Hanukkah Learning Activities for Kids

It seems especially important this year for all of us to reflect on the story of Hanukkah (if you need a refresher here’s a quick video on the subject) and incorporate Hanukkah learning activities at home or in the classroom.

Homeschool Superfreak has a great post all about explaining the Hanukkah story to kids, a list of activities you can do with kids and some Hanukkah facts. They also have a Hanukkah for kids printable pack available for purchase, which includes the Hanukkah story, recipes, coloring and activity sheets.

Happiness is Homemade has lovely printable Hanukkah prayer cards, which includes the words for the blessings shown in Hebrew characters, in Hebrew with the Roman alphabet, the phonetic pronunciation and the English translation. The cards are free when you sign up for emails.

24 Hour Family has a Hanukkah printable bundle, which includes a word search, hangman, unscrambling words, mazes and more. In all it’s a free 10-page printable of Hanukkah fun.

3 Dinosaurs has printable Hanukkah dot marker pages featuring a menorah, dreidel and gifts, as well as a menorah coloring page where kids can color in a candle each night.

Get color by code printables from Fantastic Fun and Learning to help with different skills. There’s a color by shape, numbers 1-5 and 5-10, and addition of sums with numbers 1-5 and 5-10 to choose from.

Everyday Jewish Mom has a great collection of Hanukkah learning activities for toddlers, including using craft sticks as candles to practice counting to eight, making the Hebrew letters from the dreidel with play dough and more.

And Living Montessori Now has collected a bunch of great Hanukkah related activities with a Montessori twist, including printable pictures with definitions available for purchase, ideas for sensory bins, labeling the parts of a menorah and more.

I’ve also shared printables from Active Littles and free Hanukkah vocabulary cards if you need more ideas!

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Lesson Plans for Kids Who Love Encanto

The celebration of Our Lady of Guadalupe is important throughout Mexico and other parts of the world. Her feast day is Dec. 12, and the celebrations honoring her appearance to Juan Diego in 1531 begin a few days before that.

Whether you celebrate yourself or just want to share about the celebration at home or in your classroom, Las Mañanitas: The Beautiful Celebration of Our Lady of Guadalupe is a good place to start. The book, by Ernesto Joel Vega Rosales and Jeanette Gonzalez Seneviratne, with illustrations by Dana Sanmar, tells the story of a family’s celebration of the feast day in both English and Spanish.

They prepare with a novena, which is nine days of prayers and preparations. The children, Lucia and Pablo, are given special outfits made by their grandmother that look like what Juan Diego might have worn when he saw Our Lady. The book describes the prayers that are made each day, such as a prayer for respect for life, for families and for the indigenous people of the Americas, to name a few.

As told in the book, Juan Diego was a native Mexican born near modern day Mexico City. His given name was Cuaauhtlatoatzin, which means “He who speaks like an eagle.” When he converted to Christianity his name was changed to Juan Diego, and as he walked to church he passed a hill called Tepeyac. One day he heard the birds singing especially beautifully and a voice called him to go to the top of the hill.

There he saw Our Lady of Guadalupe, who asked him to tell the bishop she wanted a chapel built in her name at the foot of the hill. The bishop asked for a sign that Juan Diego really saw her, and later she had him collect flowers that she blessed and take them to the bishop. When Juan Diego dropped the flowers, an image of Our Lady could be seen on his cloak, which is still on display in her basilica to this day.

The feast day is celebrated as mañanitas, which includes singing, indigenous music and dancing, and children presenting flowers to Our Lady. Juan Diego is remembered today as being humble, brave and faithful, and was the first indigenous American made a saint.

The book is colorful and tells the story in a clear way, and it’s fun to have it both in English and Spanish if you teach Spanish or speak Spanish at home or in the classroom. It’s a great way to learn the basics of the celebration and the story of Juan Diego and why he is still remembered today.

About the book: 40 pages, paperback, published 2024 by Loyola Press. Suggested retail price $14.99.

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