Hanukkah Crafts for Kids
Hanukkah is a Jewish holiday celebrated in December in remembrance of the rededication of the temple in Jerusalem. The legend goes that a tiny amount of consecrated oil lasted a miraculous eight nights while dedicated Jews made more. Today, that miracle is celebrated for eight nights each winter. Help your children understand their history or the history of others with Hanukkah crafts.
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Mini Menorah
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Many Jewish homes have a main menorah that they use each year. The menorah consists of nine candles in a candelabra with nine arms. Each night, a family member uses the tallest middle candle to light one of the other eight candles. Help your child make his own simple menorah. Get nine small terra cotta pots, glass jars or glass votive holders and nine small taper candles. One candle should be about an inch taller than the others. The candles can be white, blue or silver. You can also let your child personalize the candles by coating them in candle painting medium and decorating them with acrylic paint; they will still be safe to burn. Help your child fill each container about halfway with sand and gently push a candle into each container. If you are using clear containers, let your child choose several colors of sand to pour into the containers and layer them like sand art. Paint the containers with significant symbols before pouring the sand if you like.
Star of David
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Get a bunch of wooden popsicle sticks or tongue depressors. Spray-paint them blue and glue them together into two triangles. Lay the triangles on top of each other so they form a six-pointed star and glue them into place. Decorate the lines of the star with glitter, sequins and Hanukkah-themed stickers. Glue a piece of wire or string to the back of each star and hang it wherever you like. You can use these stars as window or door knob decorations or for Christmas tree ornaments in a mixed family.
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Cardboard Dreidel
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Playing Dreidel games is a lot of fun even if you aren't Jewish. Creating a Dreidel is a creative way to teach your kids about the Hebrew alphabet and holiday traditions at the same time. Spray paint a piece of thin cardboard dark blue. Draw four house-shaped pentagrams on the cardboard, making sure they are the same size. Cut out each pentagram and glue them together at the edges so that they form a square when you look at them from above. Gently push the points of the pentagrams together to form the tip of the Dreidel and glue them together as well. Cut a square out of the remaining cardboard that fits on the square end of the Dreidel and punch a hole in the center. Glue the square in place and push a small dowel rod through the hole for the handle. Secure it with a piece of blue modeling clay. Paint the appropriate Hebrew letters on each side of the Dreidel.
Star of David Sun Catchers
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Decorate your windows with these pretty holiday sun catchers. Help your child draw and cut out two triangles from paper plates. The triangles should be frames with large triangular holes in the middle. Help your child paint the triangles, if desired; then glue the triangles together so they form a Star of David. Tear up pieces of blue and white tissue paper and glue them together in a mosaic pattern so that they cover all of the open spaces in your Star of David. Attach a wire loop to one of the star's points and hang it on the window. The sun will shine through the thin paper.
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References
Resources
- Photo Credit Jewish holiday: menorah, book and sunshine image by Boguslaw Mazur from Fotolia.com
