Rosh Hashanah Activities for Home and Classroom!

Rosh Hashanah is just around the corner! It's one of our favorite holidays here at Kar-Ben - there's delicious apples and honey to be eaten, the first chilly feeling of fall in the air, a year to look back on and be thankful for, and a whole new year to look forward to! To help celebrate, we've found some fun and thoughtful Rosh Hashanah activities great for both the home and classroom.

L'shanah tovah!

Apple Blessings Placemat
These adorable and easy placemats are also a great way to remember the blessings for eating the traditional Rosh Hashanah apples and honey. Using halved apples and poster paint to decorate the placemates gives them a special fall feeling, and makes for an affordable classroom activity too! From Kveller.

Apples in short supply? You can use the ends of bottle corks instead! Cutting a small divot out of the cork with make the stamp more apple-shaped, and green marker can be used to add a leaf detail.

Hanging Apple Decorations
These sweet decorations are a great way to reuse plastic bottles. In fact, many part of this craft can be made from extra materials lying around the house, making this a great spur-of-the-moment craft! A great activity for older children, or for younger children with help from an adult. The end result is a beautiful apple decoration that you can even use again at Sukkot! From Joyful Jewish.

3-D Shanah Tovah Card
A great classroom activity for older kids, the end result is a pop-up book-style card to give to family or friends to wish them l'shanah tovah! All that's required is the card template, coloring supplies, glue or tape, and scissors. From Chabad.org.

Stained Glass Fish
This neat craft lets kids create a beautiful stained-glass effects just using materials found at home. This symbol of abundance is a wonderful decoration for the holiday, whether you partake in eating a fish's head or not!

Paper Shofar
These colorful and kid-friendly shofars will make sure that everyone is able to help ring in the new year! The materials are simple and classroom friendly too, making this a great craft for school. From Joyful Jewish.

Edible Honey Bowl
A new and creative touch to add to the traditional apples and honey, this is a craft for a kid to do with a little help and a lot of supervision. From Kveller.

Shofar Word Search
A great way to engage kids in a discussion of the many important and meaningful elements of Rosh Hashanah. From Aish.com.

Papier Mache Apple
This is a more time- and materials-intensive craft, but the payoff is wonderful - a papier mache apple to fill with each child's hopes or plans for the coming year. From How Stuff Works.

Cinnamon-Apple Honey Cake
A twist on the traditional Rosh Hashanah honey cake, this sweet treat is relatively simple and provides lots of places for kids to help out in the kitchen! From Taste of Home.





And, of course, read a good book!
Have you taken a look at Apple Days: A Rosh Hashanah Story yet? It's a wonderful holiday story about Katy, whose favorite holiday is Rosh Hashanah, when she gets to pick apples and make applesauce with her mother. But what happens when the tradition is interrupted by the early arrival of her new baby cousin?

Check out this blog post from author Allison Sarnoff Soffer (you can also watch the book trailer), and use the Activity Guide for more Apple Days-inspired activities and reading questions!

Is Blowing the Shofar Dangerous?

Jacqueline Dembar Greene is the award-winning author of more than 30 books for young readers. She loves to write stories about the Sephardic Jews who were her ancestors. Ms. Greene has traveled to Spain, walking in the ancient Jewish quarters in Barcelona, Madrid, Toledo, Seville and Cordoba.  We interviewed Jacqueline about writing The Secret Shofar of Barcelona, a book that depicts a daring Rosh Hashanah celebration in a dark time in Jewish history:

"Musician Don Fernando longs to hear the sounds of the shofar on the High Holidays, but, like the other secret Jews in Inquisition-era Spain, he must hide his religion. When he is asked to perform a symphony celebrating the new world, he and his son Rafael devise a daring plan to usher in the Jewish New Year in plain sight of the Spanish nobility!"  

Where did you get the inspiration for The Secret Shofar of Barcelona?

There was a legend about a composer from Barcelona, who lived during the time of the Inquisition. It was said that he had dared to play the shofar during a concert, risking his life so that the secret Jews could hear it. That sketchy tale inspired me to create new characters, and research the history of music in 1500s Spain. I imagined a new story about young Rafael, who courageously blows the shofar on Rosh Hashanah eve, right under the noses of the dreaded Inquisition.

What is the most interesting thing you learned in the process of writing or illustrating your book?

I was stunned to realize that the secret Jews living in Spain under the rule of the Inquisition had never heard the sound of the shofar. Not hearing that call during the High Holy Days would leave an empty feeling in anyone observing the holidays. I was also surprised to learn that the Spanish conquerors in New Spain (now Mexico) taught the native people to play western instruments, taught them to play church music, and used many native instruments, as well. It was a way to bring non-believers into the church service.

How do you hope your book will impact the Jewish life of a child?

I always write a book to engage a reader or listener to use their imagination as they enter into a different world. The story of Rafael in The Secret Shofar of Barcelona shows how one person, even a child, can make a difference for many. It also demonstrates that standing up for your beliefs sometimes takes real courage.

Anything else you would like to share with readers?

Books open new worlds to you, and every time you curl up with a book in your lap, you have a chance to let your imagination roam and have an armchair adventure. No matter how many electronic games and videos you might choose, a book is always what you make it in your own mind. Always have a book by your side—it doesn’t need a battery! Buy a copy of The Secret Shofar of Barcelona.