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.

Georgia is a state in the United States, of course, but Georgia is also the name of a country that was formerly part of the Soviet Union and now is considered part of Europe. Let’s learn more about the country of Georgia.

Georgia Basics

Georgia is situated on the Black Sea and bordered by Russia, Turkey, Armenia and Azerbaijan. It is home to almost 4 million people, most of whom live in the capital, Tbilisi.

The country is 26,900 square miles, or 69,700 square kilometers.

People have lived in the area now known as Georgia since prehistoric times. It requested support from Russia to defend against hostile neighbors in the early 1800s, which led to Russia slowly annexing their land. Though they were briefly free after the Russian Revolution, the country was part of the Soviet Union until 1991. Russia invaded Georgia in 2008 and still occupies regions of the country.

The word Georgia referring to the region was first seen on an Italian map in 1320, but there’s a lot of debate as to where the word came from.

The majority of people living in Georgia today are Georgians, and they speak Georgian, an indigenous language that is apparently unrelated to any other language family in the world. Most people there practice Georgian Orthodox Christianity.

Georgia is a representative democracy with a president and prime minister, as well as a parliament.

Georgia National Symbols

The Georgian flag has a white background with a large red cross and a smaller red cross in each quadrant made by the big cross. It’s also known as the Five Cross Flag and was a symbol of the Kingdom of Georgia that was repopularized in the late 20th century, though it didn’t become the official national flag until 2004.

The national anthem is “Tavisupleba” or “Freedom,” which was also approved in 2004. The music was adapted from two Georgian operas.

The coat of arms features a lion on each side of a shield with an image of St. George, with a crown above that. The ribbon includes the national motto, which, translated to English, is “Strength is in unity.”

St George is the patron saint of Georgia. (Check out crafts and activities for St. George’s Day.)

Georgia Learning Activities

Twinkl has more about the history of Georgia and facts about the country.

Learn about the giant head sculptures of Sno in this post form Atlas Obscura. They also have a good post about Prometheus Cave, which locals claim is where Prometheus was chained as punishment for stealing fire from the gods.

Check out the giant plane tree in Telavi, an ancient tree that stands 150 feet (or 46 meters) tall and is the largest tree in Georgia.

This one is for the parents, but you might want to learn more about the history of wine making in Georgia, which is considered the birthplace of wine making. Evidence of grapes and grape seeds in the region dates back to 6000 BCE.

Georgia is so proud of its wine making history the the famous Mother of Georgia statue in Tbilisi holds a sword in one hand and a cup of wine in the other.

Check out this tour of Tbilisi from a local.

It’s a little tricky to search for Georgia specific activities and get the nation, not the state, but this list from Teachers Pay Teachers is pretty good after the first one.

Khachapuri, a Georgian cheese bread, is a popular dish that kids should love. Try this recipe from the Kitchn.

Have you read?

Georgia Basics

Georgia National Symbols

Georgia Learning Activities

Leave a Reply