Hanukkah Activities

Hanukkah (also written as Chanukah) commemorates the time when one small cruse of oil miraculously enabled Jewish holy lamps to be lit for eight days after reclaiming the Temple of Jerusalem in the second century BC. The holiday begins at the sundown of the 25th day of the Hebrew Month of Kislev and lasts for eight days.

Hanukkah Games

Dreidals play a large part at Hanukkah for children. Since the traditional Dreidal game is too tricky for little ones, simply spinning dreidals is a prefect Hanukkah activity for toddlers.

Learning how to spin a dreidal strengthens the muscles in her hands which will help her to a ready to write later. Even watching your demonstration will help your child's tracking skills which are needed for learning to read. Since dreidals are very small, close supervision is needed.

Chocolate Gelt Hunt

This is a classic Hanukkah game that even toddlers can join in! While your children are busy with other Hanukkah activities, count then hide chocolate gelt (kosher chocolate coins).

If multiple aged children are going to be playing, you could place stickers on some of the wrappers. Place the chocolate gelt with the stickers on in easy to see places down low and instruct the older children to leave them and find the others. This way helps young children to be successful at this game on their own which will raise their self-esteem.

Hanukkah Bingo

DLTK has free bingo cards to customize (which includes a Hanukkah option) and print. This can be a great teaching tool for building his vocabulary of Hanukkah symbols. You could pair your toddler up with someone and play bingo with the whole family.

Since matching is a skill toddlers develop, you could print out two bingo cards, cut one up and see if he wants to match up the pictures. If he's new to this idea, I'd cut some of the squares off the other card so he only has 3-6 pictures to match. For a pre-schooler who's a whiz at matching, you could extend his skills by printing out one bingo card in colour and another in black and white instead.

Dancing

At a Hanukkah party, gathering or at anytime at home, put on some jolly Jewish music and let your toddler liven up the place!

Musical bumps

This is a great toddler party game! And it doesn't have to be kept for parties either. It's actually really good for toddlers to play party games at home even with just the two of you. This means that she'll have some familiarity within the strange environment of a vibrant party. Click here for more toddler party games.

Hanukkah Crafts for Kids

Menorah Collage

1. Draw or find and print out a chunky Menorah (Hanukkah candle holder) and small candles. Then cut them out.
2. Provide paper and glue and little orange/yellow paint in a pot with a paintbrush.
3. First show your toddler a Menorah (near the end of Hanukkah is best) or a picture of one. Place it in front of you both during the activity.
4. For her to get the most benefit, as you hand the Menorah and candle pieces one by one, point to the real thing as you label it. Don't worry about where on the page they end up though. This inspires children to trust in their own abilities, which helps them strive for success.
5. Paint the tip of her index fingers orange or yellow and let her add flames to her picture.

The Star of David Stencil

1. Draw or find and print out a large Star of David on card. For this Hanukkah craft, the lines showing the different parts of the star need to be at least half an inch thick.
2. Not only cut around the outline but also the triangles inside the 'points' of the star and hexagon in the middle while keeping the rest intact. The easiest and neatest way to start you off is to put a big blob of blue (or white) tack underneath the middle of the area you wish to cut out and poke a pencil through it.
3. Provide either blue paper and white paint or white paper and blue paint. An old sponge and plate or small tray is also needed.
4. Pop an apron on him and roll both his and your sleeves up.
5. Hold the stencil down while he sponge paints on it. When he's finished, peel it off slowly.

I hope you and your little one enjoy these Hanukkah activities. Happy Hanukkah!

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