Today we finished reading Hour of the Olympics and its companion “Fact Tracker.” After we were done, we then talked about the reinvention of the Olympics in modern times…the who, when, and what of the games. This served as a good review of a lot of the things we’ve learned during the last two weeks, and even introduced a few new facts.

Since we learned all about London yesterday, and spent a lot of time looking at a map of London, today we went back to the geography of the United Kingdom. I had the children color the different parts of the Kingdom on a map I had printed. It was fun to look at how the different parts of Great Britain relate to each other, especially since we’ve some events in the outlying areas, such as football in Cardiff.

We also made medals for our family Olympics, which we’ll be holding on Monday. Four years ago, we made glitter medals, so this time, I decided to do something different (and more permanent). We made salt dough medals, which we were able to decorate and paint, and after the Olympics, we will also be able to keep them as ornaments for the Christmas tree. I love a dual-purpose craft! The dough was easy to make: 1 cup salt, 1 cup flour, and 3/4 cup water mixed together and kneaded until a dough forms…you could even throw some glitter in the dough if you desire. Roll it out, cut with biscuit cutters, make a hole with a straw for the cord, and decorate. We used toothpicks to etch designs, but you could also press designs into them, or leave them plain. Then, bake at 210 degrees for a few hours, until dry. Finish up with paint…we did all of ours in gold; of course you could also do silver and bronze. If you chose not to decorate before baking, you could decorate with paints at this point.

Today’s Passport Stamp: Olympic Medal