February 2026 marked the month of a major sporting event, the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics, to which the children of the Pandas class at the Viale La Plaia site dedicated an entire project.
By introducing them to sport and, at the same time, helping them understand what's happening in the world around them, the children broadened their perspective on a real life event taking place in the country they live in, and therefore closer to their own experience.
Talking about the Olympics with such young children means instilling important values. Sport, in fact, is more than just movement: it's respect for the rules, collaboration and teamwork, commitment, sharing, the ability to accept defeat, enjoy participating in a competition, and rejoice in success.
The project, carried out in the classroom since the beginning of February, explored all the Winter Olympic sports: from skiing to skating, from curling to bobsleigh. The children learned about the different disciplines through stories, images, and motor activities that promote harmonious body development and improve coordination.
The teachers transformed the classroom into a real Olympic track, not only with beautiful paper decorations depicting the Olympic rings and the Olympic flame, but also through firsthand experiences: using oil and shaving cream, they recreated the effect of ice rinks, and the children used symbolic skates to imitate skating. They then dressed up as little skiers ready to hit the snow. They also took part in adventurous imaginary bobsleigh races and competitive curling challenges with brooms and stones they made from paper plates.
The perfect conclusion to this project, which Polar Bears were invited to join in with, could only be an emotional meeting with Manolo Costella, torchbearer of the Olympic flame for Milan-Cortina 2026, who shared his experience with the children and explained how to become an Olympic flame bearer.
The torchbearer is the person chosen to carry the Olympic torch during the relay race preceding the start of the Games. The flame, a symbol of peace and unity among peoples, is carried hand-to-hand to the host city of the Olympics. Becoming a torchbearer is a great honor: typically, one is selected for sporting merit, social commitment, courage, or for being a positive example in their community.
For the children, it was exciting to discover that behind the Olympic flame lies a story of values, commitment, and responsibility.
We believe this was a true growth workshop for Pandas. The children developed many different skills: motor, creative, relational and collaborative, supporting their classmates and engaging with enthusiasm and passion. Furthermore, they discovered that sport unites, that every athlete has a story to tell, and that they too, in their own small way, can strive every day to give their best.
All that remains now is to award the well-deserved gold medals to the participants: 🥇 to the teachers for their wonderful work and 🥇to the children for their exemplary commitment and participation. Well done!
