Tu B'Shevat Basket

I love Tu B’Shevat! First of all, because it’s the birthday of the trees! We get to learn so much about flowers, trees and fruits… Not to mention all the projects we make and we even get to eat dry fruit! Second of all, it’s my parents’ engagement anniversary. It’s a date that we cannot miss and never forgotten by anyone of my siblings. Not like mine, which I’m still trying to figure out which day of Pesach Chol Hamoed did it occur.  I guess I’ll figure it out some day.

This year, for Tu B’Shevat, we did this adorable basket. It is easy to make and we use materials that we already have stored in the closet. We first talked about the Shivat HaMinim, where they grow and why are they so special. My daughter was excited to hear that these seven special foods are found in Israel. The Shivat HaMinim consist of the following: wheat, barley, grapes, fig, pomegranate, olive and date. We then moved on making the Tu B’Shevat basket.

All you need:

The Shivat HaMinim Print out

Brown Crayons

2 Paper Plates

Scissors

Stapler 

Click here to download the Shivat HaMinim Worksheet

We first colored two paper plates brown making sure we covered all the surface area. We then cut out the Shivat HaMinim fruit. I helped my daughter with the scissors, showing her how to hold it properly. I turned the plates into a basket, by folding one of the paper plates in half and stapled down the round side. Make sure to leave open the top. I then took the second paper plate and cut the handle out of the ruff surface and stapled it to the top of the basket. We discarded the rest of the paper plate.

We placed all the Shivat HaMinim inside the basket. It looked really cute when we hung it up in the fridge!

All the best,

Dreidel Sorting

During Chanukah season, we got the dreidels all over the house…. Under the couch, on the counter, on the stairs, in the porch… and some where they should be -the toy closet. I promised my daughter if she would help me “find” (clean-up) all the dreidels we would do an activity together. I gave her the little basket and asked her to place them there. Well, sure enough, she gathered all the dreidels within minutes. Now, it was my turn to come up with the activity.

Way back, we received from one of our shabbos  guest a clear candy dish with several compartments. It’s been sitting on top of my fridge quite a while and figured I’d put it now in good use. I placed it on the floor 

near the dreidels and showed her how to sort the draidels.

For this activity you will need:

Dreidels

A dish with several comportments

If you can’t get access to a dish with several compartments, you can always use several cups. Assign a color for each cup and have your child place the dreidels there.This activity is wonderful because it refines so many skills such as categorization, color recognition and fine motor skills. 

Have a Happy Chanukah!