Preschool Olympics

I'm catching up on some posts that I should have written months ago. This one is from last August, when we were watching 400-m dashes and floor routines and talking about medal counts. A wonderfully innovative mom in our playgroup decided to organize a preschool olympics for our (then) three-year-olds. We met at a park and watched our kiddos race and fall down and giggle and laugh together. What a fun memory!

I also took this opportunity with my camera to take some pictures of the kids playing at the park and just being kids.

Adelaida and her friend Shreya played together in the sand before the races began.


Adelaida and Shreya also discovered a double slide, so they could slide down together, without being separated for even a moment. If they had to go down one at a time, I think they would have chosen to stay together and skip the slide. These two girls are together as much as they can be!


The park had a great little-kids playset and Estella and Cordelia explored it a little bit. They discovered the slide and I was moving as fast as I could, helping one girl down the slide and back to the steps, then getting back to the slide to help the next girl down the slide. I think this is where Cordelia first discovered the slide, and she absolutely loves it!







This was supposed to be tug-of-war. You'll notice the seven-year-old and five-year-old (on the ends) pulling while all the three-year-olds stand around and watch, some holding the rope and some not. We tried really hard to explain the game to them, but I'm pretty sure none of them got it.


A minute later, the rope had traveled several feet toward the seven-year-old's side. Adelaida is still standing exactly where she was told to stand, and Adia has run off. Five three-year-olds are still holding the rope, and some even pulling on the rope (although I'm pretty sure Gracie is pulling in the wrong direction...)!


Moms Maura, Varsha, Chandora, and Eva demonstrate the three-legged race. Given that tug-of-war was too hard for these kids, how do you think the three-legged race went? At least the moms had fun!


Now it's the kids' turn for the three-legged race. The contestants are Lilly/Hannah (five-year-old and seven-year-old sisters), Orla/Shannon (twins), Gracie/Koen, and Shreya/Adelaida. Three of those pairs stayed on the starting line until they were told to go; Adelaida and Shreya got a little head-start -- they had seen the moms do it and started down the course as soon as they were tied together! They did pretty well, until Adelaida fell and the other kids caught up to them.


Who knew being tied to a friend could be so much fun!?


Estella and Cordelia were just over one year old and not walking yet. They mostly hung out on the picnic blanket and cheered while the big kids raced.

There was some baseball, and maybe a few other races, and so much giggling and laughing (and very few tears!). At the end of the day, all the kids were declared winners and were given medals while standing on a podium. We were all so proud of our little athletes!