Children's books and activities
Sports and the Olympics
Do you know any kids who love doing sports — from baseball to basketball to martial arts to soccer — and reading about their sports heroes? Or kids who are excited by the Olympics and learning all about the different events and the host countries? We've gathered up a great collection of books, activities, apps, and websites all about sports and the Olympics.
Try pairing fiction with nonfiction books and exploring different genres [6] (like poetry and biographies) and formats (like graphic novels and audio books). You'll be creating your own "text sets" — collections of texts focused on a specific topic, such as sports and the Olympics. Reading widely in this way helps children build background knowledge [7], vocabulary [8], and comprehension skills.
How to explore this theme:
- Read fiction and nonfiction books
- Try some hands-on activities
- Build writing skills with these fun ideas
- Dig deeper with kid-friendly websites
- Play and learn with mobile apps
More themed resources:
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Great Fiction & Nonfiction Books
Age Level: 3-6 years old
Print List
Babar's Celesteville Games
By: Laurent de Brunhoff
Age Level: 3-6 years old
Purchase book [15]
Baseball from A to Z
By: Michael Spradlin
Age Level: 3-6 years old
Comic illustrations effectively combine with a straightforward text to bring baseball terms to...
Purchase book [16]
Elympics
By: X.J. Kennedy
Age Level: 3-6 years old
Get ready for figure skating, diving, slalom racing, and more – elephant style! This cast of...
Purchase book [17]
Learning to Ski with Mr. Magee
By: Chris Van Dusen
Age Level: 3-6 years old
In this rhyming adventure, Mr. Magee and his dog Dee learn to ski. They didn't expect to run...
Purchase book [18]
Max and Marla
By: Alexandra Boiger
Age Level: 3-6 years old
Max and Marla are best friends. And aspiring Olympians! With their eyes on the prize, they know...
Purchase book [19]
Olympics
By: B.G. Hennessy
Age Level: 3-6 years old
Purchase book [20]
Pelé: King of Soccer/El rey del fútbol
By: Monica Brown
Age Level: 3-6 years old
Purchase book [21]
She Loved Baseball: The Effa Manley Story
By: Audrey Vernick
Age Level: 3-6 years old
Effa Manley, born when jazz was new and sports were segregated, was passionate about fairness...
Purchase book [22]
Sports! Sports! Sports! A Poetry Collection
By: Lee Bennett Hopkins
Age Level: 3-6 years old
Can a poem capture the excitement, exhilaration, or anguish of defeat when playing sports? The...
Purchase book [23]
The Mud Flat Olympics
By: James Stevenson
Age Level: 3-6 years old
The animals of Mud Flat decide to let the games begin in their unique version of Olympic...
Purchase book [24]
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Print List
A Big Day for Baseball
By: Mary Pope Osborne
Age Level: 6-9 years old
When Jack and Annie don the magic baseball hats given to them by Morgan, they find themselves...
Purchase book [25]
A Nation's Hope: The Story of Boxing Legend Joe Louis
By: Matt de la Peña
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Joe Louis' boxing match against Max Schmeling in 1938 reverberated in the U.S. and through...
Purchase book [28]
A Picture Book of Jackie Robinson
By: David Adler
Age Level: 6-9 years old
A portrait of a true American sports hero, Jackie Robinson, who was the first African American...
Purchase book [29]
A Picture Book of Jesse Owens
By: David Adler
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Purchase book [30]
A Strong Right Arm: The Story of Mamie "Peanut" Johnson
By: Michelle Green
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Purchase book [31]
America's Champion Swimmer: Gertrude Ederle
By: David Adler
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Trudy Ederle loved to swim, and she was determined to be the best. At seventeen Trudy won three...
Purchase book [32]
Ancient Greece and the Olympics (A Magic Treehouse Research Guide)
By: Mary Pope Osborne
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Purchase book [33]
Basketball Belles: How Two Teams & One Scrappy Player Put Women's Hoops on the Map
By: Sue Macy
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Women and girls haven't always played basketball. In fact, it was a struggle to play while...
Purchase book [34]
Bill Pickett: Rodeo-Ridin' Cowboy
By: Andrea Pinkney, Brian Pinkney
Age Level: 6-9 years old
The most celebrated black cowboy was Bill Pickett, a fearless rodeo star with a knack for taming...
Purchase book [35]
Black Jack: The Ballad of Jack Johnson
By: Charles Smith
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Arthur John Johnson became known as Black Jack, the world's first black heavyweight...
Purchase book [36]
Bright Path: Young Jim Thorpe
By: Don Brown
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Jim Thorpe's childhood was a mix of hard work in the outdoors and a succession of military-...
Purchase book [37]
Brothers at Bat: The True Story of an Amazing All-Brother Baseball Team
By: Audrey Vernick
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Purchase book [38]
Capoeira: Game! Dance! Martial Art!
By: George Ancona
Age Level: 6-9 years old
A trip to Brazil inspired this look at a unique sport called "capoeira." The result is...
Purchase book [39]
Cross-Country Cat
By: Mary Calhoun
Age Level: 6-9 years old
What kind of cat would go sliding off on skis, and who'd believe it anyway? When the family...
Purchase book [40]
DK Eyewitness Books: Olympics
By: Chris Oxlade
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Readers will discover the pageantry of the original games; Pierre de Coubertin's revival of the...
Purchase book [41]
Float Like a Butterfly
By: Ntozake Shange
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Visually stunning and informative, Ali’s early life, how it influenced him, as well as his many...
Purchase book [42]
Freeze Frame: A History of the Winter Olympics
By: Sue Macy
Age Level: 6-9 years old
The winter games began in France in 1924. This compelling examination of their start, the...
Purchase book [43]
G is for Gold Medal: An Olympics Alphabet
By: Doug Herzog
Age Level: 6-9 years old
This book showcases athletes and events that not only set sports records but also impacted...
Purchase book [44]
Home-Run King
By: Patricia McKissack
Age Level: 6-9 years old
There were always discoveries to be made in their grandmother's attic; and Gee always had a...
Purchase book [45]
Hour of the Olympics
By: Mary Pope Osborne
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Purchase book [46]
How Georgie Radbourn Saved Baseball
By: David Shannon
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Purchase book [47]
How to Train with a T. Rex and Win 8 Gold Medals
By: Michael Phelps, Alan Abramson
Age Level: 6-9 years old
A champion at the 2008 Beijing Olympics explains the training schedule that allowed him to...
Purchase book [48]
Lucky Enough
By: Fred Bowen
Age Level: 6-9 years old
When Trey loses his lucky piece of sea glass, he’s convinced that his luck is gone, too. He goes...
Purchase book [49]
Mighty Jackie: The Strike-Out Queen
By: Marissa Moss
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Purchase book [50]
Mush! Sled Dogs of the Iditarod
By: Joe Funk
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Purchase book [51]
Nadia: The Girl Who Couldn't Sit Still
By: Karlin Gray
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Nadia Comaneci was a feisty and fearless little girl who went from climbing trees in the forests...
Purchase book [52]
Olympig!
By: Victoria Jamieson
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Boomer the Pig has been training hard for the Animal Olympics, so when he loses his first race,...
Purchase book [53]
Silent Star: The Story of Deaf Major Leaguer William Hoy
By: Bill Wise
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Purchase book [54]
Sixteen Years in Sixteen Seconds: The Sammy Lee Story
By: Paula Yoo
Age Level: 6-9 years old
The inspirational true story of Sammy Lee, a Korean American who overcame discrimination to...
Purchase book [55]
Skating Superstars
By: Scholastic Publishing
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Figure skating has become a popular Winter Olympics sport. Meet well-known figure skaters from...
Purchase book [56]
Stealing Home: Jackie Robinson Against the Odds
By: Robert Burleigh
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Lush, realistic illustrations combine with a simple text to suggest what it must have been like...
Purchase book [57]
Swifter, Higher, Stronger: A Photographic History of the Summer Olympics
By: Sue Macy
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Even though the ancient Greeks conceived the Olympics, it was a small Frenchman "with a...
Purchase book [58]
Tacky and the Winter Games
By: Helen Lester
Age Level: 6-9 years old
While Tacky's friends train for the winter games, he sleeps during sit-ups, pigs out on pizza...
Purchase book [59]
The Capital Catch (Ballpark Mysteries)
By: Dsavid A. Kelly
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Mike and Kate are back to solve a new mystery. This one is in the Nation’s Capital, where the...
Purchase book [60]
The Funniest Man in Baseball: The True Story of Max
By: Audrey Vernick
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Even as a kid, Max had a good arm. He even pitched while he served in the Navy where he struck...
Purchase book [61]
The Kid from Diamond Street: The Extraordinary Story of Baseball Legend Edith Houghton
By: Audrey Vernick
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Not only did Edith Houghton play baseball in 1912, she played when she was only 10 years old!...
Purchase book [63]
The Summer Olympics
By: Bob Knotts
Age Level: 6-9 years old
This straightforward introduction to the summer Olympics and their origins provides basic...
Purchase book [64]
The Wrigley Riddle
By: David Kelly
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Purchase book [65]
Touch the Sky: Alice Coachman, Olympic High Jumper
By: Ann Malaspina
Age Level: 6-9 years old
"Bare feet shouldn't fly. Long legs shouldn't spin. Braids shouldn't flap in the wind. 'Sit on...
Purchase book [66]
Trudy's Big Swim: How Gertrude Ederle Swam the English Channel and Took the World by Storm
By: Sue Macy
Age Level: 6-9 years old
It was August 6, 1926; Gertrude Ederle was about to become the first woman to swim the English...
Purchase book [67]
Wilma Unlimited: How Wilma Rudolph Became the World's Fastest Woman
By: Kathleen Krull
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Wilma Rudolph not only overcame polio, she went on to become the first woman to win three...
Purchase book [68]
You Never Heard of Casey Stengel?!
By: Jonah Winter
Age Level: 6-9 years old
He was known for his eccentricities and for being the winningest NY Yankees’ manager. Meet Casey...
Purchase book [69]
Age Level: 9-12 years old
Print List
12 Rounds to Glory: The Story of Muhammad Ali
By: Charles R. Smith, Jr.
Age Level: 9-12 years old
From the moment a fired-up teenager won 1960 Olympic gold to the day when a retired legend...
Purchase book [70]
Double Reverse
By: Fred Bowen
Age Level: 9-12 years old
Jesse isn’t as good a football player as his older brother but with a bit of encouragement from...
Purchase book [71]
I Got It!
By: David Wiesner
Age Level: 9-12 years old
A baseball game. A kid watching. An outfielder needed. It should be an easy out, but not really...
Purchase book [72]
Roller Girl
By: Victoria Jamieson
Age Level: 9-12 years old
Astrid realizes that her interests differ from those of her best friend but decides to pursue...
Purchase book [74]
We Are the Ship: The Story of the Negro League Baseball
By: Kadir Nelson, Nelson
Age Level: 9-12 years old
Purchase book [75]
White Water! National Geographic Kids
By: Brenna Maloney
Age Level: 9-12 years old
From hippo attacks on the Okavango River to Chitina headwaters in Alaska, this chapter book is...
Purchase book [76]
Wild River
By: P.J. Petersen
Age Level: 9-12 years old
Twelve-year-old Ryan goes kayaking and fishing on a California river with his older brother,...
Purchase book [77]
Hands-on Activities
Build on what you're learning together through books with these family-friendly activities, experiments, and crafts.
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Adopt-a-Nation Olympic Chart [79]
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Backyard Olympics [80]
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Baseball Scorecard [81]
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Baseball Scorecard for Kids [82]
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Baseball: How to Keep Score [83]
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Ceremonial Olympic Torch [84]
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Champion Gold Medals [85]
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Exploring Olympic Host Nations [86]
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Foosball Table [87]
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Kid-Friendly Learning During Baseball Games [88]
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Mini Golf Physics [89]
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Olive Leaf Crown [90]
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Origami Olympic Rings [91]
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Pitch and Hit Chart [92]
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Thrown for a Curve [93]
Summer Writing
Give kids a chance to flex their writing muscles all summer long. Try one of these prompts, selected from our writing contest archives and other literacy organizations.
Great Websites for Kids
Dive deeper into topics of interest with these media-rich and interactive sites.
- Ancient Greek Olympics [96]
- Baseball Poems and Songs [97]
- Club Major League Baseball [98]
- Fastball Reaction Time [99]
- GeoGames: Winter Sports [100]
- Go for the Gold [101]
- It's Greek to Me [102]
- Let's Move Outside [103]
- Little Lunkers: Take Me Fishing [104]
- Nature Find: Find Parks, Trails, and Other Nature Sites Near You [105]
- NBA Hoop Troop [106]
- Rio 2016 Summer Olympics (Official Website) [107]
- Science of Baseball [108]
- Skateboard Science [109]
- Sports Illustrated for Kids [110]
Mobile Apps
Educational apps recommended by Common Sense Media and other trusted reviewers.
- ABC Play [111] $
- Chop Chop Tennis [112] $
- Crazy Basketball [113]
- FIFA Soccer [114] $
- Kurt Warner's Football 101 [115] $
More Themed Resources
Growing Readers Tip Sheets
Simple activities for parents and kids to do together to build reading, writing, and critical thinking skills. Read online or print the PDF.
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Measure Up! [116]
Download PDF: English [117] | Spanish [118]
Our Summer Blog
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DC United [128] $
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Washington Mystics [129] $
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