Celebrate Hanukkah with Crafts

There are so many great Hanukkah crafts for kids (and I have shared a bunch of Hanukkah crafts before) and it’s a great way to teach kids about Hanukkah and the symbols of the season, even if they aren’t Jewish.

Menorahs are probably the most well-known symbol of the season because they mark the days of the celebration and honor the light of the temple staying lit for nine days. This yarn wrapped menorah from Happy Toddler Playtime is easy to make with craft sticks and gives kids fine-motor skill practice.

Using clothespins as your candles is another fun way to incorporate fine-motor practice, and you can use a variety of things for the base. Happy Hooligans uses a piece of cardboard for the base with clothespin candles. And while the original instructions don’t seem to exist any more, there’s a picture of a paper plate menorah (originally from Pleasantest Thing) in this roundup of menorah crafts from Our Potluck Family that looks like fun.

If you’re making a classroom menorah, try this paper chain version from Bible Belt Balabusta. Hers was made for the school entrance but you could scale it down a bit to hang on the wall in a classroom if you’d rather.

Speaking of classroom crafts, these Hanukkah suncatchers from Jewish Moms and Crafters would be cute if you have a window in your classroom, or to use at home. Download the free templates and use sticky paper and bits of tissue paper to make a stained glass effect.

Dreidels are another common symbol of the season and a fun shape to craft with. NurtureStore has a fun printmaking activity that uses the dreidel shape and found objects to make a repeating pattern. You could do this same idea with any shape you like as the base.

Lacing is a great fine motor activity, and most kids go through a phase where they enjoy working with lacing cards. It helps promote focus and is a great quiet activity for kids to do in the car or to fill time in the classroom. And of course knowing how to lace is the beginning of knowing how to sew, which is great for all kids to learn (more on teaching kids to sew here).

There are lots of ways to make your own lacing cards. This one is just a pin but it’s easy to make lacing cards with any shape a child is into using cardboard and a nail to poke the holes. This could be fun for letter and number recognition or spelling the child’s name. Or try this version from Hey Azka, which uses a hole punch to make bigger holes so you can lace with shoe laces.

You can also just do lacing cards with paper, but it’s a great idea to print them on card stock and/or laminate them to make them sturdier for little hands. Homeschool Share has a set of alphabet lacing cards, which are free with email signup. Deceptively Educational has a set of number lacing cards with numbers 0 to 10.

Picklebums has some basic shape lacing cards, too.

Living Life and Learning has a bunch of cute printable lacing cards, including back to school designs, shoes kids can lace and learn to tie and ocean themed lacing cards. She also has tips for making your own lacing cards.

A Rose Tinted World made their lacing cards with craft foam, which makes them a little more durable than paper and you can cut it more easily than cardboard. They used a die cutting machine but you can also cut shapes by hand.

I also love the cat and mouse cards from Seam Whisperer. They also have some spring themed designs. So cute!

If you want to make lacing cards that are more open ended, check out this tutorial form Pretty Life Girls to make lacing cards that are more like geo boards. Theirs are made with wood but you can also do this with cardboard, craft foam or card stock.

Have you read?

Leave a Reply