Printables + Materials Used in the Pictured Winter Sports Activities for Preschoolers-First Graders
Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links (at no cost to you).
Montessori Shelves with Winter Sports Themed Activities
My shelves with winter sports activities include a free winter sports culture card designed by The Montessori Company. You’ll also find Montessori-inspired winter sports numbers, letters, spinners, and and more (part of my subscriber freebie pack, so just sign up for my email to get the link and password … or check the bottom of your latest newsletter if you’re already a subscriber)
I always have related books available throughout a unit. There aren’t a lot of Olympic books for preschoolers, but I have some I especially like. I really love the series of alphabet books from Sleeping Bear Press. I have two for my winter sports unit: A is for Axel: An Ice Skating Alphabet by Kurt Browning and Z is for Zamboni: A Hockey Alphabet by Matt Napier. I like that series because it’s a fun way to reinforce letters and letter sounds. And each book has a wealth of information. For younger children, you can just read the short part about each letter. You can include more details for older children.
I also have A Kid’s Guide to the 2018 Winter Games on my shelf. It’s meant for older kids, but the information can be adapted for younger children, too. There will be more books with details about the specific competitors in 2018, but this one still has a lot of helpful information. I also have some fiction books about winter sports in my book baskets. One that’s specifically about the Winter Games is Snowman Paul at the Winter Olympics. With an athletic snowman, it isn’t a Montessori-style book, but it does give a memorable introduction to some of the Olympic events.
You could mix your winter sports activities among your shelves according to curriculum area. Or you could have a special winter sports themed area something like the one pictured. My shelves this month have a mixture of skill levels. Many of the activities can be adapted for a variety of levels. If you’re a homeschooler, just choose the activities that work for your child’s interests and ability levels. If you don’t have room for all the activities you’d like to do, simply rotate them.
Winter Sports Culture Card (on Shelf Introducing the Winter Sports Theme)
I’m happy to share with you this hand-painted winter sports culture card from The Montessori Company. You can use it on your shelves to introduce a winter sports or Oympic unit. I’m hosting the free printable as an instant download at Living Montessori Now. You can always access the free winter sports culture card here.
The description says: “Winter sports usually involve snow or ice and include skiing, snowboarding, hockey, ice skating, sledding and much more!”
I displayed the card with with some of the books and activities introducing the winter sports theme.
Matching Winter Sports Photos with Pictographs
Free Printable: Winter Olympics Pack from Imagine Our Life
This was super easy to prepare. I simply printed out the cards and added them to a Montessori Services basket. There are 3-part cards you can use, but I just used these cards to match the photo with the event pictograph.
French Winter Sports Vocabulary Cards
Free Printable: French Vocabulary Activity – Winter Sports by TchrBrowne at TPT
This activity couldn’t be much easier to prepare. Just print and laminate (lamination is optional for home use). You can use these for matching, on a word wall, or set out one card at a time as you feature the name of the event in French.
Letter W Salt Tray (seen in shelf photo)
Free Printables: /w/ is for winter sports in manuscript, D’Nealian, or Cursive for Letter W Sand Writing Tray (part of my subscriber freebie pack, so just sign up for my email to get the link and password … or check the bottom of your latest newsletter if you’re already a subscriber)
For the tray, I used plain white salt (for snow, of course!) in the wooden tray from the Melissa & Doug Lace and Trace Shapes. You can use whatever tray or container work best for you, though.
Figure Skating 3-Part Cards for Sandpaper Letters and Movable Alphabet
Free Printable: Figure Skating 3-Part Cards/Spelling Cards from Every Star Is Different (Go to Free Printables tab at the top of the Every Star Is Different blog, then to Thematic Activities, then to Sports Activities, and then to the figure skating mini unit.)
I love the Montessori sandpaper letters and movable alphabet for teaching phonics skills.
You can use have a child find the sandpaper letter that starts with the same sound as one of the pictures from the figure skating 3-part cards. When the cards are matched, the child has a self-check with the control cards.
The cards can be used the same way with the movable alphabet except that you’ll want to chose the cards that are appropriate for a specific child’s skill level. Have the child listen for the sounds in the pictured word and then find the letters to spell the word.
Sports “or” Phonogram Card and Booklet
Free Printables: “or” sports font cards (part of my subscriber freebie pack, so just sign up for my email to get the link and password … or check the bottom of your latest newsletter if you’re already a subscriber). The images on the “or” sports cards (and the /w/ winter sports cards are related to events in the Winter Games. They’re tiny and could be fun to look at with a magnifying glass as well!
Free Printable: Green Series Phonogram or with Pictures and Words from MontessoriSoul
This was so easy to prepare, yet it isolates the “or” phonogram very well. I have a post and video on how to introduce words starting with phonograms, even with very young children.
Winter Sports and Equipment Matching
Free Printable: Sorting – Winter Sports Match from Creations by Mrs Mouse at Teachers Pay Teachers
This was another activity that was easy to prepare! I just printed and cut out the printable. For younger children, you can leave on the matching colored outlines. For older children, you can cut off the outlines and have colored dots or matching stickers on the backs as a control of error (self check). I like that this activity matches the equipment with the sport.
Hockey Cards and Counters
Free Printable: Hockey Numbers (part of my subscriber freebie pack, so just sign up for my email to get the link and password … or check the bottom of your latest newsletter if you’re already a subscriber)
I used a Montessori Services basket, 55 little wooden dots from my Spielgaben educational toy set as hockey pucks, and a Bambu condiment cup to hold the “pucks.”
I like to lay out my numbers and counters in the traditional Montessori way of rows of two counters with a left-over counter centered below the bottom row. This gives a visual impression of odd and even. For more about creating DIY numbers and counters and a link on how to present the lesson, check out my DIY Cards and Counters post. You can lay out the activity from 1-10 as in the traditional Montessori cards or counters or 1-5 for a younger child.
I used a Montessori Services rug for the layout.
Winter Sports Tally Marks Creating and Number Matching Activity
Free Printable: Winter Sports Number Recognition by Mme Michelle at Teachers Pay Teachers
The Olympics are a good time for children to learn about tally marks. This activity uses both tally marks and winter sports events. I didn’t use the number cards from the printable because the images weren’t the same as the matching cards with the tally marks. So I just printed out an extra set of hockey numbers 1-10 and cut off the photo. If you have traditional Montessori cards and counters, the wooden numerals would be perfect for this!
I just used a Multicraft tray, 55 toothpicks, and a Bambu condiment cup to hold the toothpicks.
I would have the child lay out the numerals from 1-10 before matching the cards with tally marks. Finally, the child can create the tally marks for each card with toothpicks.
Free Winter Sports Printables for Preschoolers-First Graders
Montessori-Inspired Winter Sports Pack for DIY Cards and Counters, Number or Letter Matching, Number or Letter Basket, Bead Bar Work, Hands-on Math Operations, Number or Letter Salt/Sand Writing Tray, Letter Tracing, DIY Movable Alphabet, and Creative Writing (subscriber freebie, so just sign up for my email to get the link and password – or check your inbox if you’re already a subscriber)
Free Winter Sports Cutting Strips (Montessori-Inspired Instant Download)
Free Winter Sports Do-a-Dot Printable (Montessori-Inspired Instant Download)
More Olympic Posts
I have links to a number of Olympic posts in my “Montessori-Inspired Activities for Winter or Summer Olympics.”
Here’s the complete list of my Olympic posts:
- Montessori-Inspired Olympic Opening Ceremony Activities
- Montessori-Inspired Olympic Math Activities, Montessori-Inspired Olympic Unit
- Free Respect Songs and Rhymes {Character Education Resources}
- Free Excellence Songs and Resources {Character Education}
- Free Friendship Songs and Rhymes {Character Education Resources},
- What Are the Olympic and Paralympic Values?
- Ultimate Guide to Olympic Values
- Free Determination Songs and Rhymes {Character Education Resources}
- Free Courage Songs and Rhymes {Character Education Resources}
- Free Equality and Fairness Songs {Character Education Resources}
- Free Inspirational Songs {Character Education Resources}
- Free Winter Sports Printables and Montessori-Inspired Winter Sports Activities
- Free Winter Sports Cutting Strips (Montessori-Inspired Instant Download)
- Free Winter Sports Do-a-Dot Printable (Montessori-Inspired Instant Download)
- Free Character Education Resources about Olympic and Paralympic Values
- Free Summer Sports Printables and Montessori-Inspired Summer Sports Activities
- Montessori-Inspired Activities for Winter or Summer Olympics
- Free R for Run Do-a-Dot Phonics Printable (Montessori-Inspired Instant Download)
- Free Summer Sports Cutting Strips (Montessori-Inspired Instant Download),
- Olympic Unit Study Pinterest Board
Here’s a fun geography activity combining themes from my winter sports unit and my panda unit. It uses the Asia map from Pin It! Maps, the China (panda) and South Korea (2018 Winter Olympics) country and flag pins, a panda from the Safari Ltd. Pandas TOOB, National Geographic Pandas book, and 2018 Winter Games book. You could adapt this for any Olympic Games and location.
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