Our Omer counting is going by so quickly that we only have a short time to learn and prepare for the next holiday, Lag Ba’Omer, with our 2023 Lag Ba’Omer Shelfie + Starter Activities but with hands-on, engaging and fun activities, it’s a meaningful learning experience even if it’s a short one!
What You’ll Need
- Your favorite books about Lag Ba’Omer (check out our recommendations here!)
- Your favorite Lag Ba’Omer arts, crafts, toy sets, and activities that you already own and/or look below to see if any of ours inspire you to create similar ones!
Putting It Together
Here is the list of activities that I set up. Get inspired or grab whatever of your own! I also plan to add new activities as we create them to this Lag Ba’Omer Shelfie.
- Lag Ba’Omer 3 Part Cards
- Lag Ba’Omer Books
- Bonfire Light Table Invitation
- Bonfire Loose Parts Tray
- DIY Bow and Arrow
- Small World Picnic Play
- Picnic Basket Pretend Play
- Jewish Wedding Nomenclature Cards
- Our Wedding Album
- Straw Hair Cuts
Wondering where our Lag Ba’Omer symbol signs came from? These are our Lag Ba’Omer Playdough Mats! They are perfect for both playdough and symbol/tradition identification 😉
Finished & Loving It!
Lag Ba’Omer 3 Part Cards
As always, I find introducing/reintroducing a holiday works really well with our 3 part cards. These Lag Ba’Omer 3 Part Cards share a description of the holiday as well as common customs and traditions. The kids enjoyed listening to me read off the cards then really enjoyed getting to match the images and summaries themselves.
Lag Ba’Omer Books
I only have two Lag Ba’Omer books! I want to fix that … but there just aren’t many available! These are two good ones, however, and I recommend them if you’re looking. Cuddling together while reading a holiday book is always a sweet and snuggly way to learn about a holiday!
Bonfire Light Table Invitation
We love using our DIY light table with all kinds of invitations. This Bonfire Light Table Invitation is so simple but has such big impacts for creative and imaginary play, as well as critical thinking. Read here for a full how-to!
Bonfire Loose Parts Tray
This is another super simple set up that allows the kids to think, play, explore, dream, build and so much more. Gather whatever bonfire-related loose parts you have around the house. We used rocks, red gems and the orange and yellow wooden flames I had leftover from our Lag Ba’Omer tic tac toe from last year! Set up on a tray and let your child do the rest!
I also set up a ten frame to see if the kids wanted to practice counting out the loose parts as manipulatives. This time around they just wanted to sort by color/type. A really wonderful way to practice classification and categorization! I leave these shelfies up until the holiday ends so maybe they will come back and do some counting too 😉
DIY Bow and Arrow
One of the Lag Ba’Omer traditions is to play with bows and arrows to remember when students had to hide their desire to learn Torah because it was outlawed by the Romans. These students would pretend to go hunting with bows and arrows when actually they were meeting in caves to learn Torah! I found this DIY bow and arrow and it was so easy to make. The kids had fun shooting the arrows. They even set up towers of cups for some target practice!
Small World Picnic Play
Another Lag Ba’Omer tradition is picnicking! I love small world play, as do my kids, and was so excited to set up this small world picnic play for them. See how I made it here!
Picnic Basket Pretend Play
In addition to small world play, I set up some picnic foods in a basket for open-ended, pretend play. The kids enjoyed their normal sized world play too!
Jewish Wedding Nomenclature Cards
Lag Ba’Omer is a time when weddings can take place during the period of Omer.
This year I made these Jewish Wedding Nomenclature Cards to review some elements of (Reform) Jewish weddings with my children. We belong to the Reform Judaism movement and so the life cycle events we participate in often follow what’s typical for that movement. Other movements may have different traditions or customs but I love how each of these cards allows a conversation to start with my children. It also helps them remember or identify events or activities they see or hear taking place so they develop a better familiarity and understanding.
And you guessed it, these Jewish Wedding Nomenclature Cards are now available in our With Love, Ima Shop!
Our Wedding Album
I couldn’t resist sharing our wedding album with the kids. It’s definitely a practical way to see what a real Jewish wedding looked like, with many people they know featured in it! So sweet and fun!
Straw Hair Cuts
Lag Ba’Omer is also known for its hair cutting! This year’s hair cutting invitation was made with old straws a neighbor gave us pushed into a styrofoam block that came with one of the school auction items I recently won. A sharpie created the face and once the kids were given some scissors and invited to snip, straw head got his first hair cut!
I try to provide lots of opportunities for quick and simple cutting practices. Learning how to cut does take work and practice! And can easily feel frustrating so having engaging activities helps make it feel like fun instead of work.
Other helpful tips I’ve learned from my children’s preschool teacher is that it’s easier to learn how to cut with more sturdy materials, such as cardstock or hey, straws! That way the material doesn’t slip and bend like printer paper might.
I loved our Lag Ba’Omer hair cutting activity from last year and the year before too! It’s another simple, engaging, adorable and fun way to practice!
It’s also very exciting that our youngest, who just turned three, will be getting his first hair cut during Lag Ba’Omer this year! We are planning a sweet family upsherin. I never did this with my other kids but with this child it just seemed right and something I really wanted to do. I’m not comfortable with a whole huge thing surrounding but I am putting together some elements that I hope feel special to my sweet guy. Looking forward to sharing our special experience with you soon!
Chag Sameach!
We have a whole page dedicated to Lag Ba’Omer, our Lag Ba’Omer Hub. Check it out! It includes some of the Lag Ba’Omer activities we plan to do this year, as well as the activities we’ve done in previous years.
And don’t forget our Lag Ba’Omer Montessori-Style 3 Part Cards, a wonderful way to introduce Lag Ba’Omer! And, now we also have all 13 Jewish holidays bundled together in A Year of Jewish Holidays 3 Part Cards.
The following sites are amazing resources for learning more about this holiday:
Chag Sameach!
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