print this JPEG or click on the pdf link below
Need a quick visual to remind players of dreidel game rules? Or to show kids the shapes of nun, gimmel, hey and shin for dreidel crafts? Or what the letters on a dreidel stand for? Click this link to print the pdf: Dreidel Letter Cheat Sheet Continue reading
and flesh-colored candles on a bed of gelt.
I just can’t get worked up about the Hanukkah / Thanksgiving thing. I can’t even bring myself to call the holiday mashup by one of its cute, mashed up names. However, I did feel duty-bound to create a cheap Menurkey DIY, and then another even cheaper Menurkey.
But what I really, truly wanted to do was roast a huge Empire Kosher Turkey, shove white turkey frills on the ends of the drumsticks and jab nine Hanukkah candles into the crispy, brown skin on top. Continue reading
Some folks are still looking for a cheap turkey to repurpose as a Hanukkah menorah, so here’s one for a buck. If your once-in-a-lifetime Hanukkah/Thanksgiving needs will be satisfied with a cheap plastic Menurkey, get thee to a Dollar Tree before all the $1 solar-powered turkeys are gone. Then, pimp that bird with a jumbo craft stick and super-glued birthday candleholders. I added glow-in-the-dark bday candles and Continue reading
Mint-orah
Nine hexnuts glued inside an empty Altoids tin = Travel Menorah. Or, a Curiously Tiny Menorah. You can’t get much easier. Or smaller for that matter. (EDIT: see smaller one here.) Mine is the classic Altoids size, and it holds—just barely—a row of birthday candles with the Shammash nearby.
I might have to name this a Mint-orah, although my gag reflex is already on the alert. In the last couple of weeks, I’ve made a Menorah-saur Continue reading
Dorm menorah
An upcycled menorah for a dorm room, made of an old yardstick and plastic Easter eggs. My cost was zero, because I happened to have eggs left over from the seder plate lesson plan wherein I tried to convince 3rd graders that the brightly-colored, hinged and apparently hilarious objects were, in fact, “beitzim” and not Easter Eggs. The eggs ended up as projectiles, as talking eggs (what with the handy hinge) and as unintended take-home favors. Continue reading
Posted in Crafts, Hanukkah, Jewish kids in nonJewish school
PVC and pine Menorah
A “Man-orah.” 100% hardware, rough and ready. Instant. Cheap. Uncomplicated. Just hacksaw 18.5″ off the end of a pine 1×3, slap some glue on 9 PVC fittings and you’re done. No need to sand the splinters or remove the printed SKU# with acetone. That’s for sissies. LED tealights mean this bad boy is safe for the strictest dorm rooms (“no naked flames”), but Continue reading
Marmite Menorah
The subset of people who love Marmite and who celebrate Hanukkah must be infinitesimal, so I do not expect a ton of hits on this project. Still, it begged to be created: a Marmite Menorah. Mmmmmm. The name sounds delicious, so warm and yeasty, like Marmite on challah toast. My 6 year-old saw this in the window after school today and declared it a “Men-armite.” (Such a genius.) Whatever the name, I love the look of flames licking up from the open jars, as if by some miracle Marmite is transformed into fire. Continue reading
repurposed craft store turkey
I am not super excited about the “Menurkey” because I didn’t think of it first. Still, I cannot ignore this once-in-a-lifetime convergence of Hanukkah with Thanksgiving, and I happen to need a commemorative menorah for our religious school Chanukah program. Sure, I could have supported the worthy Kickstarter Menurkey, but I am a Maker myself and I am the cheapest woman I know. Continue reading
Here’s yet another post only a Sunday School Teacher could love. I made a portable Torah Scroll for a preschool Simchat Torah family program a while back, to demonstrate “What’s in the Torah.” The idea was to let kids fill the Torah Scroll with objects that represent some of what is—you guessed it— in the Torah. The activity can be tweaked to fit many age groups, and the more irresistible the objects, the better. Continue reading
The ol’ Pretzel Stick Menorah is a quick and easy activity for a class or party. It’s educational, it’s fun, and you can eat it.
Lighting the menorah in a window
I did this last year with K through 3rd grade, and everyone loved it, which is a boast I wish I could make about all my lesson plans. First, we turned off the lights and lit a real oil menorah, with blessings. This put everyone in a receptive mood and gave a heads-up that there are such things as menorah blessings. It also provided a real, working model of an object we were about to recreate with food, WHICH IS Continue reading
fresh, Fall planting
Havdalah is a lovely, quick, slightly spooky service that marks the distinction between the end of Shabbat and the beginning of the work week. Each Saturday night morphs from Sacred Time to Ordinary Time whether we mark it or not. But to mark it with Havdalah can be fun, memorable and oh-so-kid-friendly (especially in the winter when sundown happens earlier in relation to bedtimes).
The traditional ceremony requires just a few Continue reading
10 year-old etrog pomander and a fresh one, awaiting puncture
Sukkot’s over. Did you buy an etrog? Or did your school or synagogue buy one? If so, don’t pitch it on the compost pile. You and your kid can repurpose it into a nifty spice pomander for Havdalah. It’s a nice way to extend Sukkot (and the harvest’s bounty) to a Jewish service/ceremony that happens every single week. The spices of Havdalah—called besamim—are supposed to be natural materials that smell lovely enough to console us for the loss of Shabbat and to kickstart a good week ahead. A clove-studded etrog can Continue reading
Menorasaur, Menorahsaur, Menorah-saur, Menorah-saurus? Where is the Library of Congress standardized spelling?
I made this little menorah for a friend.
WHY: “Menorah-saurus” was the punchline during a post-prandial chat at Carnegie Deli last month. Someone—his wits dulled by a surfeit of latkes—remarked that this was the first time “in thousands of years” that Hanukkah and Thanksgiving coincided. And then my husband snarked an even more egregious anachronism, “Yeah, in the age of the dinosaurs, they used to light a menorah-saurus.”
My latke friend’s gaffe was funny because he happens to be one of the smartest people I’ve ever met, but even so, it wasn’t enough to compel me to unpack the power drill and actually make a menorah-saurus. What was enough was the fact that he and his wife recently lost their real menorah—along with the rest of the house—in a Colorado wildfire. Latke Man needed a menorah-saurus pronto, well in time for this year’s untimely Hanukkah.
Speaking of fire, it may not be terribly wise to add lit candles to a plastic toy, so Continue reading
the Sea of Reeds withThumbprint people
Just in time for Shavuot, here’s another Mt. Sinai project. It’s really a three-holiday diorama, but your kid can make just the Shavuot portion in about half an hour, once you’ve raced around the house collecting supplies. Continue reading
Posted in Activity, Lag B'Omer, Passover, Shavuot
Mitzvah Project—The Tza’ar ba’aley Chayim Birdbath—a quick or slow nature project for home or school.
So subtle, I had to add an arrow
Until yesterday, my synagogue didn’t have a bird bath or any other water source for animals. I haven’t seen one in the 20 years I’ve been a member. Our courtyard is a perfect place for informal birdwatching: surrounded by classroom windows on two sides, and the Internet Cafe and school entrance on the third. I’m a Volunteer Tennessee Naturalist. I think about this sort of thing alot. It would have been so easy to buy and install a birdbath by myself in less than an hour, and bingo: water for wildlife. Or, I could make it a Mitzvah Project in a slow way, a participatory way, a way that makes for several active lesson plans, and that can foster a student’s sense of investment, stewardship, community and empowerment. Continue reading
Folks are asking about the chocolate Ten Commandment tablets from my Lag BaOmer post. So easy, I promise. And won’t they look splendid atop Mt. Sinai muffins?
chocolate-esque candy bark
don’t eat these
I made plaster versions, too, for some of my little Israelites on our Lag baOmer Walk. They had to “receive” the Ten Commandments at the mountain, right? But I warn you Continue reading
Posted in Edible Craft, Lag B'Omer, Shavuot, Simchat Torah
Lag B’Omer! Here’s a quick glimpse at what we did…
I wanted my K – 3 classes to “embody” the connection between Passover and Shavuot via the Counting of the Omer, to use their bodies to travel from Passover—where the Israelites became a Free Nation, to Shavuot—where the Israelites became a Holy Nation.
view from the Sea of Reeds toward Lag b’Omer and Shavuot
First, we crossed the Sea of Reeds and became a Free Nation. On the floor were 49 steps toward Mt. Sinai on the opposite side of the room. See Mt. Sinai up there, far away? Continue reading
Posted in Activity, Edible Craft, Lag B'Omer, Passover, Shavuot
Edible fire for Lag Ba’Omer
Here’s a quick snack-tivity for Lag Ba’Omer, and believe me, I need quick. My Sunday classes are about 25 minutes each, including setup and cleanup, but this little project can bag one Lag Ba’Omer tradition in 5-10 minutes, tops. Continue reading
Posted in Edible Craft, Lag B'Omer
setting the Seder Plate
several years of old placecards
Have an index card? You have a frog. And a placecard, an afikomen clue, a keep-hands-busy-activity, a plague, and a jumping frog game. Continue reading
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)
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DIY LEGO dreidel
LEGO minifig Passover seder table
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