DIY Olympics!
The long-awaited Tokyo Olympics start on Friday, and though they might seem very far-removed from most of our athletic abilities, your family can participate in its own way: by making up your own sport, and holding your own family competition! It’s easier than you’d think, especially because there’s no wrong way to invent something nobody’s ever played before. Here’s what you need to do:
Gather your supplies. Balls, hoops, building blocks, scooters, even chairs...anything you think you might need, and then throw in some stuff you think you won’t need, just in case.
Decide what the objective of the sport is. Is the goal to knock over a block tower? To make it through a set course the fastest? To get a ball through a hoop? Make it as simple, or as complicated, as you want (as long as it is humanly possible to succeed – remember, it’s your family, not a group of actual Olympians).
If the objective is to score points, decide what actions earn points, and how many points are earned for which actions. If the ultimate objective is to pass a ball through a hoop, maybe that is worth 10 points, but you can also earn 5 points for hitting the hoop, or 2 for knocking it over (this is especially helpful if you’re playing with younger kids or, let’s be honest, less-coordinated adults – make small victories possible!).
Finally, add some interesting rules. You can really get creative here, and let everyone throw their ideas in the mix before choosing which ones you’ll use. Perhaps everyone has to hop while they play, or you can only throw the ball while your eyes are closed. Maybe you throw water balloons at the other team while they’re trying to score! The sky’s the limit!
Once you’ve invented the sport (Congratulations! You did it!), PLAY. Play one game, or a tournament, or create some other events and hold a multi-day competition. When you’re done, you can even have your own medals ceremony – and the best part is the awards can be for ANYTHING, like Best Shoes, or Most Positive Attitude, or Loudest Athlete. They can also look however you’d like. Paper and air dry clay are great options for crafting medals, though if you’re feeling hungry after all that exercise, you can also make edible medals: use golden Oreos for the medal itself, mix food coloring and water to make edible paint to decorate it, and create the ribbon out of fruit by the foot.
If you’re feeling extra ambitious, you make up an “anthem” for your family to sing at the medals ceremony. Create a silly (or extremely serious) song about your family and sing it as you award the medals. However you choose to structure your DIY Olympics, just remember to stay hydrated, have fun, and let us know how it went! We’d love to hear about your new sports, or even see some photos, on our Facebook page.
