This lesson has been taught in grades two and up.

PROPS

Each child should have five squares of poster board, approximately 4 inches square, in each of the five colors blue, yellow, black, green, and red; good scissors, a ruler, and a compass. Cellophane tape. Yarn for tying the rings into a necklace (optional). A sheet of white paper to glue the finished rings on (optional).

THE LESSON

The summer Olympic Games were held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 2016. The summer 2020 games, because of the Covid-19 pandemic, were not held in 2020 but are currently scheduled to be held in Tokyo and to begin Friday, July 23, 2021, and to end on Sunday, August 8, 2021. You have probably seen pictures of the five rings that appear on the Olympic flag. The flag was adopted in 1913. The rings were selected to symbolize the unity of the five continents coming together in peace to celebrate athletic excellence. The colors of the rings, blue, yellow, black, green, and red, were selected because at least one of those five colors occurred in each of the participating nations’ flags.

A picture of the rings is shown above. Do you see how they are interlocked to make a chain? We are going to make five colored rings out of poster board, and interlock them in the same way.

Part 1. Drawing a Cutting out the Rings

We need to find the center of each square piece of poster board; we’ll put the point of our compass on this spot. One way to find the center is to draw lightly two diagonals; where they intersect is the square’s center.

Draw a circle with as large a radius as you can on each of the five squares. The radius will be between 1¾ and 2 inches. Draw a second smaller concentric circle (a circle having the same center as the larger one) on each square, with a radius of about 3/16 inch less. Be sure that the circles on all five of the squares are identical in size. Now cut out the rings. Cut carefully! This takes some patience, as the poster board is difficult to cut.

Five squares of poster board, approximately 4 inches by 4 inches, in each of the five colors, blue, yellow, black, green, and red, and the Olympic rings

Part 2. Interlocking the Rings

The colors of the rings, from left to right, are blue, yellow, black, green, and red. You need to cut only two rings (the yellow and green ones) in order to make a chain. The blue ring goes over the yellow, yellow over black, black over green, and green over red. Tape the cuts. If desired, you may tie some yarn on two of the rings, in order to make a necklace. Which two rings do you choose? You might also glue the rings together, to hold them in position, or glue them on a white sheet of paper as shown above.

Further explorations

You may investigate the origin and history of the Olympic games, the nations and the sports involved, the Winter Olympic Games, and much more. Also check the latest news about Covid-19 and whether/when the Games will be held.