How to Organize a Winter Games STEM Competition in Your Classroom

The 2026 Winter Olympic Games are here and the learning opportunities for students are endless! One activity that is sure to ENGAGE is hosting a STEM Winter Games competition in your classroom. These activities can be done with students as young as grades K-2 or older students in grades 3-5.

To begin students will need to be placed into groups of 2 or 3. Assign each group a country participating in the Winter Games or let students choose their own country. Have students research their country and present their findings to the class. You can find free resources for this activity here.

Now that students are familiar with the participating countries they will need to build some background knowledge about the various sports in the Winter Olympics. This will be an important step as students will need to understand the games before they are able to participate in the STEM Winter Games. You can have students research the events, or save time with our Winter Games lessons for Grades K-2 in the STEM Teachers Club or our Winter Games lessons for Grades 3-5 in the STEM Teachers Club. Each bundle includes reading passages, comprehension questions, video links, writing activities, and hands-on STEM Challenges.

After students have developed some background knowledge about the Winter Games it is time for some hands-on STEM activities to help them remember and put into practice what they have learned. 

The first Winter Games STEM activity is snowboarding. Students build a snowboarder and snowboard using pipe cleaners, popsicle sticks, tape, and small weights.

Students test the speed of their snowboarders by racing them down a ramp. 

The next Winter Games STEM activity is curling. Students build a rock using small weights, a pipe cleaner, and foil. Students will test the accuracy of the rock by sliding it along the table towards a target.

The group that gets the closest to the center of the target will be declared the winner.

Another Winter Games activity is ski jumping. For this STEM activity students build a skier and skis using pipe cleaners, construction paper, straws, tape, and small weights. Students test their skier by sliding it off the edge of the table and seeing how far it goes.

Challenge students to see if they can get their skier to land upright. The group that jumps the farthest distance is the winner of this competition.

Another Winter Games activity is hockey. For this STEM activity students build a hockey goal and a hockey stick out of straws, tape, string, and popsicle sticks. Students test out their hockey equipment by playing a modified version of hockey. 

The next Winter Games STEM activity is bobsledding. Students build a bobsled using small weights, straws, a toilet paper roll, and tape. Students test the speed of their bobsled by sliding it down a ramp.

The group with the fastest bobsled is declared the winner.

The last Winter Games STEM activity is the biathlon. For this activity, students build a shooter to launch a ping pong ball at targets using plastic cups or cardboard tubes, rubber bands, scissors, and a hole punch.

Students test the accuracy of their shooter by seeing how many targets their group can knock down. The group that knocks down the most targets is the winner of the competition. 

After each competition award medals to the winning teams. First place should receive the gold medal, second place will receive the silver medal, and third place will receive the bronze medal. You can get FREE Winter Games Medals HERE.

We hope you were able to get some great ideas for hosting your own Winter Games STEM competition in your classroom. 

You can grab all six Winter Games activities plus the reading and writing activities at a discount by purchasing the Winter Games lessons in the STEM Teachers Club HERE or get all 800+ STEM Challenges by Carly and Adam as part of the STEM Teachers Club.

Looking for Winter Olympics STEM Challenges for Younger Students?

Check out the K-2 Winter Olympics STEM Bundle!

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