The Great Grade 3 Potato Olympics

What happens when you combine math, engineering, creativity, and potatoes? You get the Grade 3 Potato Olympics!

Over the past few weeks, our learners have been exploring a math unit focused on measurement and data. They’ve been using tools like scales, balances, graduated cylinders, and timers to solve real-world problems involving time, mass, and liquid volume. To celebrate and apply what they’ve learned, we launched the Potato Olympics, a playful, hands-on project where each student’s potato became an “athlete” competing in imaginative Olympic events.

How it started

Students each brought in one or two uncooked potatoes, which they profiled just like professional athletes. They weighed, measured, and recorded details about their potato’s “country of origin,” unique features, and even gave them names. From there, students worked in teams to design and engineer brand new Olympic events using the design cycle:

1. Identify a challenge – What kind of event could a potato compete in?

2. Plan and sketch – Teams brainstormed ideas, compared designs, and decided on final events.

3. Build and test – Students created equipment and tested their events for fairness and accuracy.

4. Reflect and improve – Trial runs allowed for adjustments before the big day.

The events

The creativity of our Grade 3 engineers was amazing. Some of the highlights included:

• Potato Ski Jump: rolling a potato down a slope to see how far it could “fly”

• Potato Diving: timing how quickly potatoes sink to the bottom of a water tank

• 50m Freestyle: pushing potatoes across a pool using straws

• Weightlifting: designing potato carriers to see how much weight their athlete could hold

• High Jump: bouncing potatoes off student-made trampolines

Each event required students to think about fair testing, rules, measurement, and recording data. They weren’t just playing, they were applying math and engineering concepts in meaningful, memorable ways.

The big day

On Potato Olympics Day, half of each team stayed to run their event while the other half traveled as athletes to compete. Students recorded results, tallied data, and awarded medals to the top-performing potatoes. More importantly, they reflected on what they learned, how they worked together, and how creativity and problem solving can make learning come alive.

Why potatoes?

A potato might seem like an unusual athlete, but that’s exactly what makes this project so engaging. By using a simple, everyday object, students can focus on applying their learning in authentic, hands-on ways. The Potato Olympics show us that math is not just about numbers on a page. It’s about solving problems, testing ideas, and making sense of the world.

Stay tuned for highlights and results from the Potato Olympics. We can’t wait to share the creative events and amazing achievements of our Grade 3 learners.