The Summer Olympic Games kicked off in Paris, France, on July 26! During this two-week global event, billions of viewers from around the world will watch thousands of athletes compete in dozens of sports. Use this collection of free resources to teach kids about the science, history, and significance of the Olympic Games. 

1. Origins of the Olympics | The Greeks
Grades: 6-12
From all over the Greek-speaking world, the best athletes descended on Athens to take their best shot at achieving immortality. Review the archaeological evidence of the first Olympics and the early events such as chariot-racing, boxing, and sprinting, that it depicts.

2. The Boys of '36: Preparing for the Olympic Games
Grades: 6-12
Learn how nine working-class young men from the University of Washington secured their spot in the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin and took the rowing world and America by storm, in these videos excerpted from AMERICAN EXPERIENCE: The Boys of ’36. Their unexpected victory, against not only the Ivy League teams of the East Coast but Adolf Hitler's elite German rowers, gave hope to a nation struggling to emerge from the depths of the Great Depression.

3. Olympic Runner Jesse Owens "the Buckeye Bullet"
Grades: 3-8
Jesse Owens broke not only running records but racial barriers, as well! His running career began early in Ohio, and took him all the way to the Olympics where he crushed the Nazi competition. 

4. Special Olympics: Unified Sports - Floor Hockey | Move to Include
Grades: 3-12
Learn about unified sports at this Special Olympics floor hockey competition. Everyone on the team, with and without disabilities, is included and learns how to play as part of a team.

5. Athletics in Ancient Greece | Teaching with Primary Sources
Grades: 6-12
This inquiry kit has sources from the Library of Congress about the history of the Olympic Games.

6. What Jesse Owens's Story Tells Us about Sports and Politics: Mini Lesson | Retro Report
Grades: 6-12
This short documentary video explores the intersection of sports, politics and race through the story of Jesse Owens, an African American track and field athlete who defied racial barriers and competed in the 1936 summer Olympic Games in Berlin.

7. Greek Guide to Greatness: Athletics | The Greeks
Grades: 6-12
In America today, we worship athletes like superheroes. But the Greeks originated this tradition as the founders of the Olympic Games. Athletic fitness was intended to prepare soldiers for war, but evolved into sporting culture where team loyalty and commonality became the focus.

8. Should the Olympics Just Allow Doping? | Braincraft
Grades: 6-12
Is it time to allow performance enhancing drugs in professional sports? A look at the science and ethics of doping in the lead up to the Olympic Games.

9. The Athletic Trainer | I Can Be What?!
Grades: 3-5
Meet Chris, an athletic trainer. Host Jen Indovina asks Chris what it's like to be a member of the team staff and how he helps the players maintain peak performance. Chris explains that you can be involved in professional sports even if you are not a baseball player. The athletic trainer is still a critical part of the team and travels with them to all the games to assist the players to stay fit and ready to perform. 

10. Sports and Protest | Why It Matters
Grades: 6-12
Learn about the athletes who have used sports to raise awareness about a range of social, economic, and political issues in this video from Why It Matters, the history video series where the past is used to explain the present. Why It Matters host Malick Mercier interviews historian Dr. Amira Rose Davis about similarities between current protests and those in the past, the public’s response to athletes’ activism, and the results of their efforts.

11. The Role of Sports and Sports Figures in Our Society
Grades: 6-12
In this lesson, students will explore the role of sports figures in our society. By examining Jack Johnson’s professional and personal experiences, students will consider how society responds to a sports figure who represents more than just their sport. Students will explore the concepts of representation, watch clips about Jack Johnson, discuss the role of athletes in stimulating societal change, and produce a project which supports the expanding role of sports figures in our society.

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