Scratch project to celebrate Olympic Games

The aim is to create the olympic flag with circles in their correct positioning and overlapping where appropriate to match the flag. The completion of the rings on the flag then become a trigger to begin a presentation of some aspect of the olympic game movement.

I start the exercise introducing the pupils to the basic shapes such as square, triangle, pentagon etc. lead them to the conclusion that as the number of sides increases, the angle decreases. This leads up to the circle.

The next step is to introduce the olympic flag with its five rings. Point out the overlapping and which colours must overlap each other. The pupils then attempt to recreate them with the one click of the flag

For the teachers to offer guidance to those struggling, there are different ways to achieve the goal. One is to vary the starting position, a second to delay the start time or speed, but the best solution I have discovered is to not be restricted to 360 degree circles but to continue with the degrees of the circles until they have overlapped appropriately. Another tip is to begin with the middle top circle (the black one). You can then work on the right hand (red one). Once you have the gap right for that ,use that measurement to determine the left hand circle (blue one)

With the top row complete determine the distance between the starting points of two of the top circles. Divide by 2 to determine the X setting for one of the bottom two circles. Now play with the Y settings to get the height of the bottom row right.

Now that the flag is complete use the last completed circle as a trigger to continue the presentation. I have had pupils spin the continents into their appropriate circles. You could populate the flag with various sport icons. Here I leave it up to the pupils to be creative, add music, national anthems or anything else they come up with.