LEGO dreidels
The intersection of Lego and Jewish holidays is always fun. Especially if the constructions actually do stuff. Like spin.
Here are a few Lego dreidels we created with oddments at home. They all spin, some better than others. Ideally, they’d all have the proper letter on each side: nun, gimmel, hey and shin, but I only added letters to the dreidels we figured on Continue reading
PVC Menorah, ready to disassemble and reassemble
The finished PVC menorah worked beautifully at the Chanukah Carnival. The volunteer who staffed that station devised a great ploy to generate interest: he left it half-assembled and then asked kids if they would like to “help finish it.” They sure did. Boys and girls, I am pleased to report, in seemingly even numbers. Leaving it half-built was a wise move. This left just enough of the structure up to entice would-be builders, yet not enough to look finished (and therefore not as alluring). If he had disassembled the whole thing between turns, the kids would have seen nothing to draw them to the table.
Setup: I put everything on a huge baking tray on a card table. The tray was the working surface, and the raised sides (like a jellyroll pan) kept pieces from Continue reading
“Real Gelt” Connect-4
Games and crafts should say, “touch me.” Whether in a whisper or a scream, they should entice. And what screams “touch me” like chocolate?
Here’s a variation on a classic board game perfect for Hanukkah parties, carnivals or just fun at home:
Simple, yes? You’d think. But size matters. We all know gelt brands vary in palatability, but they also vary in diameter and width. And successive generations of Connect Four frames vary in inner dimensions. The old yellow and blue frames—some with tab and slot assembly, some with pin and hole assembly—are not created equal, and the snazzy new dark blue versions are totally different. (Any of these will do, but not the new Launchers incarnation or the travel size game.)
The classic Marshmallow Dreidel, with my mini version for older kids.
Marshmallow dreidels, regular and mini
Bump up the educatainment value with a food-safe marker and a printable guide to writing the 4 Hebrew letters (name of letter, what it stands for in Hebrew and English). Bump it up even more and make an Israeli dreidel for contrast: in Israel they use a Pey instead of a Shin. See below.)
Don’t you dare make these yourself and hand them out to kids. The whole point of edible Jewish crafts is that the kids do the making. You can be there, preferably, since another whole point of edible Jewish crafts is spending time together making Jewish things. Continue reading
photo courtesy of JewishHolidaysinaBox.com
Jewish Holidays in a Box is a nifty concept: one kit per holiday with how-tos, whys and whats tucked neatly inside.
This post is a review of the newly-released Hanukkah Kit, which is the first in a series of kits from Jewish Holidays in a Box. The kit is aimed at children ages 4-10, Continue reading
my DIY PVC menorah, so far
EDIT: Please see the finished version at PVC Menorah Kit for kids, revised. It turned out SO WELL. Kids love taking it apart and putting it back together (and so do I).
finished PVC Menorah, ready to disassemble and reassemble!
For the synagogue’s Chanukah Carnival this year, I want to add a Build a Menorah station for kids. The goal: to assemble a menorah from bits of PVC pipe, and then to “light” it with hardware or pipe caps. They don’t get to keep the menorah and it won’t actually work (as in, it isn’t wired and it isn’t fire-safe for candles). No, the real goal is the process: for kids to figure out how all the pieces can fit together properly, and then to take them apart for the next person to try. They can choose to make a 7-branch Temple Menorah or a 9-branch Hanukkah Menorah (Hanukkiyah). Continue reading
The Shabbat Princess, written by Amy Meltzer, illustrated by Martha Avilés (Kar-Ben, $7.95, 32 pages, ages 4-8, ISBN 9780761351061). See links below.
I got a copy of The Shabbat Princess a few weeks ago and put it on my desk to review, but my 4 year-old son saw it, took it, and still keeps it in the “good” book pile by his bed. This arrangement constitutes his version of a book review. Continue reading
Edible Torah: pretzel rods, fruit leather, Rolos.
Simchat Torah starts Thursday night. The “Rejoicing of the Torah” is a happy holiday, not surprisingly. Every week, Jews read a portion (parsha or sidra in Hebrew) from the Torah, and no matter which schedule we follow, we all finish and begin again on Simchat Torah. The moment the reader chants the last word of Deuteronomy and then the first word of Genesis is one of the highlights of the liturgical year. What are the last and first words? See below.*
At synagogue on Simchat Torah, there is plenty to keep the kids engaged and happy, especially at the evening service. Flag-waving, candy-scarfing kids can also carry toy Torahs on the noisy processionals (hakafot); beat kosher rhythm Continue reading
top view of child-made edible sukkah with Nitwit candies
Here are a few easy tips about making an edible sukkah from graham crackers and pretzel sticks. Way easier than my meticulous post with step-by-step instructions and photos from two years ago: Make a Kosher Edible Sukkah for the obsessively organized.
Construction: Honey Maid graham crackers are ideal. They break evenly into squares just the right size for building a cube sukkah on a dessert plate. Use the whole rectangle (5″ long) if you are building on a dinner-size paper plate. Yes, they are kosher. Buy a bunch and use them for Sukkot s’mores later. Generic brands crumble when they break, and you will end up with a box full of rejects.
Roof: Snyder’s Pretzel Sticks (kosher) are the perfect length to span a Honey Maid Graham Cracker cube sukkah. Not rods or dippers, but Sticks. This year, I could only find them packaged in individual, 100 calorie bags. If you build a sukkah Continue reading
lulav lesson with Playmobil folk
Our action figures now have a model sukkah well-appointed for hospitable gatherings. Actually, we have several, because it’s hard to stop once we start. Yesterday’s post tried to outline a classic craft, a tabletop or model sukkah made from tissue boxes and shoe boxes, and also some ideas for free-builds using Legos, Lincoln Logs and other construction toys.
Lulav and etrog, polymer clay. The pitom is a broom straw
Box sukkah for Lego mini figs,with Lego kiddush cups and polymer clay challah
At Sukkot, we are commanded to dwell in a sukkah. This ideal may be out of reach for many, but it is definitely do-able for dolls. Any action figure can be an honored guest or hospitable host/ess in a tabletop or model sukkah.
A model sukkah is an easy, fun, and classic way to explore Sukkot with kids. Using whatever materials are already at hand, you can create a sukkah in miniature, play with it all week, use it as a centerpiece, and along the way take a look at the customs of the holiday and the rules of sukkah construction. Not sure about the details? Brush up at MyJewishLearning’s Sukkot page.
First, show your kid a real sukkah if you can, or pictures of different sukkot (plural for sukkah, and hey, the name of the holiday, too!) in books or online. It won’t make much sense Continue reading
yonah and the dag gadol
Yes, I know we don’t eat during Yom Kippur, but kids do, and my kid will be eating these. As will all the children at my syagogue’s young family service, right after they crawl through the Belly of the Whale (a play tunnel).
Kveller.com just published my post about repurposing a store-bought snack into an instant, Jewish holiday food.
I invite you to read it at Kveller: “A Whale of a Snack for Yom Kippur.” And, if it passes muster (or mustard), can you “like” it there, please, so that Kveller will know someone is reading it?
Meanwhile, there is still time to buy a bag of Bugles for another “Jewish” snack: edible shofars. Continue reading
Posted in Activity, Edible Craft, Rosh Hashanah / Yom Kippur
Tagged edible shofar, Jonah, shofar, whale
use old toys to dramatize Jonah and the Whale
Looking for crafty things to do with kids to prepare for Yom Kippur?
One theme is Jonah and the Whale. It’s the story we’re all going to hear on the afternoon of Yom Kippur, whether we are in the big sanctuary or in the kids’ service. Jonah’s tale is supposed to make us think about all sorts of Jewish values/middot: obedience, faith, repentance and forgiveness, to name the biggees. Yom Kippur is one heavy-duty holiday.
For little kids, I’m keeping the holiday simple. My ideal Jonah and the Whale take-home message is: Jonah screwed up, said he was sorry, and then did what he was supposed to do in the first place. Loosely, this is teshuvah, or repentance. But, still, the story is tricky. Far easier to extrapolate is the scary take-home message: if you screw up, God lets a whale eat you. Pretty creepy. To nip that in the bud, Continue reading
Posted in Activity, Crafts, Jewish Toys, Rosh Hashanah / Yom Kippur
Tagged Jonah, whale, Yom Kippur
polymer clay yemenite kudu shofar for the Man of Steel
Posted in Activity, Jewish Toys, Rosh Hashanah / Yom Kippur
Tagged Rosh Hashanah, shofar, Superman, toys
Edible shofars straight from the bag
Bugles snacks from General Mills are the perfect mini-shofars.
Please see this brief article at Kveller.com, in which I list the merits and uses of Bugle shofars and lament the recent loss of kosher status. If you don’t keep strictly kosher, you are in luck! You get teeny, tasty shofar snacks for Rosh Hashanah!
“I Need Store-Bought, Thematic Snacky-ness, and I Need it Now!” (Raising Kvell post)
If you like the article, please mention it on the Kveller comments immediately below it. I would love to hear from you.
Shana Tova, and bon appetit!
edible shofar
Posted in Activity, Crafts, Edible Craft, Jewish Toys, Rosh Hashanah / Yom Kippur
Tagged edible craft, edible shofar, kosher, Rosh Hashanah, shofar
Playmobil Rosh Hashanah: clay Yemenite kudu shofar, ram shofar, round raisin challah, apple slices
This site is about kids and parents spending Jewish time together making stuff that is fun, cute (kitschy counts as cute), cheap, and most of the time, functional. I aim for kid-centric. I like to help even toddlers participate in holiday prep.
But making Jewish holiday accoutrements for Lego and Playmobil figures out of polymer clay, I admit, comes close to crossing a line. My preschooler can do little more than make freeform shapes and blobby ovoids, and when presented with more than one color of clay will gleefully end up with gradations of grey. Still, because scale and verisimilitude have not really occurred to him yet, he has a great time “making useful things” for his figurines.
Relativity: Playmobil, Duplo and Lego
Scale and verisimilitude is my dealie. Whilst the child next to me has fun rolling and smashing and pinching and blending, I get to make miniature accessories to outfit three communities of toys in our home: Duplo, Lego and Playmobil. And of course, they all celebrate the Jewish holidays.
One more note in my defense: this stuff is fun for older kids, too. Even surly preteens Continue reading
Posted in Activity, Crafts, Jewish Toys, Rosh Hashanah / Yom Kippur
Tagged Apples, challah, Duplo, Lego, Playmobil, polymer clay, Rosh Hashanah
image from JGateways.org: Mayer-Johnson symbol greeting card for Rosh Hashanah
Thanks to Shira Dicker, I just learned about Gateways, “Boston’s central agency for Jewish special education,” and am pleased to pass along a page of their holiday resources. Granted, I have no experience in this area, but I adore any attempt to include the widest possible range of abilities in holiday preparation and celebration. Gateways has quick, downloadable instructions on how to make stuff like:
• The classic apple-print Rosh Hashanah card, but with scrupulous step-by-step visual and written instructions. They include options like an improvised slant board for kids with accessibility issues and a quickly-assembled foam-covered fork for kids who need a firm handle on a slippery, paint-soaked apple. Plus, what to do if someone logically wants to eat that apple currently being used as a vehicle for paint. (I mean, it’s an apple and it’s even got a fork in it…) Continue reading
Adult’s hands cover child’s hands on the two handles
Wait, why do the kids need to cut the apples? Isn’t it easier and faster just to do it yourself? Yes, but letting kids share in the prep has oodles of benefits. It’s quality family-time, it creates anticipation, it’s fun, and it becomes a personal reference point to a holiday that kids will remember and can build upon. Still, I wouldn’t attempt this or any parent/child exploration/task/activity if I wasn’t in a decent mood at the moment. Common sense dictates when to chirpily invite a preschooler to assist in the kitchen and when to beg him to find something quiet to do in another room. Continue reading
polymer clay apples, challah, shofars
Twee, yes, but groovy: the Duplo Rosh Hashanah. This is what happens when I find a baggie of clay at a yard sale—random Fimo and Sculpey packs already opened, slightly hairy, and obviously from the Year Gimmel—right around the time when we determine that our Duplo people just don’t have what for Rosh Hashanah. Now they have what. Continue reading
Posted in Activity, Crafts, Jewish Toys, Rosh Hashanah / Yom Kippur
Tagged Apples, challah, clay, Duplo, fimo, Lego, Rosh Hashanah, sculpey, shofar
(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 Continue reading
Posted in Activity, Crafts, Rosh Hashanah / Yom Kippur
Tagged Apples, Blessings, brachot, Hebrew, Rosh Hashanah
Swim Noodle Menorah
LEGO Gragger
Altoids tin travel menorah
Spin it, Eat it: The Caramel Dreidel
Edible dreidels, regular and mini
Jonah and the Whale Cracker
DIY Lego Mezuzah
PEZ + Mezuzah = PEZuzah
Menurkey (repurposed figurine)
© Bible Belt Balabusta by Joanna Brichetto, 2008-2024. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Bible Belt Balabusta and Joanna Brichetto with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
BibleBeltBalabusta.com © 2024 by Joanna Brichetto is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 
DIY LEGO dreidel
LEGO minifig Passover seder table
Tumblr
Bible Belt Balabusta 
