Hanukkah Resources and Crafts for Kids

Hanukkah began last night, but we’ve still got a week to learn about this holiday and make crafts honoring the Jewish celebration of light.

My daughter and I do a book advent calendar every year, and there is always a Hanukkah book, so we know a little bit about the celebration, but it’s always fun to add a little crafting and learning activities to reading about different holidays and cultures.

To get started, check out the links on this post from Homeschooling Detroit, which has online lessons, projects and more.

I did a quick search for Hanukkah crafts and here are some cute ones I found that would be pretty easy to pull together:

Creative Jewish Mom has some adorable Popsicle stick decorations. If you don’t have colored sticks you can color your own with markers, paint or food coloring in water.

Use old artwork to make an adorable dreidel decoration. Meri Cherry has all the details.

Martha Stewart has tutorials for making pipe cleaner Hanukkah cards, or make a Star of David with pipe cleaners with this tutorial from Punk Torah.

[Photo: Creative Jewish Mom.]

Looking for more Hanukkah resources? Check out these Hanukkah Children’s books.

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Advent Calendar Ideas for Kids

If you want to teach kids the basics of Hanukkah in the classroom or at home, the picture book Hanukkah by Lesléa Newman and illustrated by Rotem Teplow is a nice place to start.

The book explores the Jewish holiday through the eyes of Lior, a boy whose name means “my light” in Hebrew, which is appropriate for talking about the Festival of Lights.

The book goes through all the preparations the family does, including cleaning, setting the table and cleaning the menorah. It talks about what the menorah symbolizes and the Hanukkah story of the oil in the Holy Temple of Jerusalem lasting for eight days when it should have only been a one-day supply.

The meaning of the letters on the dreidel are also explored, in that when you are in Israel they have a different fourth word (the letters symbolize the Hebrew letters for “a great miracle happened there” or, in Israel, “a great miracle happened here”).

Because the story of Hanukkah involves oil, a lot of the foods that are eaten during the celebration are fried in oil, such as latkes (potato pancakes) and sufganiyot (fried jelly doughnuts). Other foods mentioned include challah, noodle kugel and sour cream and applesauce, which are served with the latkes. Family and friends drop by to share their food, light their menorahs together and play dreidel (the game is explained in the story). It also talks about how the candles are lit through the eight days and what happens at the end of Hanukkah.

The book includes Hanukkah blessings in English and Hebrew and talks about the lunar cycle of the Hebrew calendar, which is why Hanukkah is sometimes celebrated in November and sometimes in December. It also talks about why Jewish holidays are celebrated beginning at sunset rather than in the morning.

Other topics covered include Hanukkah greetings; how to spell Hanukkah; how to make an edible menorah and an tzedakah box (to collect money for charity); recipes for latkes and applesauce; and a more detailed story of Hanukkah than is included within the story of the book. There’s also a quiz to see how well you were paying attention.

This sweet little book is a quick read and a cute overview of the basics of Hanukkah and what the symbols, foods and games mean. It’s a great book for classrooms or at home for sharing basic knowledge.

About the book: 48 pages, hardcover. Published 2024 by words & pictures, suggested retail price $14.99.

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Have you read?

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