Hanukkah games and projects

Every year I wonder, "Oh what activities should I do for Hanukkah?" And since I never remember what I do from year to year, I inevitably reinvent the wheel. This year we:

1) Made olive oil soap.
I bought the compound at Michael's (always use that 50% coupon!). The girls grated old crayons, added soap compound cubes, added essential oils, all inside of silicon trays.
Microwave for about 30 seconds. Stir melted compound gently. Place in fridge to harden.

The finish products were beautiful! We gave them to the teachers as small Hanukkah gifts. Olive oil in another miraculous form.

 2) Scientist Hanukiyah
This we did for the last few years. This Hanukiyah is not for lighting. It is a series of test tubes and pipets for children (and adults) to use for color mixing.

Here they are in action at the Torah Fair.

 3) Wooden Hanukkah art

We bought several packages of popsicles sticks (different sizes and colors) and clothespins (different sizes if possible). Then people were able to clip together whatever they wanted.

 4) This was someone else's game, which I thought was neat. Ring toss onto 'Hanukkah lights'.

5) SBH hosted a Hanukkah cookie decorating party before Hanukkah. We read Hanukkah Cookies with Sprinkles and money was donated for food for the poor.

6) Food Drive

The Giving Club at school organized a canned food drive.

Then they constructed a massive Hannukiyah 950 cans!!!

7) Dreidle Bingo! 


 There definitely more.
Day of darkness and light.
Reading Jodie's First Dig and having a mock archeology dig.
Latke party.
Decorating Donuts.

Lots of light and joy!

A New Way to Play Dreidel

I love Hanukah as much as the next person.  Every aspect of the celebration is beautiful, positive, and family friendly. Except maybe dreidel.
 This theoretically fun game always feels too much like gambling and always ends with a child crying.  For the last few years we've simply skipped the game and just eaten the gelt (just go for the gold!)
This year I created a new dreidel game, which can be played independently, non-competitively, reinforces letter recognition, and can involve strategy (instead of just luck). I present you Dreidel Bingo!

 

Here you can download the Game board! Unlike traditional bingo, there is only one board.
There are a variety of ways to play.

You need:

• printed game board(s) here
• a dreidel (per player or shared)
• bingo daubers or dot markers (you can use regular markers, but they aren't as fun)

Method 1- Independent Play:

1. player spins and announces their letter
2. mark it on the board
3. play for a row, or coverall

Method 2 

Everyone takes a turn spinning. Either everyone marks only their own letter, or everyone marks for everyone's spin. Then strategize, like Connect 4, to decide which spot on the board to mark.
We played it at home. I set my little ones up with it, and they entertained themselves while I made dinner. No one fought! We played it at school.

We put it out at a community Hanukkah celebration.

The kids loved it

Some parents got a little competitive, but it was all good!

Persumei Ha'Nes

This year Hannukah is special for American Jewry because the first night of Hannukah is Thanksgiving. Exciting! This will be the first Thanksgiving for my family, so the uniqueness of this, once in hundreds of years anomaly, is lost on them. Because this is their first year in the US, it will also be there first time witnessing the holiday which usually occurs near Hannukah, Christmas.

You may be confused as to how this is their first Xmas. If you are not American and have never been here in December, it is impossible to understand the complete sensory assault coupled with this holiday. You have to be in solitary confinement to avoid the overwhelming experience. And if you have always been in the US, it is hard to conceptualize how people in other countries can make it through December without 'Jingle Bell Rock' stuck in there heads.

I need to prepare my children. Hannukah and Xmas are not meant to be a competition, but the lure of latter is intense. According to the very recent PEW population survey of American Jewry, one in three people identifying themselves as Jewish have a Christmas tree!

If you ask the average person what was the miracle of Hannukah, they will tell you that it was because the oil lasted for eight days instead of one. Which was miraculous, as recounted in the Gemara. But when we say "al hanisim' in all teffila over Hannukah, there is no reference to the oil. It is about the militaristic battle, the victory of the Maccabees and the Jewish people over the Greeks. What caused this war? According many historians, the battle grew out of a civil war between the Jews and the Hellenists. The Hellenists were the Jews who had strayed from religious life and had embraced the popular culture and lifestyle of the Greeks around them. 

Kind of like putting up a Christmas tree if you are Jewish. The miracle of Hannukah is that the Jewish people overcame assimilation. And as part of the celebration, we light a big candelabra and place it outside our homes. Persumei Ha'Nes Make the miracle known. We had this in place long before Xmas lights.

Putting something outside, to publicize the miracle of our dedication to Judaism (and our rededication of the Temple), is part of Hannukah.  The chanukiyah is only for 8 days and leaving it to burn outside isn't done everywhere. 

The girls and I made 'mobiles' to hang outside to show the miracle of Hannukah.

First we made bakers clay.

• 4 cups all-purpose flour
  1 1/2 cups water
  1 cup salt

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F (160 degrees C).
2. Mix the flour, salt and water. Knead dough until smooth. Roll out dough and cut into desired shapes. Bake at 300 degrees F (160 degrees C) for 1 hour.

Armed with Hannukah shaped cookie cutters, we got to work. Since we don't have rolling pins we used cans of soda. After each shape is made, you must poke a hole with a straw for threading. I thought a straw hole would be too big and I tried other things. But the holes got smaller during baking and a straw hole would work well. The girls worked nicely. Ruti proudly made a tower of clay and cutters, announcing "Tower! Tower!"

You'll notice these look a lot like cookies. I left them to cool on parchment paper where I always leave cookies. Any my husband tried to eat them.

I planned to get paint in traditional blues and silvers, but neon is more fun.

We painted and left them to dry. This activity took more days than usual. 

Finally, with some beads and lanyard, we strung the pieces.