Blessings Placemat for Rosh Hashanah: cut and glue (no-paint version)

(See the Apple-Print version at the previous post.)

Blessings Placemat for Rosh Hashanah: the cheat sheet as Honey Pot

The all out, get messy Apple-Print version of the Blessings Placemat is dandy, but sometimes kids (and neat-freak parents) hate paint and its attendant chaos.

This rather old-school version smacks of die-cuts and Parent-Teacher Store stickers, but it’s reasonably cute and it gets the job done.  What job is that?  We are turning a quickie-apples-and-honey-side-dish into a meaningful minhag (custom), and scoring some Jewish-y parent-kid time, too.

How-To:   Print the template (see below) onto thick yellow paper (like index stock or card stock) and then lightly pencil in a honeypot shape. Think Winnie the Pooh. Preschoolers can cut along the lines and make the pot all by themselves.  Don’t have yellow paper? Use white and let your kid rub the side of a yellow crayon all over the printed sheet.

Kids can glue (with a gluestick, so the paper doesn’t buckle) to a big construction sheet, add apple shapes, bee stickers. Force kid to write name in whatever scrawl they can manage.  Crayola’s Construction Paper crayons are heavenly and show up against the darkest hues. As can oil pastels, but those of us who shun paint are not likely to keep oil pastels within easy reach, right?  So, order Crayola Construction Paper Crayons online and make that name pop: it’s the most important bit of the whole thing.  Done.

Laminate, if you are so inclined, or cover with contact paper (awkward, but serviceable) to catch those honey drips each year.

My template has the Rosh Hashanah apples and honey blessings and prayers in order, in English, transliteration and Hebrew. I’ve got a jpg and a pdf to download or copy/paste here.