Primary Olympics

The Primary Program is coming up very soon in my ward. This whole month, in preparation, we have been competing in the Primary Olympics. This is an idea that I originally got from my brother, Jon, then ran with. I thought I'd share it here. This first picture is my medal board. It is a standard size presentation board. The middle section is two feet wide and each side is one foot wide. The whole thing is three feet tall. The words "Primary Olympics" and the rings were done with my Yudu machine. The word "Events" is wooden letter spray painted with copper spray paint. The events themselves are the songs that we learned for the program. Each song was printed on cardstock and taped together. Each song is velcroed to the board. The reason I did the velcro is so that I can use the board in the future. By making the songs and medals removable, I can then make other "events" and just add the velcro on the back. I designed the flags for each team based on felt that I found on clearance. I made the actual flags first (see below), then made the paper versions afterwards for the medal board.

Here are the original flags. I found the patterns online, then cut them from the felt. The flags are about 11x14. Afterwards I added magnets to the back so that they stick right onto the blackboard. I display the flags during each primary's respective time period.

To make the medals, I used a glass and traced sixty circles onto cardboard. I then cut them out using an X-acto knife and spray painted twenty in each color. The gold and silver medals have a glitter finish and the bronze is a metallic finish, although it is actually copper, not bronze. Close enough, though, right? Each medal also has velcro on the back. There is plenty of space to add more medals to individual "events" should I ever choose to do so with a future use.

In order to earn the medals, the children have to show how well they know the songs. Basically I have them sing through the song and then they are scored by three judges, which are usually a mix of teachers and presidency members. Each judge has three score cards, which I made by spray painting poster board using a stencil I made with more poster board. I simplified to scoring to "bronze" (5), "silver" (7.5) and "gold" (10). Each judge holds up a score card the total score determines the medal they get. To get a gold medal, they have to get perfect 10s, and so forth, although it's designed so that no matter what, there is always at least a bronze medal won. The first week I think the judges just wanted to give gold medals to make the kids feel good. The second week they were much harder on the kids and between junior and senior primary, only ONE gold medal was awarded! Most of the time I find that I agree with my judges, but occasionally I find myself wishing they'd have scored the kids higher or lower than they did. Basically I want the kids to earn gold medals (in fact they have to to make this whole thing work, lol) but I want them to earn them, you know? The program is designed to allow them to improve and I think it's a nice way for me and for them to have a visual of their progress. In the end, we'll go back and work on the events that are bronze or silver until they earn the gold. The trick is doing it in just one more week. We'll see...

The last part of the program are the incentives. The first time each primary won a gold medal, they earned a fun song. After they earn five gold medals they will earn a treat (probably a piece of candy or something), and after they earn all their gold medals, they will each earn a gold medal to wear around their necks and take home. Seeing as I have already half finished these personal gold medals, hence the reason they need to earn gold medals in all their events. I still need to buy ribbon or something to finish the medals also. The plan is that after the program, instead of music time we will have closing ceremonies. I have asked a member of the bishopric to attend and help me "medal" all the kids. I think it will be fun. I told them they earned a "surprise" too...haven't figured out what to do for that yet. I can count the ceremony with the bishopric member the suprise but I know that's kind of lame. Any ideas??? Please share, just keep in mind we're talking about 125 kids, give or take a few. The last picture are the medals. Before you think they're not finished, these are the backs of the medals. The fronts are all finished but I ran out of paint and I don't want to buy a whole new can for so few medals so I'm on the lookout for someone else who will let me have some of their metallic gold spray paint. I'm excited to see how it all plays out and I'm even more excited to be finished with the program! The rest of the year will be spent learned all kinds of classic primary songs like "Army of Helaman" and "Primary Colors". It will be MUCH less stressful!