Yom Kippur Activities for Kids

Yom Kippur is also known as the Day of Atonement in the Jewish calendar, and while that sounds pretty heavy it gives a great opportunity to teach kids about asking for forgiveness and starting each day trying to do better than we did the day before.

Fasting and religious services are an important part of the day, as well as blowing the shofar, a horn made from a ram’s horn, to mark the end of the service. Kids aren’t required to fast but many of the other traditions of Yom Kippur can be shared with kids.

Learn more about Yom Kippur with this reading and comprehension questions packet from Teacher Noire, available on Etsy. And if you’re traveling for the holiday you can print out a book of word scrambles from Sakura James to keep kids busy. (They also have word searches and other printable activities.)

One of the traditions of the day has to do with the use of a scapegoat, which in the Bible is a literal goat that was sacrificed as a way to be forgiven for sins. I love the way Bible Belt Balabusta incorporates this tradition with kids by having people write down their al chets (meaning “missed mark,” an analog for sin in Hebrew), attach them to a goat and having the goat “sent away” to another room. The way the activity is set up people can write things down privately but still share in the communal expulsion of things they could have done better.

Judaism.org has an idea for kids to make a mitzvah wheel, which gets them thinking about people they can be kinder to and good deeds they can do in the coming year. You could also just talk about what a mitzvah is and the ways you can do good things for people in your family, at school or synagogue, and in the wider community.

Mini Monets and Mommies has an easy shofar craft kids can make from a cardboard tube. Family Holiday has some Yom Kippur themed coloring pages you can use to teach kids about the holiday.

It is forbidden to wear leather shoes on Yom Kippur, so making slippers is a great craft for kids to do this time of year. Jewish Homeschool Blog has a simple idea using sticky foam that kids can decorate and wear around the house.

Also check out this collection box idea that I shared a few years ago.

Next Plan Idea:

Make a Shofar for Rosh Hashanah

I guess this isn’t exclusively a kid’s craft or learning activity (though cutting and folding are great for developing fine motor skills!) but I think kids would love having some of these printable holiday houses around the house or classroom to play with in the holiday season. Because they’re made of paper, they’re inexpensive to make, and while there is assembly involved the results are well worth the work.

If you have a cutting machine you can use the cut files from Delia Creates to make making your own paper village that much easier. She actually cut out all her buildings in different colors of card stock and used them to decorate a wreath, but you could also put them on the mantle or on a low table for kids to play with. Make a whole small world scene complete with fake snow, little characters and other elements, and kids are sure to start making their own stories to go with the setup.

This set of houses is printed and cut out using a craft knife. It’s meant to be an advent calendar, with each of the buildings numbered and you can stick a treat inside. But you could also just play with the buildings! You can get a free download of four buildings from Little House on the Corner, or head to the post to see where you can buy the whole set.

The Mavelo website isn’t in English, but their printable gingerbread house template is super cute to use as a gift box or to play with. If you need the instructions the website is in Polish but Google Translate seems to do a pretty good job.

Bora Illustrates has an adorable little house to print, cut and assemble featuring a cat, bird and gingerbread person. You could probably print it in black and white and have your kiddo color it, too.

Next Plan Idea:

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