Olympics: Going for the Gold!

The 2026 Winter Olympic Games offer the perfect opportunity to bring history, physical education, social studies, science, and geography together in your winter homeschool. The Milan–Cortina Games will be the first Winter Olympics officially hosted by two destinations, with events taking place across northern Italy. From alpine villages to international competition, the Olympics provide a rich, real-world context for meaningful learning.

Whether your students are fascinated by athletic feats, global culture, or the science behind winter sports, the Olympics make it easy to turn current events into engaging winter homeschool activities. Check out this Homeschool Living for creative Winter Olympics unit study ideas into your homeschool days.

Learn About the Games

You can find everything you need to follow the 2026 Winter Olympic Games—including opening and closing ceremonies, live updates, event schedules, athlete profiles, and Olympic trivia—on the official Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Games website. This is a great starting point for student research, geography study, and discussions about international cooperation and competition.

Olympic Activities for Your Winter Homeschool

Older students may enjoy researching unfamiliar events using this overview of Winter Olympic sports and categories. Exploring how each sport works provides a natural opportunity to practice research skills, compare rules, and even investigate the physics behind speed, balance, and motion.

If you’re looking for hands-on fun, these Winter Olympics activities for kids include creative ideas like DIY tabletop hockey, indoor ice cube luge, bathtub curling, wax paper ice skating, and crafts for making Olympic medals and torches. These activities are perfect for burning off winter energy while reinforcing learning through play.

For families looking to dive deeper into a Winter Olympics unit study, Only Passionate Curiosity has a beautifully laid-out guide that walks you through building your own interdisciplinary study around the Games. Their Olympics unit study ideas include exploring the history and purpose of the Winter Olympics, researching individual sports and athletes, integrating geography and science, and even adding meaningful character education lessons—all without feeling like “extra school.” It’s flexible enough to use with multiple ages at once and can be adapted to fit your homeschool rhythm, whether you want a quick study or a multi-week exploration.

Finally, take a look at the official U.S. Olympic team roster on Team USA’s website. Older students can choose one or two athletes to research, follow their progress throughout the Games, and learn about the dedication and perseverance required to compete at the highest level.

The Winter Olympic games are about more than medals—they’re about goal setting, discipline, teamwork, and global connection. Bringing Olympic-themed learning into your winter homeschool is a fun and memorable way to help students go for the gold in curiosity and discovery.

The 2022 Winter Olympic games provide the perfect opportunity to incorporate some history, physical education, social studies, science, and geography into your winter homeschool. This year, the Winter Olympics are held in Beijing, China, from February 4 through February 20. Check out this Homeschool Living for some great ways to incorporate Winter Olympic activities into your homeschool.

You can find all the information you need to be able to watch the 2022 Winter Olympic games and ceremonies, as well as live updates, information about the events and athletes, and Olympics trivia on the official Olympics website.

Olympic Activities

Download free printable Winter Olympics coloring pages to help keep younger students focused. They’re also great resources for creating your own timelines of the games and events, incorporating hands-on activities into a lap book or unit study, and illustrating the different Olympic activities for younger children.

Find out everything you want to know about the Winter Olympic sporting events and categories. This is a great resource for researching sporting events that you may not be familiar with, and a great opportunity for students to practice their research skills.

These Winter Olympics activities for kids from Fun Loving Families include DIY tabletop hockey, indoor ice cube luge, bathtub curling, indoor wax paper ice skating, and simple craft ideas to make your own Olympic medals, Olympic torches, and American flags.

The athlete roster on Olympics.com allows you to check out the profiles of all of the athletes participating in the 2022 Winter Olympics, and allows you to search by event and nation. You can have older students choose a few athletes to learn about and help them follow their athletes’ progress through the games.

Megan Mora Fuentes

A homeschool graduate, Megan earned her associate degree while in high school. She has worked as an office manager for eight years. In her spare time, Megan enjoys kayaking, writing, and baking cookies for anyone who will eat them. She and her husband live in her hometown of Winchester.