Help your children carry the ceremonial Olympic torch with this simple project.
- 1 sheet of white construction paper or poster board
- Clear tape
- Red, yellow, and orange tissue paper (12″ x 12″ square of each color)
- White craft glue
- Roll the construction paper into a cone shape and secure with tape.
- Layer the tissue paper squares, red on the bottom, then orange, and yellow on top.
- Gather from the center of the squares and hold in your hand like a bouquet of flowers.
- Put some white craft glue into the sides of the opening of the cone.
- Place the tissue paper into the cone and let the glue dry completely.
Alternative Materials: If you don’t have tissue paper, use construction paper or printer paper. Simply cut the paper sheets into flame shapes and glue inside the cone opening.
While your children may have seen highlights of the opening ceremony, including the lighting of the final symbolic torch, they may not realize that the torch had been carried across Canada’s beautiful landscape for 106 days (45,000 km)! Take a moment to view a video documenting just a few highlights throughout the breathtaking Journey of the 2010 Olympic Torch. Then, have fun discussing these interesting facts.
- The torch was originally lit during a special ceremony in Olympia, Greece. It was then carried on an airplane all the way to Canada.
- Nearly 12,000 people helped carry the torch across Canada.
- The torch passed through more than 1,000 communities and special sites.
- The torch was carried for more than 100 days.
- Torch bearers carried the torch in many unique ways, including bike, canoe, paddle wheeler, and on top of the Grouse Mountain Sky Ride.
- Anyone could apply to be a torch bearer. Even teams of up to 20 people could work together to carry the torch. And guess what — kids carried the torch too!
- The torch relay was added to games the 1930s, but the tradition of burning a torch at the Olympics dates all the way back to the original Greek games.