Celebrate the Olympics with a Fine Motor Craft Get into the Olympic spirit with this engaging, low-prep activity that’s perfect for therapy sessions, classrooms, and at-home fun. This Olympic Rings Craft for Kids encourages fine motor skill development, creativity, and cultural learning, all while using simple recycled materials. Whether you’re preparing for an Olympic-themed unit or just looking for a meaningful craft to build motor skills, this activity is a winner!
If you’re looking for ways to get the kids excited about the Olympics or are incorporating Olympics activities into learning and play this year, try these Olympic Games Activities for a bunch of creative ideas.
Why Make an Olympic Rings Craft? Creating Olympic rings is a great way to connect kids to global themes of teamwork, perseverance, and cultural unity. Incorporating movement and creativity through crafting helps reinforce learning and builds a sense of accomplishment. Best of all, this activity can be adapted for many ages and skill levels, making it a versatile addition to any therapy toolkit.
Skills Developed Through cardboard tube Crafts
This craft supports a wide range of developmental goals:
- Fine motor skills: cutting, gluing, painting, and squeezing tools
- Hand strength and bilateral coordination: using both hands to hold and paint tubes or paper
- Visual motor integration: aligning and arranging rings to mimic the Olympic logo
- Sensory input: tactile exploration with recycled materials, paint, glue
- Color recognition and sequencing: matching the colors of the Olympic rings in the correct order
How to make an Olympics Craft
Materials Needed Gather these common supplies:
- 5 empty toilet paper rolls or 2 paper towel rolls cut in half
- Paint (blue, yellow, black, green, red)
- Paintbrushes or sponges
- Glue or stapler
- Optional: colored construction paper for an alternative craft version
Craft Option 1: Recycled Cardboard Tube Olympic Rings
- Cut the cardboard tubes into rings of equal width.
- Paint each ring one of the Olympic colors: blue, yellow, black, green, and red.
- Allow the rings to dry completely.
- Arrange and glue the rings into the Olympic pattern: 3 on top (blue, black, red), 2 underneath (yellow, green).
- Display the finished craft or hang as a banner.
We started with our collection of paper tube rings (You may have just seen these used in a totally different way on our last post where we used the paper rings for Learning Sight Words. We pulled them out again for our Olympic rings.
Next came the fun part. We used our paint set (and pulled out a container of black paint because our set doesn’t have it). The rings were very messy to paint, but a great sensory and fine motor activity.
Once our rings dried, we glued them onto a piece of paper. This part got a little messy with the glue, but only because Big Sister wanted to pour the glue onto the rings. If you put the glue on the paper and then stick the rings into the glue, it will be a lot less sloppy than ours was. But, the glue dries clear, so no harm done!
Craft Option 2: Construction Paper Ring Chain
- Cut strips of colored construction paper (about 1″ x 6″).
- Create a ring by looping one strip into a circle and stapling or gluing the ends together.
- Loop the next strip through the previous ring and attach.
- Continue until all five Olympic-colored rings are connected.
- This version supports cutting practice, sequencing, and bilateral hand use.
Therapy Ideas Using the Olympic Rings Craft
As a pediatric OT, I love crafts I can use with my whole caseload, no matter what level or grade the students are at. That means I can have my whole caseload do the same craft or activity and we just switch up the goals we are targeting. we can modify the activity to meet the level of the individual in a just right manner.
I can also adapt the activity and use the parts of the craft in different ways. This makes therapy activities fun and motivating, not just a rinse and repeat strategy.
Use this craft as part of a themed therapy session:
- Add a gross motor obstacle course and let kids earn a ring for completing each section.
- Practice handwriting by labeling each ring with Olympic values (e.g., Respect, Excellence).
- Use tongs to pick up and sort the rings by color to boost hand strength and coordination.
Classroom Extensions and Olympic Learning
Occupational therapists that work in the school setting know all about pushing into the classroom or pulling the child out for 1:1 work. When we need to push into the classroom, this craft can be a great tool to build skills.
Teachers can incorporate this craft into social studies or physical education lessons by:
- Exploring the meaning behind the Olympic rings and what each color represents.
- Hosting a mini “Olympics” event and using the rings as decorations or awards.
- Practicing math by counting rings, measuring lengths, or sequencing colors.
Related Posts You Might Like:
Kids Craft for the Olympics
Olympic Rings Craft for Kids
Olympic Ring Paint Craft
These colorful Olympic rings dried on a piece of wax paper (and looked so pretty!)
Looking for more fun kid’s crafts? Follow along on our “kid’s crafts” Pinterest board for loads of fun ideas:
What are your favorite ways to get your kids excited about the Olympics and learn through play with an Olympics games theme? You’ll also love our Olympic playdough: gold, silver, and bronze play dough you can make for fine motor work!
Download the Printable Instruction Sheet!
This is a Level 2 Membership tool. Members can log into their account and find a printable activity handout for this craft with more information on how to use this activity in OT sessions for building hand strength and other goal areas. Click on Olympic theme under the Themes section.
Our Olympic Rings Craft printable is perfect for therapists, teachers, or parents. It includes:
- Step-by-step illustrated instructions
- Materials checklist
- Therapy goals supported
- Tips for adapting for different age groups
- A visual model of the Olympic ring layout
Want to add this resource to your therapy toolbox so you can help kids thrive? Enter your email into the form below to access this printable tool.
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Colleen Beck, OTR/L has been an occupational therapist since 2000, working in school-based, hand therapy, outpatient peds, EI, and SNF. Colleen created The OT Toolbox to inspire therapists, teachers, and parents with easy and fun tools to help children thrive. Read her story about going from an OT making $3/hour (after paying for kids’ childcare) to a full-time OT resource creator for millions of readers. Want to collaborate? Send an email to contact@theottoolbox.com.
