Bible Belt Balabusta

LEGO Seder Plates, life-size

Posted on 03/14/2013 | 6 comments

LEGO Seder Plate

The LEGO minifigs are jealous. This time, we’ve made a seder plate sized for the big people. Continue reading →

6 Comments

Posted in Activity, Passover

Tagged Lego, seder, seder plate

DIY Passover Bedikat Chametz kit (whether or not you keep kosher)

Posted on 03/13/2013 | 1 comment

DIY kit for the search for leaven

Bedikat Chametz, or Search for Leaven is a quick, hands-on, kid-friendly and extremely memorable activity right before Passover starts. Basically, we hide bits of bread/leaven/chametz, let the kids find them at nightfall, and then destroy the bits the next day (the morning before the first seder). In short: hide + seek + darkness + flames = awesome. Continue reading →

1 Comment

Posted in Activity, Passover

Tagged chametz, Passover, seder

Passover PEZuzah (PEZ + Mezuzah)

Posted on 03/12/2013 | 2 comments

DSC00716_2

Just in time for the plague of frogs, another PEZuzah. My husband came home bearing a Kermit the Frog PEZ dispenser, and it begged to be converted into a holiday mezuzah case. Pull Kermit’s keppie to reveal a cavity perfectly sized for a real scroll. This little trick makes it far more convenient to inspect the klaf twice every seven years, as per tradition. A PEZ mezuzah is not per tradition, but it works. Continue reading →

2 Comments

Posted in Activity, Kitsch, Mezuzah, Passover

Tagged mezuzah, PEZ, scroll

Mini Edible Seder Plate

Posted on 03/10/2013 | 2 comments

mini seder plate

Do we eat the foods on a real seder plate? Nope. But we can eat this seder plate snack—even the plate. Continue reading →

2 Comments

Posted in Edible Craft, Passover

Tagged seder plate

Giveaway: Passover Seder Matching Game

Posted on 03/07/2013 | 17 comments

A giveaway. Continue reading →

17 Comments

Posted in Activity, Jewish parenting, Passover

Tagged game, giveaway, seder

Hub Cap Seder Plate

Posted on 03/06/2013 | Comments Off

Hub Cap Seder Plate. Is it the first? What with all the upcycled hubcaps online, I’m surprised. I see bird baths, bird feeders, wall clocks, yard art, but no seder plates. Then again, a Venn diagram of Jewish + DIY + Automotive Enthusiast would not reveal much of an overlap. Continue reading →

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Posted in Kitsch, Passover

Tagged found art, recycle, reuse, scrap art, seder, seder plate, trash art

Teaching the Seder Plate: Real Symbolic Foods

Posted on 03/04/2013 | 5 comments

Charoset-making station

You don’t have to make a seder plate in order to use the heck out of it as a fabulous, hands-on reference point to this fabulous, hands-on holiday of Passover. You just need a seder plate—any seder plate—and the stuff that goes on it.

The real objects depicted on a plate are weird and wonderful. Intentionally so. A horseradish root? How often does that show up on the kitchen table, and how often does a kid get to grate the thing? Charoset is weird, a naked bone is weird. A boiled egg is not so weird, but it can be if you scorch Continue reading →

5 Comments

Posted in Edible Craft, Passover

Tagged Maror, seder plate

LEGO hamantaschen for Purim

Posted on 02/25/2013 | 2 comments

Couldn’t resist one more LEGO Purim post this year.

oznei haman (hamantaschen) for the minifigs

Continue reading →

2 Comments

Posted in Purim

Tagged clay, hamantaschen, polymer

LEGO Purim: Four Mitzvot

Posted on 02/22/2013 | 6 comments

The Four Mitzvot of Purim, via LEGO. Happy Purim!

Reading the Megillah: Mikra Megillah

(Megillah rolled back into case)

Festive Purim Meal: Seudah Purim

Sending Portions: Mishloach Manot

Gifts to the Poor: Matanot l’Evyonim

Notes to purists:
Everything is 100% LEGO except the polymer clay hamantaschen.
The Seudat Purim is kosher dairy.

LINKS:
My Page on making polymer clay hamantaschen for Playmobil and LEGO folk.
My LEGO Purim, last year.
My LEGO Gragger articles, here and a DIY, here.

Link: Page on Purim history and observance at MyJewishLearning.com

6 Comments

Posted in Purim

Tagged Lego

Purim Playmobil straight from the box

Posted on 02/22/2013 | Comments Off

All Playmobil except the clay hamantaschen....

Playmobil says “Schultute,” I say Mishloach Manot

Yes, I go to great lengths to make tiny, Jewy accessories for my Playmobil and LEGO folk. But you don’t have to make a single thing in order to make toys Jewish. Sometimes, all it takes is a name change.

Look at this little Playmobil set ripe for conversion: #4686 Child’s First Day at School. See the parcels? Playmobil is German, and the set represents the German tradition of Schultute (school bags): big cones of goodies and school supplies for the first day of school. When I saw the box at a local toy store, I didn’t think Schultute, I thought Mishloach Manot. I saw two kids exchanging Mishloach Manot bags on Purim. For $3.29, I got a Jewish holiday scene and a mitzvah tableau, even though Playmobil doesn’t “do” Jewish.* Continue reading →

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Posted in Jewish Toys, Purim

Tagged Playmobil, polymer clay, toys

Polymer clay Mini Megillah (w/ real scroll)

Posted on 02/21/2013 | 1 comment

polymer clay case (and detachable gragger) for a miniature scroll

I did not plan to make a Playmobil Megillah case today, but an unexpected email derailed me. Attached was a pdf of the whole Megillah in thumbnail miniature, fresh from the scribe who wrote the real thing. Frozen groceries melted on the counter while I ran upstairs for the clay box. A mini Megillah deserves a mini case, don’t you think? Continue reading →

1 Comment

Posted in Purim

Tagged clay, Esther, gragger, Megillah, miniatures, polymer, sculpey

Coffee Cup Sleeve Haman hat for Purim

Posted on 02/20/2013 | Comments Off

Another coffee-cup sleeve headwear option: the almost instant Haman hat.
I went on (and on) about the Coffee Cup Sleeve Crown for Purim, so do please visit that page and see the applications and whatnot. I am stoked about those crowns.

For kids who would rather get poked in the eye than show up at shul in a crown, try a Haman hat. It’s the same size as the Crown variations and it offers the same thrill of repurposing coffee-house trash into holiday wear, but without the Crownyness. Continue reading →

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Posted in Purim

Tagged costume, Haman, trash art

Coffee Cup Sleeve Crown for Purim: an UpCycle

Posted on 02/18/2013 | 3 comments

Make a mini crown from a coffee sleeve

It’s free, jaunty, quick and eco-kosher:
the Queen Esther or King Ahashveros Coffee Cup (sleeve) Crown. The alliteration is even more delicious in Hebrew: Keter Kos Kafe.

My husband does the daily coffee-house thing. He triangulates amongst locally-owned joints. One of the byproducts of this habit is the accumulation of cups and sleeves. The cups are repurposed as seed-starter pots, but the sleeves multiply unused in the shed, awaiting an aha moment. I had the aha moment last week, and it is this: the Keter Kos Kafe. I like typing it and I like saying it. Continue reading →

3 Comments

Posted in Purim

Tagged costume, recycle, scrap art, trash art, upcycle

Easy Hamantaschen Hat

Posted on 02/18/2013 | 1 comment

In black, with no filling, it’s the Easy Haman Hat of last week’s post. In brown, with filling, it’s a Hamantasch Hat. I mentioned the Hamantaschen variation at the very end of my Easy Haman Hat how-to, and by golly, a couple days later, one intrepid reader told me she’d made a few for her kids. Oh, how I love to hear about someone who has tried something and had fun doing it.

So now, I’ve decided the Hamantasch Hat deserves it’s own post. Continue reading →

1 Comment

Posted in Purim

Tagged costume, hamantaschen

Easy Haman Hat for Purim

Posted on 02/16/2013 | 4 comments

Construction paper Haman hat, modeled by balloon

Your kid can make a Haman hat, with a little help. Add an eye-brow pencil mustache, a black cape, and a sneer. Make sure your child will not suffer emotional collapse when boo-ed by random adults and tiny peers. Continue reading →

4 Comments

Posted in Crafts, Purim

Tagged costume, Haman

Mini Polymer Hamantaschen for Playmobil, LEGO, etc.

Posted on 02/15/2013 | 9 comments

Polymer clay hamataschen minis

Kids old enough to resist eating clay can duplicate the PlayDo Hamantaschen-Folding Practice on a mini scale with polymer or air-dry clay. I vote for polymer as the best choice: you use a tiny amount (which means it is cheap and easy to manipulate), you can pull the colors apart for do-overs, and the smoothy, firm nature of the clay is very forgiving in clumsy little hands. Continue reading →

9 Comments

Posted in Purim

Tagged clay, hamantaschen, polymer

Hamantaschen PlayDo Practice: Can You Make a Triangle from a Circle?

Posted on 02/14/2013 | 3 comments

playdo hamantasch

It’s hard to make a triangle from a circle. It’s hard for little kids and for lots of older ones, too. And, even if a kid manages it one year, it’s a long time from one Purim to the next.

To transform a flat circle into a filled triangle requires skill and patience, and the last thing I want is for my bakers to have a perfectionist freak-out. So, I like to program a bit of Hamantaschen-folding Practice at Purim classes and parties, even with kids who think they are too old for PlayDo. No one is too old for PlayDo, not ever. Continue reading →

3 Comments

Posted in Activity, Purim

Tagged clay, hamantaschen, playdough, polymer clay

Model Magic Hamantaschen (magnets)

Posted on 02/11/2013 | 7 comments

Model Magic Hamantasch: mohn flavor

Who doesn’t love to play with Model Magic? Squidgy, lightweight, irresistible. Expensive, too, but I find it on sale and buy the big packs of white. It’s ever so much fun to color blobs of it as needed, just by poking at it with a washable marker and kneading until the new color is smooth. Continue reading →

7 Comments

Posted in Crafts, Purim

Tagged hamantaschen, magnet

Tu B’Shevat almond “Sow and Tell,” home or school

Posted on 02/04/2013 | Comments Off

faith in a seed

For Tu B’Shevat with my First Grade class, I wanted something hands-on, but not paper-based. Something thematic that links the Land of Israel with our own community, something the kids could make or do to gain a concrete reference point to a Jewish Spring holiday in the midst of a Nashville Winter. We’d already done nearly instant-gratification Tu B’Shevat gardening (eggshell garden), and I didn’t think they’d mind a project that required patience and uncertainty. Continue reading →

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Posted in Activity, Nature, Tu B'Shevat

Tagged gardening, nature, trees

Tu B’Shevat garden-in-an-eggshell

Posted on 01/18/2013 | 1 comment

quick, easy and visible plant life-cycle activity

Here’s a supplementary indoor gardening project for Tu B’Shevat. I swear by the Eat a Fruit, Plant the Seed project, and my version of the traditional Plant Tu B’Shevat Parsley for Passover project, of course. Both are hands-on and at the heart of the holiday. But, if you can program additional growy activities with your favorite kids, try this one, too. The nearly instant gratification is a contrast to the slow and iffy germination rates of parsley and fruit seeds.

What: Kids grow a nearly-instant, indoor, mini “garden” in an eggshell.
Why: to connect with Tu B’Shevat; to demonstrate the everyday miracle of seed germination; to grow food for us, for wildlife and for the earth. Continue reading →