Winter Olympics 2026 Patch Program®

This 2″ iron-on embroidered patch is part of our patch program®. Patch image shows a watermark. Your patches will not have a watermark.

Please print the requirements below. You will not receive a copy with your order.

 

Did you know that the 2026 Winter Olympics start February 4th in Italy? The events will take place in the cities of Milan and Cortina d’ Ampezzo. Although the opening ceremony isn’t until February 6th, there are competitions taking place prior to the start of the opening ceremony. Help your girls get excited with our Olympic Paper Doll Friends.

Suggestions for how girls can earn the Olympics 2026 Patch: We recommend reading through the suggested activities first to see which ones you think the girls would like to combine or do individually. 

Olympic Events Starting February 4th:

Curling: The first 4 Curling events are on February 4^th with regular or medal events taking place every day until the end of the games on February 22^nd.
Suggested Activity: The girls can make and play a DIY curling game

• Create the houses: On a long sheet of white paper have the girls use marker or crayons to create the two houses.
• Create an ice-like surface: Lay wax paper on top of the paper and tape everything down on a table or smooth floor.
• Create the stones using one or more of these ideas:
  1. Fill bottle caps with clay and put a paper clip in each one for the handle
  2. Put a marble or round beads under K cups with a paper clip hot glued for the handle
  3. Make ice cubes with paper clips for the handles. Put 2 paper clips on a string and tie the string around the ice cube tray with each paper clip hanging over each ice cube mold.  Repeat until all of the ice cube trays are set up. Fill with water and freeze.
• For the brooms: Use Q-tips or a small brush like a paint brush. Try using them dry and dipping in water for different effects.
• Play: There are 2 teams with 2 – 4 players per team.
  There are 8 – 10 ‘rounds’ called Ends. One player pushes the stone and 2 players sweep in front of the stone to try to direct it. Players can not touch the stones after they are pushed. Teams take turns pushing their stones toward the same target alternating which team member is the one pushing the stone.. Each team has 8 stones and the End is over when they have all been played.
• Scoring: The center white circle is called the button. Only the team with the stone closest to the button scores. Every stone for that team that is closer than any stone for the other team scores 1 point.

Olympic Events Starting February 5th:

Ice Hockey: Ice Hockey begins February 4th with regular or medal events taking place every day until the end of the games on February 22nd.
Suggested Activity: Tabletop rod hockey, air hockey and sling puck hockey games are a fun substitute for kids who don’t have access to an ice rink. If your troop doesn’t have someone who can lend one, the girls can make a home version of these types of games.

• Have the girls draw the ice rink with crayons or markers inside a cardboard box. Use a bottle cap as the puck and and craft sticks or spoons as the hockey stick.
• On a long sheet of white paper have the girls use marker or crayons to draw the ice rink. Lay wax paper on top of the paper and tape everything down on a table or smooth floor. Use rolled up towels or blanket for the edge of the rink. Use a lid or bottle cap as the puck (inserting clay is optional to add some weight). Cut a craft stick to make it shorter and hot glue at an angle to the bottom of a full craft stick to make a hockey stick. Use marker or crayon to add stripes to the hockey stick for a more authentic look.

Snowboard: Snowboard first regular event is February 5^th with regular and medal events continuing until February 18^th with a few days off between some events.
Suggested Activity: Snowboarding is all about balance. Ask if someone has a balance board or a balance game the girls can borrow for a troop meeting. A balance board can be made with a plank of wood and a cylinder such as a PVC pipe. Adding bumpers to the underside of the board will prevent the board from slipping off the cylinder. Make sure the board is only used by the girls while an adult is spotting. 

Olympic Opening Ceremony February 6th:

Today is the Opening Ceremony. The events are split between the cities of Milan and Cortina d’ Ampezzo.  The mascots for the 2026 Olympic Games in Italy are Tina and Milo, stoats (related to weasels). Tina has lighter fur and is representing the Winter games and Milo has darker fur and is representing the Paralympic Winter games. There names are inspired by the host cities. USA is expected to send approximately 203 athletes competing in 12 different sports to the games this winter.
Suggested Activity: Your girls can make accessories or decorations to add to the fun of watching the opening ceremony. Free printables and craft ideas can be found at FreeKidsCrafts.

Olympic Events Starting February 6th:

Figure Skating: Figure skating is the oldest Winter Olympics sport. The first Winter Olympics were held in 1924. While speed skating, ice hockey, bobsleigh, cross-country skiing, ski jumping, Nordic combined, curling, and military patrol (similar to biathalon) were also held that year, figure skating had actually been included in the 1908 Olympics making it the first winter sport in Olympic History.
Suggested Activity: Kids have been pretending to ice skate for years on smooth floors in socks. Your girls can make up routines while ‘sock skating’. Another idea is to make these skate swaps using our instructions and free pattern.

Olympic Events Starting February 7th:

Alpine Skiing: Alpine skiing is racing down ski hill and includes slalom (skiing through gates) and downhill events.
Suggested Activity: Alpine skiing requires balance and co-ordination. A great game to help girls improve those skills is freeze dance! Put a ski themed spin on freeze dance by telling the girls to incorporate ski movements into their dance like downhill skill poses such as squatting, leaning, reaching, twisting, hopping from one foot to the other, jumping sideways and penguin waddles.

Cross-Country Skiing: Cross-country skiing was one way of traveling long distances between communities in countries with harsh snowy winters. Courses can be from a little over 6 miles to a little over 31 miles.
Suggested Activity: No access to snow? Make cardboard skis for kids to use on the floor. Cut long ski shaped pieces of cardboard, gluing several layers together if necessary to make them sturdier. Smaller boxes or folded cardboard taped or glued together can be the boots or use ribbon to strap the ski board to feet. Cardboard tubes make great ski poles. For extra fun, have the girls decorate them with markers, crayons or stickers. Let the kids try gliding along the floor in their cardboard skis. There are videos available to make and demonstrate how to use cardboard skis.

Freestyle Skiing: A more expressive form of skiing that includes moguls (mounds of snow on the course), aerials (skiing off a ramp to perform trick while in the air), ski cross (navigating jumps, bumps and curves on a slope as quickly as possible), slopestyle (including rails and jumps), halfpipe (tricks while skiing down a course with high, curved side walls and Big Air which takes place on a much bigger course than aerials.
Suggested Activity: Freestyle skiing involved a lot of jumping. The girls can learn balance and stability with one-foot hopping and dragon stretching (from one legged stance, bend down and touch hands to the ground. Can they keep the other leg straight and keep their balance?). Another activity is to practice hopping or jumping forward on 2 feet. How far forward can they hop? Jumping rope and balloon soccer are great ways to practice agility and control.

Ski Jumping: Ski jumpers go down a big curved ramp, sometimes reaching speeds over 60 miles per hour, before launching to fly through the air trying to go the farthest. Style matters in ski jumping as well since it can be about 50% of the scoring with distance making up the rest of the score.
Suggested Activity: Try a game such as river leap, (hopping from object to object helps them practicing controlling launching from one spot and landing on another spot). Use painters tape to make targets on the floor for the girls to jump from and to.

Speed Skating: The skates used for speed skating are not the same as the ones your girls are used to seeing or wearing when they go ice skating. Speed skating events take place on a long track. There is a separate event called Short Track Speed Skating.
Long track skates, known as claps skates, are lower cut around the ankle than traditional skates. The blades for long track are longer and attached to the booth in the front with a hinge and the back is not attached to the bottom of the skate so the blade stays on the ice longer. Blades on both types of skates are slightly curved to make turns easier. Long track blades have less of a curve than short track skates to increase speed in the straight part of the track. Specific lengths vary by skater’s preference. All speed skating blades are sharpened frequently.
Suggested Activity: This activity is for both Speed Skating and Short Track Speed Skating. Look for videos to share with the girls about the differences between the skates. The Olympic Winter Games website has a great video showing some of the differences between the skates.  You can also search phrases such as Anatomy of Speedskates and Love for Speed Skating to see some videos of speed skaters sharing their experiences. If your girls want to make swaps for speed skating, remind them the boot needs to be shorter and the blade needs to be longer than the patterns used in traditional ice skate swaps.

Luge: The French word luge means sled. Racing down an ice track in a special type of sled reaching speeds over 90 miles per hour makes this the fastest sport on ice. Racers start with a push from grab bars at the start and then use their hands to paddle with their spiked gloves before laying down to let gravity take over. They steer with subtle body weight shifts and leg and shoulder movements.
Suggested Activity: A luger (a person competing in the sport of luge) needs to keep their body as flat as possible to avoid wind resistance. With racers finishing as close as a thousand of a second apart, avoiding wind resistance is essential to success. To help your girls understand wind resistance, give them 2 pieces of paper. Ask them to crumble one up and then flatten it out and leave the other perfectly flat. Ask them to use a straw and see which one moves more. The crumbled paper moves more demonstrating that staying as flat as possible means the wind moves over the luger instead of pushing them back which would reduce their speed.

Olympic Events Starting February 8th:

Biathalon: A combination of cross-country skiing and rifle shooting.
Suggested Activity: If the girls tried the cross-country skiing suggested activity, add hitting a target to help them experience a biathalon. If the troop does not have access to nerf guns for target shooting, try this idea for home made shooter. Cut the bottom of a paper cut off and replace it with a balloon. Tie a knot in the balloon and cut the other end of the balloon to fit onto the cup. Have the girls place a ping pong ball, pom pom or marshmallow and pull the knot back and release to shoot at a target the girls prepared in advance.

There are no new Olympic Events Starting February 9th.

Olympic Events Starting February 10th:

Short Track Speed Skating: While the same athletes may cross over between Speed Skating and Short Track Speed Skating, it is rare for the same athlete to compete in both events during one Olympics competition. The two sports are considered separate as they require different equipment, techniques and training. One significant difference is that while Speed Skating is timed event, Short Track Speed Skating is a race with skaters starting in a pack.
The skates used for Short Track Speed Skating are different from long track skates. Short track skate blades are fixed and little shorter than long track skates. Blades on both types of skates are slightly curved to make turns easier. Short track blades have a larger curve for tighter turns. Long track blades have less of a curve to increase speed in the straight part of the track. Specific lengths vary by skater’s preference.
Suggested Activity: This activity is for both Short TrackSpeed Skating and Speed Skating. Look for videos to share with the girls about the differences between the skates. The Olympic Winter Games website has a great video showing some of the differences between the skates.  You can also search phrases such as Anatomy of Speedskates and Love for Speed Skating to see some videos of speed skaters sharing their experiences. If your girls want to make swaps for speed skating, remind them the boot needs to be shorter and the blade needs to be longer than the patterns used in traditional ice skate swaps.

Olympic Events Starting February 11th:

Nordic Combined: This sport combines cross-country skiing and ski jumping. The event starts with a ski jump where the athletes angle their skis to maximize flight time to get more distance. Points are given for distance and style. Their score determines start order and timing of the start for the cross country ski race. There are individual and team events. In the team event, 2 team mates scores for their jump are combined to determine their start for the cross country relay. In the relay one team mate rests while the other does a lap of cross country skiing and then they switch. The first skier or team across the finish line wins.
Suggested Activity: Take a look at our ski jumping and cross-country skiing suggested activities. Your girls may want to try combining these 2 activities to create their snow free Nordic Combined activity. Challenge your girls to make ski swaps by using craft sticks, toothpicks and buttons. Let them get creative in decorating them. 

Olympic Events Starting February 12th:

Skeleton: This sport also involves a sled but instead of laying on their back, the racers lie face down and facing forward. This fast paced race starts with the athlete running full speed for 30 meters, which a little over 98 feet or almost 33 yards. The athlete then jumps onto the sled, head first. Sliding headfirst down an ice track at about 87 miles per hour with no breaks makes this one of the most dangerous sports in the Olympics.
Suggested Activity: This race starts with full speed running. A basketball course is 94 feet long which is a little less than a Skeleton racer runs.  Looking at the lines on a football field the girls can see how far 35 yards is, which is a little more than the Skeleton racer runs. If you have access to either a basketball court or a football field, challenge your girls to run full speed for approximately 98 feet or 33 yards.  

There are no new Olympic Events Starting February 13th – 14th.

Olympic Events Starting February 15th:

Bobsleigh: Most leaders and some girls may be familiar with bobsleigh. There are teams of 2 or 4 athletes in these races each team includes a pilot and brakeperson working together. The sled is designed specifically for this sport. Athletes push the sled and jump in to slide down an ice track reaching speeds of about 90 miles per hour. This sport requires a lot of teamwork.
Suggested Activity: To help your girls understand the teamwork involved, have them try ‘Bobsleigh Bodies’. For this activity each team has 4 to 6 girls. The girls sit in lines on the floor wrapping their legs around the girl in front of them. Make the finish line using tape if possible about 10 to 15 feet away. The girls use their hands to slide their way forward while staying together as a team. 

There are no new Olympic Events Starting February 16th – 18th.

Olympic Events Starting February 19th:

Ski Mountaineering: Ski Mountaineering makes it’s first appearance as an Olympic sport on the 2026 games in Italy. Athletes hike up a mountain and ski down with the same gear. They wear sticky fabric on the bottom of their skis called climbing skins to glide up the mountain without sliding backwards. The ski boots, which are lighter than traditional ski boots, are put into a ‘walk’ mode that allows the heel to lift, making it easier to walk uphill. This is referred to as skinning up the mountain. For sections that are too steep for skinning the skier transitions to boot packing which is when the athlete puts their skis in a backpack to climb on foot. Once past this part, they put their skis back on to get to the top of the mountain. When they reach the top, racers remove the skins and lock their boots into the bindings to ski down the mountain. All of this happens in about 2 ½ to 3 minutes! For a relay, each athlete goes twice on the course.
Suggested Activity: Ski Mountaineering requires quick changes of gear. While most girls will not have access to ski gear, many do have access to winter wear such as gloves, hats, jackets and maybe even snow pants or waterproof sweatpants. All Ski Mountaineers wear a backpack so add this to the list of gear for your quick change race. Set up layers of winter gear for your girls to have a race getting in and out of the winter gear and backpack.  

The Closing Ceremony is February 22nd. There are a few events finishing up today before the ceremony. 

2026 Winter Paralympics : The 2026 Winter Paralympics, which start March 6th with the opening ceremony and end March 15th, will take also place in Milano and Cortina in Italy.
Suggested Activity: About 600 athletes will compete in the following events. Ask your girls how they think the above events are changed to accommodate various disabilities. Encourage them to watch the Winter Paralympics to see if their ideas for making these sports accessible match how the Paralympics events are played.

• Para Alpine Skiing
• Para Biathlon
• Para Cross-Country Skiing
• Para Ice Hockey
• Para Snowboard
• Wheelchair Curling

The  2030 Winter Olympics will be in the French Alps.