As any tired parent with an energetic kindergartener knows, planning activities for five-year-olds is usually more about keeping them occupied and out of trouble than anything else. The good news is it’s possible to keep your little ones busy and create meaningful learning experiences at the same time.
These Rosh Hashanah activities for kindergartners are great for big community events as well as downtime between family services.
One thing to note: if you need yom tov (holy day) projects that don’t involve writing, drawing, or cutting, some of the activity prep may need to be done in advance.
APPLE PRINTING
Since just about anything that can be carved can be used for stamping, apples make the perfect holiday stamp. Cut the apple in half from top to bottom for the traditional apple shape, or cut horizontally across the middle to print the star pattern visible in the core.
HONEY TASTING
Kids love mixing food and science, and a honey taste test can engage all the senses. You can use flavored honey sticks to see if kids can guess the flavor or see if there are subtle differences in smell and appearance between traditional honeys like clover and orange blossom. If there’s an apiary near you, take a visit and talk to the farmer about the different kinds of honey the bees produce.
BATHTUB TASHLICH
Tashlich, the symbolic act of casting off one’s sins, is itself a kid-friendly activity. It’s tactile and a great excuse to be outdoors. As another way of getting kids to talk about the past year and how they might do better in the new year, find some bathtub crayons and have them draw things they’re sorry about in the bathtub and then wash them away with water. Here are some more kid-friendly tashlich ideas.
INSIDE-OUT CARAMEL APPLES
image via Babble
Keep the nostalgia of caramel apples from your own childhood but with less mess. You can melt store-bought caramels, make your own caramel, or replace the caramel with honey and fill hollowed-out apple bowls. Kids can help out with some of the easier stages, especially the eating.
CONFETTI COUNTDOWN
For some simple fun, kids can make their own *quiet* confetti mini-cannons to celebrate the new year. All you need are balloons, cardboard tubes, tape, and confetti. Adults can cut and tie the balloons, and kids can decorate and fill the tubes. Just remember to have the vacuum cleaner on hand. You can find lots of variations on confetti crafts on Pinterest or check out this full tutorial from Little Bins for Little Hands.
WORKING SHOFAR
image via AlphaMom - check out her amazing shofar tutorial!
Paper shofars are fun to make, but don’t lend themselves to practicing the blasts. Instead, try combining a birthday noisemaker with a cardboard tube to model the real thing. This activity is a little more involved, so some extra adult supervision will help, but there are still plenty of steps for kids to complete.
More details:
Make a Shofar to Celebrate the Jewish New Year
CHALLAH BAKE
Kids are fascinated by cooking—and it’s not just because you’re always chasing them away from the stove and the fancy appliances. When kids help out in the kitchen, they learn cooperation, listening skills, and basic science. Plus braiding challah is fantastic for a kindergartener’s developing fine motor skills. Need a recipe? Try one of PJ Library’s favorite easy challah recipes.
For more recipes, activities, and videos, check out the
Quick Guide to Celebrating Rosh Hashanah With Kids
August 15, 2018