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!

Yom HaShoah

By Jennifer Bjork

This Thursday, the 27^th of Nisan, is Yom HaShoah. In English, this refers to Holocaust Remembrance Day. This day is set aside to remember the horrors of the past and the lessons that the past can teach the world.

Trying to explain the Holocaust to children is a daunting assignment. How does one explain to an innocent child that humans are capable of such disregard for human life?

I first learned about the Holocaust at Hebrew school in 5^th grade. The teachers made (what I feel) a wise choice in using Anne Frank and her diary to teach my fellow students and me about the Holocaust. Her young age made a bigger impact because she was someone I could relate to, a little girl with hopes and dreams like my own.

Reading her diary made the realization of what happened to her and her family a little less jarring but much more meaningful. I was able to follow the progression of the Nazis' power through Anne’s eyes, getting to know Anne as she recorded her experiences. Anne’s sense of humor and relatable worries lessened the blow for me when I realized that each diary entry was a baby step toward her death.

On the flip side, each page provided me toward a bigger lesson than I bargained for about human behavior and what it means to share a world with people who are different than I, and those who might not like me because of that difference.

The Holocaust is a heavy and emotionally draining subject, but it’s also a great opportunity to teach children about compassion and respect for others through history’s mistakes. It’s also a good opening to teach children about social responsibility and the different prejudices that still exist between cultures, ethnicities, and races.

 Every child will respond differently to the stories they hear about the Holocaust but there are plenty of methods available to suit different learning styles. The important thing is that they learn and remember.

Find teacher resources.
Find children's books about the Holocaust.

Teaching, Trees, Tu B'Shevat and a Theater Exercise

Authors Peninnah Schram and Rachayl Eckstein Davis have created a wonderful free guide to their new book The Apple Tree's Discovery. The guide includes many topics relevant to Tu B'Shevat like the Jewish perspective on trees, plus many excellent activities for educators that provoke thought and excite the imagination.

Here is a sample Theater Exercise from the guide, which you can download here:

Teacher gives instructions and gets the children to act according to the instructions:

“Pretend you are a seed. Get as tiny as you can. Pretend you are snuggling deep into the ground. But now imagine the kind of seed you are and what kind of tree/flower/bush/plant you will become. What will you look like? What kind of colors will you have for your leaves and/or flowers? What kind of shape and size will you grow into?

The season is winter and the ground turns cold and hard, but you are protected below the surface of the earth. Then the warmth of the spring sun begins to thaw the earth. The rains fall. The seed begins to push through the earth. It’s hard for a little seed to push through, but as it grows, it pushes harder and soon breaks through.
 

Now feel the sun; the wind; the rain; the wind. And the seed grows and grows. And soon it is a full size tree or flower or bush or plant. And now you celebrate because you have your leaves or flowers or fruit. Sway with the wind. Dance with the sun. Show your love of the world.”

illustration by Wendy W. Lee, from The Apple Tree's Discovery