Perfect Purim Crafts and Activities!

Purim is a wonderful holiday to celebrate with children. Costumes, groggers, and hamantaschen afford many opportunities for creativity, imagination, and fun. Below we have some fun takes on these traditional activities, as well as some new crafts to celebrate at home or in the classroom!

Make Some Noise with Sammy Spider
This simple grogger is made using a paper plate, and is the same one in one of our favorite Purim books - Sammy Spider's First Purim! Get ready for the Megillah reading with this fun and easy craft for all ages. Instructions here.


Find a New Favorite Flavor of Hamantaschen
In addition to old favorites, give one of these unique recipes a try! Lemon? White chocolate and cherry? Sounds tasty! Check out these 10 new hamantaschen recipes and spice up the table with something new!

From Joy of Kosher.

Easy Purim Masks Complement Any Costume
With a little help, any kid can create their own costume using this simple DIY Purim mask! A perfect Purim craft for the classroom, or to accent an almost-complete costume, this masks allows kids to add their own artistic flair. Instructions here.

From Here We Are Together.

Beaded Crowns for Older Kids
If you kids are a little old for paper masks, or would enjoy more of a challenge, try these beaded crowns! They'll also last longer than paper masks, so could potentially be used in years to come. Different colors of beads can be used to complement different costumes, and instructions include both a "Queen's Crown" and a "King's Crown." Instructions here.

From Chadis Crafts Fun Pages.

Put on a Purim Puppet Show
Make your own puppets to put on a Purim play! These instructions and templates from JewishKids.org make it a fun and simple way to let everyone participate in telling the story of Purim. Instructions here. 

Test How Much You Really Know!
This fun and interactive Jeopardy-style quiz lets two people compete to answer Purim questions. Test your knowledge on your own, challenge a friend, or set up a family or classroom-sized competition to see who knows the most! Take the quiz here.

From Quia.com.

Make Your Own Megillah Scroll
Color the pictures on this page, then cut them out into two strips. Tape the strips together and tape the end to an empty paper towel roll cut to size. Roll up your Megillah and fasten with a ribbon or rubber band. Now you have your very own Megillah scroll that tells the story of Purim!


Make Your Own Haman Puzzle
Color this picture of the evil Haman, then cut along the lines to make a puzzle! Great for the classroom or at home.





Learn More About Purim with a Good Book!
Children's books about Purim are a great way to enrich the holiday celebration. From learning all about Purim traditions with Sammy Spider to animals putting on a Purim play, these stories offer fun and interesting additions to any Purim celebration. These and other Purim books available on the Kar-Ben website!

Barnyard Purim
Purim is a topsy-turvy time, even on the farm. The animals decide to stage a Purim play, and Chicken assigns the parts. Blushing Duck is Queen Esther, Silly Horse is Ahashuerus, and Bearded Goat is Mordechai. But when they try to transform Shy Little Sheep into mean-looking Haman, something unexpected happens.

Sammy Spider's First Purim
Sammy Spider wants to help Josh get ready for Purim. Instead, he gets stuck inside a grogger. How will he escape?

The Queen Who Saved Her People
The Purim story has never been more fun! This lavishly rhyming tale is a wonderful read-aloud book, and its color-coded dialogue is perfect for Reader's Theater performances.



The Purim Superhero
Nate loves aliens and he really wants to wear an alien costume for Purim, but his friends are all dressing as superheroes and he wants to fit in. What will he do? With the help of his two dads he makes a surprising decision.

Happy 20th Birthday, Sammy!



Sammy Spider and the Shapiro family have been teaching children about Jewish holidays and values for 20 years!

 

 

 

 

Throw a birthday party for your favorite spider (or a Sammy-themed birthday for your child)! Then, spend the whole year celebrating with Sammy-related activities!

 

 

 Check out the Kar-Ben website for fun birthday printables like invitations, party hats, coloring pages and a pin-the-legs-on-Sammy game!

 

 

 

 

 

You can also find activities, recipes, and crafts for every month and many holidays! Make your own afikomen cover for Passover, a Sammy Spider grogger for Purim, or try Mrs. Shapiro's challah and blintz recipes!

 

 

 

 

 

Hear from author Sylvia A. Rouss and illustrator Katherine Janus Kahn about the creation of Sammy Spider in this video from Kar-Ben eBook partner Open Road Media!

 



 

 

In celebration of Sammy's birthday, Kar-Ben introduces the 19th and 20th books in the Sammy Spider series!

 

Sammy Spider's First Book of Jewish Holidays is a book of Jewish holidays for very young children, with one simple holiday fact per page and illustrated with iconic Sammy Spider art.

 

Sammy Spider's First Yom Kippur is a story about saying "I'm sorry." When Josh breaks the rules and plays ball indoors, he finds himself apologizing not only to his parents, but to Sammy Spider as well.

A Simple and Delicious Summery Shabbat Treat!

July means berry season, and what better way to use this tasty summer produce than by making a sweet treat for Shabbat?

No-Bake Berry Cheesecake

1 lb. cream cheese
1/3 cup sugar
2 Tbsp. lemon juice
8 oz. whipped topping
1 graham cracker crust
blueberries, strawberry halves

Beat cream cheese, sugar, and lemon juice until well blended. Stir in two cups of the whipped topping. Refridgerate for several hours. Before serving spread remaining topping over the cake and decorate with fresh berries!

Enjoy this recipe? Kar-Ben's "My Very Own Jewish Calendar" is filled with fun facts, recipes, activities, and more!

A Celebration of Women at Purim

My family is populated with strong Jewish women who are incredible cooks. Family gatherings are always centered on a feast whipped up according to the occasion.

This strong tradition our family holds for good food has created many wonderful recipes; one of my personal favorites is our Hamentashen recipe (I have yet to find a competitor). My family has passed this recipe down through several generations and along with it the traditional gathering of the women in our family to make Hamentaschen.

Our annual Hamentaschen get-togethers has always been something I look forward to. My grandmother, aunts, and cousins all come together armed with massive amounts of cooking utensils, ingredients, and accessories. There’s always a quibble between the cousins over the best looking apron.

As a young child it was also the time where the youngest of the family (my sister and I) got to mingle with the adults and show off our baking skills; creating lumpy, misshapen triangles oozing with filling that were praised as glorious masterpieces.

We spend the day chatting about family history. My mother and her sister teasingly fill in the gaps on their childhood. The conversation always turns to their hopes for their children, my generation. It’s an oddly deep conversation to have while covered in flour and sticky dough, but it’s tradition.

Our tradition also signifies the coming of spring; a transition of sorts to mark the coming of warm sunshine, and change. It is a warm occasion that continues to this day despite alterations as cousins have moved away and the grand matriarch of the family, my grandmother, is now 97 and has passed the hamentashen mantle to her daughters.

Purim commemorates the bravery of Esther, a female defender of the Jewish people. It’s fitting that my memories of Purim are marked by my own strong Jewish women.

--Jennifer Bjork

What family traditions for Purim do you have and wish to pass on to your children?   

Check out Kar-Ben Publishing’s Heirloom Cookbook
and Purim titles at www.karben.com