Do your kids love to DIY? Do you just need an easy craft for a quiet, unplugged afternoon? Why not make a special challah cover to use on Shabbat? These five simple ideas are fun for kids of all ages and range in difficulty level from “five minutes of grown up time,” to “take a peek once in awhile,” to “kids can do it all by themselves.”
Vegetable Printed Cover
image via The Imagination Tree
Do you have leftover fruits and veggies at home that are maybe too ripe to use? Turn them into printing instruments! Take a plain challah cover, add some fabric paint or vegetable based dye, and use apple halves, pomegranate pieces, even celery stalks and hearts, to create beautiful, organically inspired shapes.
Color Your Own Challah Cover
image via PJ Library in Phoenix
Start with blank fabric or napkins. Give your kids fabric paint, markers, and let them run wild decorating their piece – just make sure you put some newspaper down under the fabric first.
Tie Dye Cover
image via Bible Belt Balabusta
Bring the summer camp experience inside with this less messy take on tye dye. Tweens can likely do this almost entirely on their own while younger children, ages 5 and up, will need a grownups help for a step or two. For a full step by step tutorial, with tips, click here.
Woven Felt Cover
image via Eclectic Mom
While this tutorial was written with a pillow case in mind, this same weaving principal could be applied to making a challah cover using scrap fabric or felt. Parents will have to do a little bit of prep up front (just a little) but then kids can be left to weave on their own. This is a great way to exercise fine motor skills in preschool and kindergarteners, too.
“Batik” Cover
image via kveller.com
This unique approach to making batik-like prints is a great collaborative project for siblings or a family to do together. Grownups will need to assist with washing the fabric, either in the washing machine or with a hot water rinse, but otherwise, kids can be left to their own devices to do each step. A really fun way to keep kids busy would be to let each sibling draw their own designs in glue and then trade off for the painting step. You can also use this technique with tshirts and canvas shoes!
Do you have a special hand-made challah cover at home? Show us! Share your photos with #pjlibrary.
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November 7, 2017