Kid-Friendly Passover Activities!

Engage children in the story and traditions of Passover with these fun crafts and activities! From helping to decorate the seder table to learning about the ten plagues with hand-made puppets, these activities will help children feel like a part of the holiday.

Create a Beautiful Elijah's Cup
Elijah's cup is an important part of the Passover seder. This craft from The Shiksa in the Kitchen is great for older children, or young children with some adult assistance. Instructions here.

A Handmade Matzah Cover
Matzah is a ubiquitous part of every seder - and now it can have its very own unique cover! We like this matzah cover because it holds three pieces of matzah, each one in its own pocket. This craft is perfect for classrooms or at home. Instructions here.

From Highlights Kids.

Passover Word Search
Whether you're at school or at home, reinforce all those important Passover lessons with this word search, with over 20 important Passover vocabulary words! Get the word search here.

From apples4theteacher.com.

Passover Puppets
Tell the story of Passover in a fun and interactive way using these Passover finger puppets! Kids can color and cut out these finger puppets to put their own unique touch on the Passover tale. Template here.

From Ann D. Koffsky.

A Plague of Frogs
It has been decided - the plague of frogs is certainly the one to illustrate through crafts. Over at Creative Jewish Mom you can fold origami frogs (great for classrooms of older students) or make these little critters from pom-poms and pipe cleaners.

Make Your Own Seder Placemat
These seder placemats are a sweet handmade touch to a seder table, and reinforce the significance of each item on the seder plate. Instructions here.

From InCultureParent.

Four Cups Paper Chain
Decorate your home or classroom with this paper chain that reflects the four cups of wine at the seder. A simple craft that only needs scissors, paper, and markers!

From Creative Jewish Mom.

A Simple and Kid-Friendly Passover Snack
This matzah-based pizza is a fun and simple snack that kids can help make themselves! Go with basic cheese, or let kids decorate with toppings. Recipe here.

From Spoonful.

Create a 3-D Moses
With a template and a toilet paper roll, make a 3-D figure of Moses for storytelling or as a decoration for the classroom or seder table.

From DLTK.





And of course, read a good book!
Grab an old favorite, or read one of these new books from Kar-Ben! Available at the Kar-Ben website or your local Judaica store.

A Place for Elijah
As Sarah's family prepares for Passover, Sarah makes sure to save a chair at the table for the prophet Elijah who is said to visit every seder. But when the electricity goes out in the buildings across the street and the neighbors start arriving at Sarah's apartment, her parents invite each visitor to join the seder. Sarah adds another place setting for Elijah, and then another, but soon the table is full with people from her neighborhood and there are no more chairs to spare! How can Sarah honor the Passover tradition of saving a place for Elijah?

ABC Passover Hunt

A funny, colorful, interactive, rhyming search for Passover foods, customs, and symbols.

Passover is Coming!
Readers join a cute family and their dog as they prepare for and celebrate the spring holiday of Passover, cleaning the house, making matzah ball soup, assembling the seder plate, saying the Four Questions, and looking for the afikomen at the end of the seder. This 12-page board book features '3D-feeling' art by Viviana Garofoli, who illustrates all the books in this Jewish holiday series includingShabbat is Coming! and Hanukkah is Coming!

8 Passover Activities for Kids of All Ages

Engage children in the story and traditions of Passover with these fun crafts and activities! From helping to decorate the seder table to learning about the ten plagues with hand-made puppets, these activities will help children feel like a part of the holiday.

A Playful Passover Seder Kit

This eBook from TCJewfolk is full of crafts and activities for toddlers and preschoolers, from building a matzah house to coloring pages featuring seder plate items. The activities here will both entertain and educate this Passover!

A Passover Lesson Plan for 3rd & 4th Grade
These lesson plans, written by A Family Haggadah author Shoshana Silberman, focus on slavery in ancient Egypt and draw connections between ancient and modern slavery. An informative unit for older students.

Create a Beautiful Elijah's Cup
Elijah's cup is an important part of the Passover seder. This craft from The Shiksa in the Kitchen is great for older children, or young children with some adult assistance. Instructions here.

A Handmade Matzah Cover
Matzah is a ubiquitous part of every seder - and now it can have its very own unique cover! We like this matzah cover because it holds three pieces of matzah, each one in its own pocket. This craft is perfect for classrooms or at home. Instructions here.

From Highlights Kids.

 

Passover Puppets
Tell the story of Passover in a fun and interactive way using these Passover finger puppets! Kids can color and cut out these finger puppets to put their own unique touch on the Passover tale. Template here.

From Ann D. Koffsky.

A Plague of Frogs
It has been decided - the plague of frogs is certainly the one to illustrate through crafts. Over at Creative Jewish Mom you can fold origami frogs (great for classrooms of older students) or make these little critters from pom-poms and pipe cleaners.

Make Your Own Seder Placemat
These seder placemats are a sweet handmade touch to a seder table, and reinforce the significance of each item on the seder plate. Instructions here.

From InCultureParent.

 

Create a 3-D Moses
With a template and a toilet paper roll, make a 3-D figure of Moses for storytelling or as a decoration for the classroom or seder table.

From DLTK.

Creating Joyous Passover Traditions

And Then Another Sheep Turned Up is a hilarious rhyming tale featuring an endearing family of sheep trying to get their Passover seder started. Just as soon as they're ready to begin, however, a long train of unexpected guests drop in!

 

Below is a guest post from And Then Another Sheep Turned Up author Laura Gehl about creating joyful Passover traditions with your family:

"Every family has its own Passover traditions.  One tradition we’ve started in my family is asking each person at the seder to sign the hagadah he or she is using that night.  This way, when we look at the inside cover of each hagadah, we see a list of names that helps us remember all the past years of joyful seders shared with different loved ones.

Here are a few traditions that I’ve heard recently from other families.  I can’t wait to try these with my own kids.

1)     Make a Maccabeats-inspired video.  While all the cousins are in town together for a big seder, take some time to have them act out the Passover story, or write their own Passover song, or come up with their own fun and crazy ideas for a video. As the kids get older, you can look back at each year’s video together to get excited for the holiday.

2)     When singing “Who Knows One?” (Echad Mi Yodea), make up your own words for each number.  3 is for the 3 little not-kosher pigs.  5 is for the 5 pieces of horseradish that Zayde ate.  The funnier the better.

3)     Not enough chairs for all the guests?  No problem.  Have a seder where everyone sits on the floor!  You can take this one step further and turn your living room into a Bedouin tent by covering walls, ceiling, and floor with brightly-colored fabric or sheets.

In my Passover book, And Then Another Sheep Turns Up, the sheep family runs out of chairs and has to use both a stool and a beach chair in order to seat everyone at the seder table.

 

In honor of the Sheep family, I’ve created a Passover version of musical chairs that you can play after reading the book: 

 

Step 1: The adult will set out chairs in a circle.  The number of chairs will be equal to one less than the number of kids.  Low, sturdy chairs that won’t tip or collapse are important for this game.  If you are concerned about safety, you can even put pillows on the floor instead of chairs.

 

Step 2: The adult will give a movement command, which could be “Dance!” “Skip!” “Jog!” “Twirl!” or “Gallop!”

 

Step 3: The kids will dance, skip, jog, twirl, or gallop around the circle while singing the chorus of “Dayenu.”

 

Step 4: At the end of the chorus, everyone will try to sit down.  The child who doesn’t end up with a chair will need to sit on another child’s lap.

 

Step 5: Remove one chair and repeat steps 2-4.  Now two children will end up on laps.

 

Step 6: Continue the game as long as possible, removing one chair after each round.  How many kids can pile onto one another’s laps before everyone ends up on the floor?  You will likely see kids start to strategize with one another, making sure the bigger kids sit down first and the smallest ones last.

 

Just as the Sheep family welcomes another and another and another unexpected (and late) arrival without getting annoyed, this version of musical chairs is all about welcoming and working together.  No sheep is ever left without a seat.

 

Wishing you and your family a joyous Passover…with or without any unexpected sheep turning up at the seder table!"

-- Laura Gehl

 

Laura Gehl is the author of And Then Another Sheep Turned Up and Hare and Tortoise Race Across Israel.  Her other books include One Big Pair of Underwear and the Peep and Egg series (hatching spring 2016).  Laura also writes about science for children and adults.  She lives with her husband and four children in Chevy Chase, Maryland.  Read more about Laura and her books at www.lauragehl.com.

 

Get And Then Another Sheep Turned Up, plus Haggadahs and more at www.karben.com!