The 5 Olympic rings represent the 5 continents of the world. This design was first used in 1913. The colours of the rings are blue, yellow, black, green and red. The 5 continents are North and South America, Australia, Europe, Africa and Asia. The colours do not represent any particular continent, but they stand for those colours that appeared on all the national flags of the world at that time.
They always appear in the same order: blue, black and red left to right on the top row with yellow and green left to right on the bottom row. These symbols are presented on a white field. Some helpful examples can be seen here.
The circles are interlaced to show the coming together of the continents at the Olympics where the motto is “higher, faster, stronger”.
I bought a package of rubber fruit jar rings which are easy to find during the canning season and had fun making them into the Olympic symbol. As the rings are red, I found that crayons or pastels work best to give them the right colour. You could also use the rubber rings to trace out their shape on a piece of white paper. Colour each circle, cut them out and glue them on a rubber ring. Follow the directions below to put them together in the correct order.
Supplies:
- Rubber rings
- Crayons or pastels
- White paper
- Glue
- Scissors
Instructions:
- Colour 5 rubber rings in the five colours of the Olympic circles.
- On the white paper, place the rings in this order from left to right: blue, black and red. Do not glue them down yet.
- Cut through the yellow and green rings.
- Intertwine the yellow ring through the blue and back rings.
- Intertwine the green ring through the black and red ring.
- In this order, glue them all into place.
