The 2026 Winter Olympics are headed to Italy in just a few short weeks, and that makes it the perfect time to bring a little Olympic excitement into the classroom. This collection of activities invites students to think, collaborate, and explore the world while tackling puzzles, trivia, and challenges inspired by the Games.
Italian Trivia
I started with a lighthearted Italian trivia activity to celebrate the host country. This multiple choice trivia set introduces students to Italy’s landmarks, food, language, geography, and culture, including a nod to pizza and gelato.
2026 Olympics Digital Breakout
Next up is a digital breakout challenge created specifically for the 2026 Winter Olympics. This breakout encourages teamwork and persistence as students work through a variety of lock types, including a date lock, seven direction lock, six color lock, two letter lock, and a number shape lock. As always, clues are embedded throughout the content, rewarding careful reading, observation, and logical thinking.
Winter Olympics Countries Challenge
To help students build global awareness, I also created a Winter Olympics Countries Challenge. In this presentation style game, students use four kid friendly clues to identify countries that will compete in the Games. Twenty-six countries for the year 2026! Each answer country slide highlights key facts such as population, capital city, symbols, and what the nation is known for, making this a great fit for geography connections.
Roman Numerals Quick Quiz
The final activity focuses on Roman numerals, a number system that dates back to ancient Rome and is still visible all around us today. Students can test their knowledge with a five question, self grading Google Forms quiz that covers the seven Roman numeral letters I, V, X, L, C, D, and M and challenges them to decode familiar examples.
Bonus
Eric Curts of ControlAltAchieve.com created Google Sheets Pixel Art in 2017. Pixel Art makes images out of a small grid with a limited number of colors. I’ve always shared Pixel Art throughout the years because it is just a great go-to resource that will fit many different topics. Visit his blog article and make a template. Above, you will see my handiwork of the Olympic rings in Pixel Art. Note in case you give this to your students to do: it was a bit of a challenge to interlace the rings.
With these four activities (and the bonus), Italian trivia, a digital breakout, Winter Olympics country exploration, and a Roman numerals quiz, you have a flexible set of tools to bring the 2026 Winter Olympics into your classroom. Use them all together for an immersive experience or drop in just one to add an Olympic twist to your day. And as always, if you need breakout answers, you can reach me at preimers@tcea.org.
Go TEAM USA!
