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Month: February 2024

Home / 2024 / February
2024 Purim Shelfie + Starter Activities
Arts, Crafts & Sensory Jewish Holidays

2024 Purim Shelfie + Starter Activities

by adminupdated on March 10, 2024February 20, 2024Leave a Comment on 2024 Purim Shelfie + Starter Activities

This weekend we were all excited to give the playroom a good clean (maybe less excited about that!) and set up our 2024 Purim Shelfie + Starter Activities! Purim is a favorite of the kiddos and they were so excited to see what activities I set up for this year’s kick off. I kept it …

Tikkun Olam Ocean Clean Up Sensory Bin
Arts, Crafts & Sensory Jewish Values

Tikkun Olam Ocean Clean Up Sensory Bin

by adminupdated on February 12, 2024February 12, 2024Leave a Comment on Tikkun Olam Ocean Clean Up Sensory Bin

We had a school holiday today which meant even more time for some fun tikkun olam inspired sensory play with this Tikkun Olam Ocean Clean Up Sensory Bin! The set up was super easy and the kids really enjoyed looking for the pieces of trash and oil that were polluting the water and transferring them …

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With Love, Ima

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Easy & fun Jewish kid-friendly crafts & activities
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Zoo Day 🙌 The kids have been waiting all week f Zoo Day 🙌 The kids have been waiting all week for our return to the zoo. We started with a walk in Sequoia Park (and somehow found a new trail despite coming here for years and years!), then got to visit the animals. Next a super special treat: my aunt and uncle visited on their drive back to Washington ❤️ Of course we all had to get ice cream together 😉 (they were all out of waffle cones 😩). Even though it started to rain, we also had to make sure we got our big 3 in and visited Trinidad State Beach. Some tide pools (star fish!), cool rocks, and this really gorgeous coastline that makes us so happy ❤️ Early in the Pandemic we seriously looked at moving up here, making our Happy Place our permanent place (although I do have big questions of whether a special-once-a-year happy place would have the same happy if it becomes 24/7). One of our main hesitations was that the local synagogue only has a part time rabbi that visits and does services once a month. We don’t currently attend services every Shabbat … but we like having the option when we want to. And our kids are enrolled in Religious School which is a big part of our Jewish life. We feel like our synagogue connection is an important connection and community. Do you live further away from a Jewish community? Or without a full-time rabbi (more community or lay led)? Would love to hear if you feel a synagogue or larger Jewish community feels essential for your life as a Jew! #familytime #humboldt #jewishlife #zoofun #sequoiaparkzoo #trinidadstatepark
What do I love most about our spring breaks in Hum What do I love most about our spring breaks in Humboldt (other than returning each year to a beautiful place that feels like home because it’s become our tradition for so many years and, with every breath I take, I breathe in the fresh forest or ocean air and it just feels so refreshing and good)? So much beautiful family time ❤️ Brothers holding hands, daughter brushing my hair, all of us playing games together, laughing in the hot tub, splashing in the waves and counting banana slugs together. No, it’s not always perfect and we still have the bickering and poking and snottiness. And yes, the good can happen at home too. But on vacation there’s just that special set-aside time. No work, no school, no to-do lists. Just us and adventure. And I love it ❤️ More, but different trails in Arcata Community Forest (so wish this was in our backyard!), finally making it all the way down to the creek for the first time 🙌, more delicious ice cream (@the_lighthouse_grill horchata flavor is so creamy and amazing!), and running, climbing and splashing at Moonstone Beach ❤️ #familytime #familybonding #humboldt #arcatacommunityforest #moonstonebeach
Explored Prairie Creek State Park today with a nic Explored Prairie Creek State Park today with a nice hike, lots of moss, elk 🙌, fungi, but only 3 banana slugs! Picnic lunch overlooking the ocean at Sue-meg, then ice cream (of course!) before a sparkling time at Clam Beach ❤️ #familyvacations #familytime #familyhike #humboldt #prairiecreekredwoodsstatepark
A day with my perfect 3–hike in the forest, ice A day with my perfect 3–hike in the forest, ice cream and ocean 😍 Houda Point is my favorite beach and I’m so happy we were finally able to visit it again (it’s been 3 years since we were last here—last year the road was closed due to falling rocks and I can’t remember why we weren’t able to visit it the other two years). Star fish, splashing in the waves, 12 banana slugs, misty trees and very very happy kids made for such a beautiful day ❤️ #humboldt #humboldtcounty #familytime
Spent today driving to our Happy Place, listening Spent today driving to our Happy Place, listening to an audiobook and happy kids chattering away, stopping to walk in the redwoods and yes, made it to the beach for a sunset walk and just a lot of deep breathing in that crisp ocean air and listening to the waves crashing against the shore. I love that we will get to do this every day (except the 5 hour drive, phew!) this week ❤️ Shavua tov ❤️ #humboldt #springbreak #familytime #redwoods #clambeach
I like starting our Passover learning with Passove I like starting our Passover learning with Passover story exploration, setting the foundation for understanding this holiday and the importance of passing the story down from generation to generation ❤️ For today’s craft we started with the beginning of the Passover story—creating the stage of when the Israelites were slaves in Egypt—with some sandy desert process art. I combined some sand and glue, then invited the kiddos to paint this sandy mixture on cardstock. Then they used a popsicle stick to draw in this mixture … not that Israelite slaves had time to do much drawing but because it adds a fun and creative addition to the sand-desert-slave connections. This was a unique and fun process art experience that the kids really got into 🙌 And who knows, maybe it will also find a place as a decoration on our Seder table 😉 #passover #pesach #passoverstory #desert #processart #processartforkids #artforkids #jewishfamily #jewishkids #jewishpreschool #jewishchildren #preschoolactivities #jewishcrafts #jewish #preschoolathome
From celebrating the joy of being saved represente From celebrating the joy of being saved represented by Purim to celebrating the joy of our freedom with Passover 😍 Per my 2025 plan, I set up our Passover Shelfie all with activities from previous years, allowing my kiddos to explore and enjoy without any necessary instruction from me. For me, exploring and learning about Passover involves a lot of teaching and retelling the Passover story, as you’ll see with many of the activities on the shelves. I also love hands-on, experiential learning. And songs! The Passover felt stories is such a favorite of mine! On these shelves we have: - Passover book box (gah, do you see what an amazing collection we have from almost 14 years of celebrating with children?!) - Pyramid block building and peg doll invitation (love our DIY Passover character peg dolls) - Search, find and match the 10 plagues sensory bin (homemade kinetic sand, Plague cards and plague sticks from last year’s plague bags!) - Passover felt stories - Passover memory game - Plush Passover Seder set - Passover Seder nomenclature cards - Passover Symbol ABC Clothespin Match - Seder plate food garland - Torah story 3 Part Cards for the Passover stories (Baby Moses, The Burning Bush, Moses Warns Pharaoh, 10 Plagues, Leaving Egypt) - 10 Plagues posting box - DIY paper plate timbrels - Baby Moses craft - Burning bush art - Passover 3 Part Cards - Passover Story Character Puppets - Wooden Seder Plates - Our DIY Haggadah - 4 Questions book @makeitjewish - @jewishtogether Passover Coloring Book - @pjlibrary The River Ride booklet Anything printed out on these shelves can be found in our Passover Activities Packet for Early Learners, or in our Torah Story Cards, all found on our website shop, link in bio 🙌 This year Passover starts the evening of April 12th (also O’s 5th birthday!!) ❤️ So many special Passover memories are held on these shelves! I look forward to making even more this year ❤️ #passover #pesach #jewishholidays #shelfie #handsonlearning #jewishfamily #jewishkids #jewishpreschool #jewishchildren #preschoolactivities #jewishcrafts #jewish #preschoolathome
Chag Purim Sameach!!! We made our final mishloach Chag Purim Sameach!!! We made our final mishloach manot deliveries this morning, then enjoyed a Megillah reading (and commentary) by @myjewishlearningcom this afternoon, followed by a delicious Purim Seudah this evening, complete with yummy new poppy seed dinner recipes (thanks to @jewishfood !) and of course hamantaschen, our own interactive Megillah reading, lots of grogger shaking and some singing and dancing to the @maccabeats and @singitwithsara ❤️❤️❤️ There is a lot of darkness in this world but it felt really good to seize the joy today 🙌 May we all be as brave and courageous as Esther and Mordechai and stand up for what is right (and enjoy some tasty food, celebrations and family too ❤️). Purim Sameach ❤️ Dinner: Hungarian Poppy Seed and Walnut Noodles ~ @jewishfood Pletzl (carmelized onion and poppy seed flatbread) ~ @jewishfood #purim #chagsameach #jewishholidays #jewishfamily #jewishkids #jewishpreschool #jewishchildren #jewish #familytime #familytraditions
First mishloach manot delivery happened today so w First mishloach manot delivery happened today so we had to test out the goods ourselves 😉 Set out a tasting of this year’s triangle themed goodies: hamantaschen (of course!), triangle black lentil crackers and fruit & nut triangle bars. We got to nosh, read some of our favorite Purim books, and enjoy some sweet family time together ❤️ #purim #mishloachmanot @pjlibrary #jewishkidlit #jewishfamily #jewishkids #jewishpreschool #jewishchildren #jewish #familytime #homemadecooking
Check out these adorable triangle tie-dyed mishloa Check out these adorable triangle tie-dyed mishloach manot bags! The kids made them by spraying water, then placing triangle shaped bleeding tissue paper, then spraying more water and letting them dry. Awesome fine motor skill practice and process art experience 🙌 And thank goodness we started this craft this morning because it was only then that I realized I only had five white bags left 🤦‍♀️ That’s just enough for O’s preschool teacher mishloach manot delivery tomorrow but it gave me time to buy more bags which we will decorate some time before the remaining deliveries on Thursday. Can you tell everything feels last minute, rushed and chaotic nowadays? Can you also tell I’m going with a triangle theme mishloach manot because I couldn’t think of anything else 🤪 The good news is that the triangle lentil crackers are done, as our the hamantaschen. Just waiting for the fruit and nut triangle bars to finish baking and then I can assemble all for the first delivery tomorrow and the rest on Thursday. Phew! #purim #mishloachmanot #processartforkids #kidmade #kidart #finemotoractivity #jewishfamily #jewishkids #jewishpreschool #jewishchildren #preschoolactivities #jewishcrafts #preschoolathome #jewish
Need a quick and simple Purim sensory invitation? Need a quick and simple Purim sensory invitation? Grab that shaving cream, some food coloring and some Purim symbols! I added a bowl of water to invite the kiddos to search and wash. My youngest had so much fun he asked if we could leave it out until tomorrow. I said that would be a great science experiment to see what the shaving cream looks like the next day and to explore it all once again ❤️ The symbols we used were plastic jewels and beaded necklaces, as well as the polymer clay hamantaschen and groggers we made years ago. Obviously using these premade symbols made the set up even easier. But if you have some polymer clay that you could use to create your own water-friendly hamantaschen and groggers, I promise you’ll find many fun uses for them in the years to come!! #purim #jewishfamily #jewishkids #jewishpreschool #jewishchildren #preschoolactivities #preschoolathome #jewish #sensory #sensoryplayideas #handsonlearning
Did anyone else enjoy a Purim Carnival today? Defi Did anyone else enjoy a Purim Carnival today? Definitely one of my kids’ favorite events of the year. Costumes, cotton candy, bounce houses, cake walk, prizes and soooo much sugar 🤪 If a community carnival is not on your calendar for Purim this year, but you’d still like to celebrate, during Covid we did our own DIY at-home carnival and it was so much fun: https://withloveima.com/diy-at-home-purim-carnival-2/ Purim starts this Thursday! We have a countdown over here (and I have soooo much to do before the big day, eek!). #purim #purimcarnival #carnival #carnivalfun #jewishholidays #jewishfamily #jewishlife #jewishkids #jewishchildren #jewishpreschool
I absolutely love small world play and Purim is a I absolutely love small world play and Purim is a wonderful opportunity for some creative building and imaginary play! I asked the kiddos which material they’d like to use to create Shushan and they chose wooden blocks. I dumped some out on our floor, grabbed one of our DIY small world bases, our DIY Purim peg dolls and a @pjlibrary Purim book to help set the stage. After we read the book Esther Didn’t Dream of Being Queen, I invited them to create their version of Shushan with the blocks. And of course all kinds of creative building adventures ensued—the palace and houses, even the gallows (eek!). They brought in the Purim peg dolls and told the Purim story in their own words and with their beautiful play ❤️ So many developmental practices and skill building took place with this one activity: ✅ Purim story review ✅ fine motor skills ✅ social emotional skills ✅ imaginary play ✅ cause and effect ✅ conflict negotiation and resolution ✅ communication ✅ problem solving ✅ critical thinking ✅ executive functioning And more! Dump out some blocks, legos or magnatiles and grab any peg people, paper dolls or puppets that you can pretend to be the Purim characters and enjoy watching your children create and explore a Purim small world ❤️ #purim #jewishfamily #jewishkids #jewishpreschool #jewishchildren #preschoolactivities #preschoolathome #jewish #smallworldplay #imaginaryplay #learningthroughplay
Another easy, sweet and simple (plus an awesome fi Another easy, sweet and simple (plus an awesome fine motor and pincer grasp practice!) Purim activity coming right up: Pipe Cleaner Beaded Crowns 👑 Use 2+ pipe cleaners (letting the kiddos choose their colors of course!) and wrap the ends to create the crown base (I did this part but some kids might be able to do it!). Invite your kiddo to add beads to three other pipe cleaners, then form them into those oh-so-recognizable crown peaks, then twist to attach to the base. Plop on their heads and ta-da! We have some super simple, adorable and developmentally stimulating Queen Esther crowns!!! As always, I recommend supplementing this craft with one of your favorite Purim books, like this @pjlibrary book Queen Esther Saves Her People ❤️👑❤️ Purim is next week! And our synagogue Purim carnival is this Sunday 🙌 Are you ready? #purim #jewishfamily #jewishkids #jewishpreschool #jewishchildren #preschoolactivities #jewishcrafts #preschoolathome #jewish #simplecrafts #craftsforkids #finemotoractivity
Check out this Compostable Nature Grogger, perfect Check out this Compostable Nature Grogger, perfect for Purim and then for your spring garden afterwards 🙌 I prepped the toilet paper rolls by tying folded up paper towel to the bottom, then the kiddos added some rocks and sticks they found in our yard. The secret ingredient they were so excited about? Seeds that were gifts from each of their schools (such a special treat!). Once the nature noisemaking parts were in the roll, I tied another paper towel to the top. Then the boys got to decorate the outside with nature paste (flour and water mixture) and flowers from our garden. They carefully held both sides as they shook shook shook their Compostable Nature Groggers. After the holiday we will wet the rolls then bury them in the garden and soon enough we are going for some sweet flowers to grow! #purim #jewishfamily #jewishkids #jewishpreschool #jewishchildren #preschoolactivities #jewishcrafts #preschoolathome #jewish #jewishholidays #naturecrafts #grogger
Set up this super simple Purim-themed snacktivity—instead of using dot paints or stickers, I invited the kiddos to mark the dots in each of these Purim symbols with M&Ms! Don’t you love how colorful they make the pictures, like delicious jewels, yum 😋 Because you guessed it, once they finished a picture they got to nosh 🙌 We’ve used these do a dot printables for years. It’s such a great way to practice fine motor skills and that pincer grasp while also reviewing Purim symbols. Today we switched it up by having edible markers and the kids were total fans! The Purim Do a Dot Symbols are available as a standalone printable as well as part of our larger (over 100 pages!) Purim Activities Packet for Early Learners, both in our website store, linked in bio. Have some delicious Purim fun!! #purim #snacktivity #jewishfamily #jewishkids #jewishpreschool #jewishchildren #preschoolactivities #preschoolathome #jewish #makelearningfun #finemotorskills #finemotorskillsactivities #finemotoractivity
When I opened this sweet new release, Shabbat Shal When I opened this sweet new release, Shabbat Shalom by @suzyultman , earlier this week, it was such a treat and I knew it would inspire an after-school activity this Friday afternoon. I first read the words and quickly learned that the book was inspired by Suzy’s weekly Shabbat gatherings with her grandmother. It generated such warm fuzzy feelings of the love and joy and togetherness of family. After yesterday, the message and beautiful drawings land with even more force: oh how we need the peace and rest that Shabbat promises! Even on the cover Suzy calls out this promise: let’s rest and reset! I feel this need so incredibly much today. This morning I attended the @kvellercom event, A Collective Moment of Grief for the Bibas Family. We had prayers, songs, blessings and space for all the big huge feelings that are consuming all of us right now. It was powerful. One of the many things that I am taking away from this experience is the rabbi’s question: What is one way you can bring light into the world this Shabbat? In my broken state I really didn’t have any thoughts. Many people shared ideas about being in community, hugging their family close, and being in nature. Little kernels of inspiration started inside me and led to today’s craft: we painted a wooden disc for our Shabbat candles, then decorated it with flowers gathered from our garden. We spent time in nature, with the bright sun shining down upon our heads, and brought that nature not only into our craft but into our Shabbat. In a nod of remembrance to Suzy’s grandma and my own, I set out my grandma’s candlesticks for our Shabbat candles this evening and so sadly, a third for all the hostages who cannot light their own. We cuddled on the couch and read Suzy’s book all together again. We hugged, we were together, we brought in nature, and we rested and tried to reset. Continued in comments … #shabbatshalom #bringthemhome #bringthemhomenow #jewishfamily #jewishkids #jewishpreschool #jewishchildren #jewishcrafts #jewish #jewishkidlit #community
If you have kids in the house you probably already If you have kids in the house you probably already know it’s now the countdown to Purim, which tends to often be one of the favorite holidays for most children 🙌 An intriguing story, tasty food, and a carnival captures the attention and excitement of most kiddos, and adults too! I love that we are also commanded to give to charity and our families and friends as a way to celebrate this holiday too ❤️ This year Purim starts the evening of Thursday, March 13th, less than a month away! I set up our Purim #shelfie with the same 2025 Tu B’Shevat plan: filled with books, activities, and crafts that my kids have experienced in previous years so they can visit and explore the shelves and activities as they wish, with minimum instructions from me. Don’t worry, I am also planning for some hands-on family holiday exploration but I’m listening to my needs and trying to balance all the things so for now: - Purim symbol sensory bin (with felt and Pom Pom hamantaschen matching invitation) - Bin of costumes to dress up in - I Spy Purim Groggers (one of my all time favorites!) - Loose parts crown decoration - DIY Purim story character peg dolls - Purim symbol memory game - Purim number cards (many different types!!) - Boo Haman Posting Box (another favorite!) - Numeral Gem Crown Match - Purim 3 Part Cards - Purim Book Box with all our amazing Purim books from @pjlibrary and @kar_benpublishing - Our DIY groggers (so fun!) - Costume matching game - DIY Scroll of Esther - Purim Story Sequencing Cards - Some Purim Decorations All of these have either been described here on instagram (check out stories and the Purim highlights!) and/our website, link in bio. Many of the print outs are available as part of our Purim Activities Packet for Early Learners, also linked in bio. What are you excited to explore this Purim? Do you have your costume chosen? Your mishloach manot planned out? Love to hear all your ideas and inspiration!! #purim #jewishholidays #jewishfamily #jewishkids #jewishpreschool #jewishchildren #preschoolactivities #jewishcrafts #preschoolathome #jewish
Another day of animals with us exploring the San D Another day of animals with us exploring the San Diego Zoo Safari Park! And another 5 hours of walking and seeing lots and lots of wildlife, some that we’ve never seen before. Our favorite experience was the Africa Tram, it was really amazing to see all these animals roaming over acres of land. We then headed to say goodbye to La Jolla and hello to Valentine’s Day (and later Shabbat with the beautiful challah we bought) with the most delicious pastries and challah from @parisiengourmandises , such a gorgeous kosher bakery. We gorged ourselves with so many yummy treats and missed being able to get to the Birch Aquarium this trip but think the animals, sweet treats, a final hot tub experience and enjoying our special challah and Shabbat, were a wonderful way to finish our San Diego trip ❤️ Favorite animals of today: Matt: burrowing owl + Visayan Warty Pig Kristi: nursing baby elephant + South African Springbok + Okapi K: bonsai garden A: Visayan Warty Pig + sand cat + bighorn sheep + cheetah + Red River Hog E: sandcat O: bald eagle Favorite pastry: cardamom brioche May your Shabbat be full of peace and may we see the safe return of the three hostages scheduled to be released tomorrow 🙏 #shabbatshalom #jewishfamily #jewishkids #jewishchildren #familytime #familyvacation #sandiego #sandiegozoosafaripark
5 hours exploring the San Diego Zoo 😮, then the 5 hours exploring the San Diego Zoo 😮, then the Maritime Museum, 18,000+ steps later collapsing into the hot tub after such a full and fun day 🙌 Spending Tu B’Shevat at this zoo was actually pretty amazing—we learned a lot about how the Zoo is helping with wildlife and botanical conservation, which is a lovely connection with how the holiday is contemporarily celebrated ❤️ Favorite animals we saw today: Matt: Fossa + trumpeter hornbill; Kristi: klipspringer + capybara + penguins; K: trumpeter hornbill + hyrax + tapir; A: capybara + wild cats + penguins; E: Komodo dragon; O: Komodo dragon + giant panda Favorite ship: Star of India **The volunteer docents were absolutely AMAZING at both the zoo and the Maritime Museum. So full of knowledge and helpful** #sandiego #sandiegozoo #familytime #conservation
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