Zooming your Passover seder? It can be a challenge to make it fun and interesting for kids. Here are a handful of ideas for making a Zoom seder interactive for different ages. Hopefully, these ideas can inspire ideas of your own.
Looking for a kid-friendly Haggadah to use?
Download the free PJ Library Family Haggadah.
General Tips
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Follow along with a video playlist. PJ Library has three to choose from:
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Log in early to troubleshoot any technical issues.
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Share the love – and the work! Think about giving each participant a role for the evening. A techie friend can help with tech support; a musically talented friend might lead a song or blessings.
Zoom Ideas for Younger Kids
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We dip parsley in salt water – a sign of springtime mixed with tears of slavery. Who is the best cryer at your seder? Go around the Zoom gallery, taking turns pretending to cry. Whoever is declared the winner gets an extra sprig of parsley.
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Moses says one line to Pharaoh: Let my people go! What’s Pharaoh’s one-line answer? Give people a minute to think of their Pharaoh line. Then go around the Zoom gallery, taking turns playing Pharaoh. You only get one line, but feel free to stamp your feet or wave your arms. Who was the most convincing Pharaoh?
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It took Ten Plagues to convince Pharaoh to free the slaves. Who can act out one of the Ten Plagues? Let everyone in the Zoom gallery try to guess which plague is being acted out.
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“Dayenu” is a song of thanks. When you’re done singing, each kid can take a turn singing the ending of the song again and holding the last note as long as they can (“nuuuuuuuu”). Grown-ups are the judges: Who held it the longest? Then, go around the Zoom gallery, and everyone say one thing they want to say thanks for.
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You’ve crossed the sea. You’re free! What’s your happy dance? Go around the Zoom gallery, with everyone taking a turn doing their happy dance. Then, after everyone has had a turn, count to three and everybody do their dance at the same time!
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Just before the kids begin searching for the afikomen (hide-and-seek matzah), the grown-ups should use the chat feature to reveal to each other the afikomen’s hiding place. As the kids search, all the grown-ups in "Gallery View" can call out together “hot” or “cold” and help the kids get closer to the treasure. To make sharing on Zoom easier, kids should search as a group, and one grown-up should act as camera person, angling a camera toward where kids are looking. When the kids finally find the afikomen, the gallery should go wild!
Zoom Ideas for Older Kids
With older kids, go around the Zoom gallery, and everyone takes a turn answering one of these questions:
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For a long time, the Hebrew slaves didn’t believe they’d be freed – and when freedom came, it was unexpected. What’s something unexpected you’ve discovered in recent weeks, when we’ve all been less free than usual?
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We open the door for Elijah the Prophet because he gives us hope for the future. In these times we’re living through, who gives you hope for the future?
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When the Hebrew slaves finally left Egypt, they stood on the shores of the Red Sea, singing with Moses and dancing with Miriam. When things have calmed, and we’re finally free to leave our houses and re-enter the world, what’s one of the first things you’d want to do? (And: what song would you sing to celebrate? Sing it out on Zoom!)
More
Full Playlist Of Haggadah Companion Videos
Getting Kids Involved During Passover
Teaching Kids to Say the Four Questions
What Happens At a Seder?
February 23, 2021