Teachers First - Thinking Teachers Teaching Thinkers

Last Updated on 02/16/2026 by Sharon Hall

“The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not winning but taking part.” Pierre de Coubertin, founder of the modern Olympics

Children and adults worldwide look forward to the Winter Olympic Games, an event that brings together athletes from across the globe to compete, inspire, and showcase their skill, determination, and creativity. The Winter Games are always thrilling, often when you least expect them. Beyond the events themselves, the Olympics offer a valuable opportunity to connect classroom studies to real-world contexts, helping students understand how their education connects to the broader world.

Now that the Milan–Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics are in full swing, educators have a valuable opportunity to channel the excitement of the Games and connect classroom learning with real-world events. This quadrennial event provides a dynamic, globally-focused platform that naturally sparks curiosity and encourages critical thinking. From math to art, social studies to science, the Olympics can even inspire students to explore their own goals and perseverance. Here is a look at how you can integrate the excitement of the Winter Games across your curriculum.

Math and Data Analysis:

• Have students track medal counts and athlete statistics, then create graphs, charts, or spreadsheets comparing countries, events, or historical performances.
  • Data Gif Maker (reviewed here) is a user-friendly and flexible graphing tool. Add a title and variable names to generate a chart, then easily customize its style with a single click.
  • LiveGap Charts (reviewed here) offers many options for creating and personalizing custom charts that you can export as images, videos, or HTML.
• Use recipes from NBC’s Italian food suggestions in 100 Ways to Get in the Spirit Ahead of the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics to practice fractions, measurement conversions, or nutrition calculations.

Social Studies and Geography:

• Invite students to explore the host cities of Milan and Cortina, examining geography, mapping the regions, researching cultural and regional traditions, and comparing Italian winter activities with those in their own communities.
  • Google My Maps (reviewed here) offers tools to create maps with clickable locations that include links, videos, images, and stories. 
  • Circly App (TeachersFirst review) uses drag-and-drop features to create brightly colored visual maps in styles to compare students’ and Italy’s winter activities.
• Have students discuss the global nature of the Olympics. They can research the histories of different countries’ participation in the Games or explore the significance of international cooperation and sports diplomacy.
  • Wayground (formerly Quizizz) (reviewed here) has a large selection of activities to introduce and learn about Olympic history. Search for the term “Olympic history” to find presentations, interactive videos, flashcards, and reading passages. 
  • Create a timeline listing the dates when countries first participated in the Winter Olympics, starting with the inaugural Winter Olympics in Chamonix, France, in 1924. Use MyLens (reviewed here) with the prompt, “Create a timeline showing when countries began participating in the Winter Olympics,” to generate an editable timeline like this one.

Language Arts and Media Literacy: Connecting Stories to the Games

• Use Olympic-inspired films or documentaries as prompts for narrative writing, persuasive essays, or reflections on character and resilience.
  • Visit the official Olympics site (reviewed here) to watch this film about the struggle and determination of Olympic athletes from South America, India, and Canada as they chase their Olympic Dream or learn about the 1988 Jamaican Bobsled Team and their Olympic legacy.
• Have students write biographies of athletes or create journal entries imagining a day in the life of an Olympian, helping them explore perspective and voice.
  • Ask students to share their biographies or stories using Adobe Express for Education (reviewed here). Adobe Express offers several options for sharing stories, including videos, infographics, and web pages. 

Science and Health: Training, Nutrition, and the Physics of Winter Sports

• Introduce students to the physics behind winter sports—such as the forces and mechanics involved in skiing, ice skating, or bobsledding—to make STEM concepts more concrete.
  • Visit the NBC News Learn playlist to learn about many different winter Olympic sports, including curling, figure skating, and ski jumping. 
• Examine nutrition, exercise, and training programs inspired by NBC’s “fuel like an Olympian” ideas in 100 Ways to Get in the Spirit Ahead of the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics.
  • Students can calculate energy needs or design a balanced training plan using MyPlate (reviewed here) recipes, the MyPlate Plan, and learning from the included videos. 

Art and Creative Expression: Designing with Olympic Inspiration

• Design Olympic-themed posters, mascots, or event logos inspired by Milan–Cortina 2026.
  • Work together as a class to design posters and images with personalized mascots using Designer (reviewed here) as you practice using creative language and specific terms to describe the output. Try using the prompt “a logo that features a four-person bobsled team preparing to take their Olympic run,” and then modify the image to fit your class’s vision.
• Incorporate winter activities such as snow art, ice drawing, or winter-themed sculpture-making to combine creativity with seasonal learning.
  • Fun-Loving Families shares thirty games, crafts, and treats to get all students excited about the Winter Olympics. Students will love to try ice-cube curling!

And don’t forget that the Winter Paralympics follow in March. These Games offer another powerful opportunity to engage students—highlighting perseverance, innovation, athleticism, and the importance of accessibility and inclusion. Explore adaptive sports, athlete stories, or the science behind Paralympic equipment and training. The Paralympics give students a meaningful lens for discussing equity, diverse abilities, and the many ways athletes overcome challenges to compete on the world stage.

Together, the Olympics and Paralympics provide a compelling way to highlight perseverance, creativity, and global connection. By integrating Olympic themed activities across subjects, you help students see how classroom learning connects to real world experiences and inspires them to pursue their own goals. Have you tried Olympic themed activities with your students? Share your ideas and inspire fellow educators in the comments below.