Wait! Don't Trow Away Those Macaroon Tins! (Part I)

I must admit we've been eating plenty of Matzah and Macaroons the past few days. When I was younger, we had chocolate and just plain macaroons and you either like them or like them because there wasn't much else that we could eat during Pesach. Well, not anymore! My daughters have the options to chose between Rocky Road Macaroons, Chocolate Chip Macaroons, Coconut Macaroons, Almond Macaroons, Banana Split Macaroons, Mint Macaroons..... Yes, quite a lot! Not I'm left with all these empty tins that are taken over the house! We decided to get working to put them in good use and create educational activities Now, go ahead and get your macaroon tin (I'm sure is somewhere) and get working! Here is Part I of "Wait! Don't Trow Away Those Macaroon Tins!"

Mr. Tzedakah Box

I finally have a Tzedakah Box that is adorable and perfect for a toddler. We want to make sure our kids understand the concept of giving Tzedakah, but don't necessarily have to be in contact with actual money. We removed the macaroon labels from the tin and made a little face using googly eyes, a pompom for a nose and mouth out of foam sheets. We then made two arms and hair out of foam sheets.

Instead of real money, we are using apple juice bottle caps that I grabbed from the bottle caps container I have. Here is my confession. I'm a bottle cap collector. I collect all kinds of caps and keep them in a separate container. We always try to incorporate them in some activity or other. You can hop over to DIY Aleph Bet Manipulatives to get another idea how to use bottle caps. Using a permanent marker, I wrote numbers: one, five, ten and twenty-five.

On the top, I cut out a hole the exact size of the caps. My Little Ones love feeding Mr. Tzedakah Box every morning and they like to sing the Tzedakah song too!

Wishing all of you a great week!

Purim Play Dough Mats

Little ones enjoy playing with many different games, but play dough can keep them busy for hours. I usually use play dough as a reward system. If I see good behavior, then I can bring down the play dough from the top shelf. Now, that Purim is on its way, I was looking for an interactive activity that the kids can do with play dough and still review many different highlights of the holiday. I came across this website Making Learning Fun and love the "Wishy Washy Play Dough Mats" activity.

Click here to download this Mat

The Purim Play dough Mats are to go along with the Purim Cookie Cutters. You can follow this link directly to the Torah Toy's website where you can find out more details. The Purim Cookie Cutters are great to have at home, not only to make holiday cookies, but also to do different activities with your children. They are colorful, plastic cookie cutters and come in a set of five (Meguillah, Hamentashen, Gragger, Mask and Crown).

Purim Cookie Cutters

To do this activity with your child, you first need to download the mats. Every sheet must be downloaded separately. You can locate the files right beneath each picture. Then, you should laminate the sheets so you can use it over, and over and OVER! I’m telling you… you will be very glad that you've printed them out.

Using the cookie cutters and play dough, help your child complete each scene.

Meguillah

It’s time to read the Meguillah! Have your child make a Meguilah and place it on the Bima for reading.

Click here to download this Mat

Hamentashen

Hmmmm… Someone ate all the Hamenstashen. Can you make some more and place them on the plate?

Click here to download this Mat

Gragger

 The children are at Shul listening to the Meguillah reading. Can you make the graggers?

Click here to download this Mat

Mask

The children are getting ready for Purim. Can you help them dress up? 

Click here to download this Mat

Crown 

 Queen Vashti and Esther are missing their crowns. Can you place the crowns on their head?

Click here to download this Mat

For older children that have already learn the Hebrew letters, they can form each letter with play-dough. It's a great activity to develop fine motor skills as well as to learn Purim sight words.

You can go ahead an relax now... You will not be hearing from the kids for a long time!

Wishing you all

A Happy Purim

Always keep the cookie cutters and mat together in a large zip lock bag. 

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!

Rosh Hashanah Lace Cards

Rosh Hashana  Lace Cards

Rosh Hashanah is around the corner, keep your little ones busy with these DIY lacing cards! Not only will they review Rosh Hashanah vocabulary words, but also reinforce coordination and fine motor skills. Lets get started!

Here is the list of supplies you will need:

Foam sheets (assorted colors)

Scissors

Single Hole Puncher

Shoe strings or yarn

Rosh Hashanah Shape Stencil
Tape 
Black Marker

Follow this link to download the Rosh Hashana Shape Stencil PDF file.

Once you've printed out the stencil, cut out the different shapes (Apple, Honey, Shofar, Machzor, Tzedakah box and Fish Head) and traced them on the different color foam sheets using a black marker.

Then, cut the shapes out...

...and  hole punch them!
Using the single hole puncher, punch around the border of the shape ( leave about an inch apart between holes).

For older children, you can write the number figure next to the hole. This way they can also work on number recognition. 

You can either use  a shoe lace or yarn for lacing. Either one will works well!
Here we used, yarn. A great tip is to place a piece of tape around the edge of the yarn. Its much easier to lace this way.

Before you start the activity with your little one, go over the vocabulary words and incorporate them in questions  such as:

Can you reach me the honey?

Where is the apple?

or Lets start with something we us in shul to daven.

Well, let the fun begin...Now!

For the first time, have the child lace one Rosh Hashanah card along with you.  Modeling is a great way to teach young children. They can either chose to do some or even all! What I like most about this activity is that reinforces fine motor skills and educational at the same time. 

Wishing you a Happy & Sweet New Year!
SHANA TOVA!