LEGO omer counter: from Passover to Shavuot
LEGO omer counters. I couldn’t find any, so I made some up. LEGO is ideal for an omer counter because it is inherently irresistible and in any decent-sized LEGO bin at home are bound to be 49 somethings with which to mark each day of the count. Continue reading
Posted in Activity, Crafts, Passover
Tagged Lag BaOmer, omer, omer counter, Passover, Shavuot
printable sandwiched between 2 plates
Another 30-min.-or-less seder-centric project. The goal: a seder plate kids create and then actually use. These can get wet and wiped (but not submerged). Continue reading
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Tagged Passover, seder, seder plate
Beaded, felt matzah cover
My Earnest Sunday School Teacher Hat is on again:
Here’s another less-then-30 min. Passover project for seder use.
Our art classes are 25 -30 min., which includes the giving of context and the cleaning of mess, so we gotta move FAST. Continue reading
matzah-look, three pocket holder
Quick post for a quick project.
I only have 25 to 30 minutes with a class, but need to produce something functional and fun for Passover, so I choose carefully. Continue reading
Target seder plate 2012
You know those cute and cheap Target Passover dishes we’ve loved for the past few years? Remember how happy we were to see them displayed in our favorite secular store? Hebrew letters, right there on the endcap. We were surprised and grateful and we whipped out the RED Cards and bought.
So, where’s the stuff this year? Facebook and email friends report zilch. Have you seen anything at your local store? Continue reading
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
Dollhouse Purim teaparty
Kveller.com published my article on Converting Toys to Judaism. Do please read it at Kveller.com and leave a comment if you have ideas to share.
What does converting toys mean, exactly? It means we can use all the toys we already have, Jewishly. From Lego to play kitchens to Barbies to bath toys.
Here are a few more ideas and pictures I couldn’t include in the article, plus a few quotes.
“A Jewish toy is a toy that can accessorize a Jewish story.”
Torah and Bible stories, midrashim, folktales, holiday stories and the latest PJ Library selection can all be re-enacted or embellished Continue reading
Posted in Jewish Identity, Jewish parenting, Jewish Toys
Tagged Duplo, jewish toys, Lego, Passover, Playmobil, purim, sukkot, toys
Grating horseradish root for Chain. Annual photo op.
Passover seder has passed.
Did you buy a big ol’ horseradish root for Maror this year?
Did you toss it on the compost heap yet?
Well, run right out and pull it back off. You can use it to grow a new one for next year’s seder. Even a small piece should take root just fine. Your kid can help you, and then proudly claim ownership at Passover.
HOW WE CAN USE IT WITH KIDS Continue reading
Posted in Activity, Jewish parenting, Passover
Tagged activity, gardening, Maror, Passover, seder, seder plate
Tam Tam cracker s’more
I want my kids to think Passover is fun. What’s more fun than marshmallows and fire?
DIY plague toys
DIY Passover Plagues Box and Dramatic Re-enaction
Everything about the seder is designed to teach kids. Symbolic foods, the four questions, songs, Rabbinic lessons and the many discrepancies therein: eating yet more matzah for dessert (afikomen), leaning on pillows at the table, all that dipping? But usually, seders are so long and boring not much learning goes on, except learning that seders are long and boring.
Re-enacting the plagues can make seders more educational and fun. We are commanded to think of ourselves as slaves in Egypt: toys, props and simple costumes facilitate this leap of the imagination. Continue reading
Seder plate at Target: cheap and cute
At Target yesterday I found an endcap full of seder dishes. This discrepant event was so discrepant I almost didn’t believe it. Five bucks for a large, melamine seder plate with shallow depressions for each symbol, and with the English and Hebrew name for each.
Hebrew at Target?
And for $1.99 you can get a coordinating square matzah plate with just the three little Hebrew letters that spell matzah.
So very surprised and happy. Maybe melamine isn’t the earth’s friendliest material, but I am overlooking this fact in favor of the bigger fact that Target is selling dishes for my holiday.
Maybe this is a yearly occurrence where you come from, but not around here.
Todah rabah, Target.
Plague. How many frogs does one girl need?
I never actually claimed to be a balabusta. I said it was a title to which I aspired. So I can admit the following:
Until yesterday, all the Passover stuff was STILL OUT. We’ve been stepping over frogs and matzah trays and Miriam cups and place cards every day for weeks. I did put the Passover dishes away on time, but the decorations Continue reading
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Posted in Jewish Toys, Passover
Tagged housekeeping, Passover, plagues, toys
Bubbe in action. So much so, even the camera shook. A blurry shot of Bubbe singing Chad Gadya.
We live in Nashville. Our families do not. At Passover, we vie with all sorts of other events and obligations and complications to get family here for seder. Usually, we must place our order for Bubbe at least a year in advance. Bubbe, now a widow and free agent, triangulates amongst Nashville, Philly, and New York for her seders. Although we placed our order for Pesach 2009 early enough, health issues cropped up that made this much-anticipated visit impractical. So, we had to go another year without Bubbe’s famous Yemenite rendition of the Hallel, and without Bubbe’s table-slapping, wine-glass-spilling gusto throughout the whole, never-long-enough-for-Bubbe evening.
She spent seder #1 with the Philly mishpacha, just a short drive away from her Center City high-rise. For seder #2, we figured she would settle Continue reading
Moses and the Pyramids
The last time I won a contest was when I was six. I colored something, Mom sent it in, and months later, long after I’d forgotten about any contest, I got a box of 64 crayons in the mail; the kind of box with the built-in sharpener and the staggered stadium-seating for all 64 crisp, fragrant, pointy, Continue reading
from generation to generation: Passover bagels
Passover bagels? Isn’t that an oxymoron? Nope. And believe me, they are so unlike real bagels, they will not induce any guilt or doubt about the Spirit of the Law in those who may be prone to such feelings about fluffy kosher for Passover baked goods. These bagels are heavy, sweet lumps devoid of all fluffiness, and are in every respect, kosher.
When Dead Nana was very much alive, she contributed Pesach bagels to every seder. They take the place of yeast rolls on the table, and are lovely at soaking up the juice from Aunt Bobbie’s brisket. At dairy breakfasts, straight from the oven, Continue reading
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Posted in Jewish Identity, Passover
Tagged bagels, baking, Jewish Identity, Passover
darkness and boils
Passover is a huge deal at our house. Part of the hugeness comes from years of seder memories… family and friends squeezed into our tiny dining room, knocking our knees against the fold-up table legs, spilling wine on the once-a-year starched linen tablecloths, throwing fake plagues at each other, eating till we nearly spew. Ah, memories.
Actually, ALL of the hugeness comes from the seders. Our seders. When we have elected, for one reason or another, to go to someone else’s house for seder, we always regret it later. It just isn’t the same. We love the freedom Continue reading
Here in the Buckle, I expect to have trouble getting all the Passover groceries I want. The grocery stores, bless their hearts, seem to forget Jewish holidays change dates every year, and sometimes wait too late to put stuff on display. They hardly ever order the same things year to year, and I might just have to do without Bazooka bubble gum and mini-marshmallows. And the matzah: they don’t know from Passover vs. regular, so I always doublecheck the hecksher on the box.
Last year we had one box of matzah to last the whole week. I was calling friends to borrow a sheet of matzah just to eke out a second seder. But it wasn’t just me: Continue reading
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Posted in Jewish Identity, Passover
Tagged Jewish Identity, kosher, matzah, Passover, seder, tam-tams
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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