This week we had lots of fun creating 8 DIY Montessori-Style Toddler Activities with a Hanukkah Twist! All these activities can be easily made at home, often with recycled materials. They all encourage lots of skill development that is important for your growing toddler. And they all have a Hanukkah twist so that you are exposing your toddler to Hanukkah symbols and traditions in age appropriate ways. And the best part: your toddler will have lots of fun exploring 8 DIY Montessori-Style Toddler Activities with a Hanukkah Twist!
Choose one, some, or all and have a wonderful time playing, learning, exploring, and developing! And yes, eight activities for eight nights of Hanukkah, love all this reinforcement of this special holiday!
What You’ll Need
- Gelt Coin Box: empty container (plastic or cardboard box), knife or scissors, plastic, paper or chocolate gelt pieces, tray (optional)
- Hanukkah Scarf Pull: empty kleenex box, blue and yellow colored scarves
- Hanukkah (Candle)stick in Shaker: empty spice jar, toothpicks, blue and yellow paint, tray (optional)
- Dreidel Drop: piece of cardboard that fits over your flisat table bin or other bin, scissors, colored dreidels and corresponding colored paint, paint sticks, markers, or crayons
- Hanukkah Candle Posting in Toilet Paper Rolls: nine empty toilet paper rolls, paint, paint sticks, markers, or crayons, nine popsicle sticks, yellow paper, glue, scissors.
- Hanukkah Candle Popsicle Stick Posting: empty box, drawn or printed out image of a hanukkiah, scissors or exacto knife, nine popsicle sticks, paint, paint sticks, markers, or crayons, tape
- DIY Dreidel Puzzle: two pieces of cardboard, glue gun, exacto knife, and paint, paint sticks, markers, or crayons
- Stereognostic Hanukkah Mystery Bag: opaque bag, Hanukkah items that are safe for kids to handle (non-breakable Hanukkiah, gelt, dreidels, candles)
Putting It Together
- Gelt Coin Box: Make a slit large enough for your gelt to pass through at the top of your container. If you use a plastic container you will need a sharper knife or tool. You can easily use a cardboard box and cut the slit at the top. We used plastic gelt we bought years ago from Michael’s and the sweet inspiring gelt from MakeItJewish. Set up these items on a tray and invite your toddler to pick up the gelt and push it through the slot.
- Hanukkah Scarf Pull: Put blue and yellow scarves in an empty kleenex box. Invite your child to pull the scarves out. When all scarves are pulled out, they can put the scarves back in the box.
- Hanukkah (Candle)stick in Shaker: Check out the full details in this post here!
- Dreidel Drop: cut holes in your cardboard that are big enough for the dreidels to be pushed through. I painted around each hole with the paint stick that corresponded to the color dreidels we have. Invite your kiddo to pick up a dreidel and push it through the corresponding colored hole.
- Hanukkah Candle Posting in Toilet Paper Rolls: Paint your popsicle sticks. Cut candle flames out of yellow paper and glue to the top of the popsicle sticks. When everything is dry, invite your child to put a candle stick in each toilet paper roll. They can also pull the sticks out and count how many sticks there are.
- Hanukkah Candle Popsicle Stick Posting: Draw or tape your hanukkiah image to an empty box. Cut slits big enough for a popsicle to be pushed through. I cut mine on the actual flames. Paint the popsicle sticks. Invite your child to pick up a stick and push it through each slit. They can also pull the sticks out and count how many sticks there are.
- DIY Dreidel Puzzle: Use an exacto knife to cut out the shape of a dreidel on one piece of cardboard. Glue the outline of the dreidel to a second piece of cardboard. Color the base and the dreidel if you want. Invite your child to put the dreidel in the puzzle base.
- Stereognostic Hanukkah Mystery Bag: Place your Hanukkah items in the bag. Invite your child to put their hand in and feel one object at a time. They can describe what they feel and try to guess what the object is.
Finished & Loving It!
Gelt Coin Box
The Gelt Coin Box was super simple to make and a great way to talk about gelt (and tzedakah too!). When your toddler has to grip the loose gelt and push them through the slot they practice a lot of fine motor skills. They also need to concentrate a lot, especially if the box gets turned so they have to problem solve and figure out how that coin will need to move in order to fit in the slot.
The regular Montessori coin box lets kiddos explore opening, closing and fitting the coins into the hole. These explorations reinforce hand-eye coordination and understanding of object permanence. The Gelt Coin Box does the same, just with a Hanukkah twist!
Hanukkah Scarf Pull
A scarf pull is a great way to learn about containment and develops bilateral coordination. I originally made a Thanksgiving/gratitude scarf pull and had it on our Thanksgivukkah shelfie but switched out the red, yellow, orange and green scarves for blue and yellow to make it Hanukkah fabulous!
This is such an easy activity to set up and I loved watching my little guy figure out how to take the scarves out and work on putting them back in.
Hanukkah (Candle)stick in Shaker
I loved this super simple but effective posting activity and dedicated an entire post to it here! So fun and easy!
Dreidel Drop
I’ve been eying all the amazing flisat table inserts and am really hoping I can convince my hubby to make us some. But in the meantime, I made a DIY version out of cardboard and it totally did the trick!
My toddler was NOT interested at all in matching the colored dreidels to their corresponding hole, but that’s ok. The preschooler gladly accepted that challenge so that was an added benefit for him. But both of them enjoyed the actual posting and all the benefits of that–practices dexterity, hand-eye coordination, voluntarily releasing objects, and fine motor skills.
Hanukkah Candle Posting in Toilet Paper Rolls
We made this toilet paper Hanukkiah years and years ago, maybe when my oldest (turning 11 in 10 days!) was a toddler! They have survived all these years which is a Hanukkah miracle in and of itself 😉 But they are of course super easy to make and can be remade each Hanukkah.
We’ve always used them for decoration in addition to an activity. It’s fun for the kids to pull the candle sticks out and put them back in. It’s another opportunity for posting practice with all those fabulous benefits while also reminding them of the candles, hanukkiah and the miracle of light that is Hanukkah!!
Hanukkah Candle Popsicle Stick Posting
We made this activity last year and it’s another super simple but effective one. All my kids love the challenge of pushing the sticks in the slits of the candles or candle flames. And it’s a very easy way to expose them to the hanukkiah and talk about its importance. You can also count the sticks as they push them through.
This is another great posting activity that works all those fine motor skills, concentration and problem solving!
DIY Dreidel Puzzle
Puzzles are so much fun and work so many great skills. You can easily make your DIY Dreidel Puzzle any size you want, or any Hanukkah symbol you want. When your kiddo is young, it’s great to introduce what a puzzle is and how to complete it and simple puzzles (one shape) are the best way to do this. Depending on where your baby is, you could make more Hanukkah shapes.
Puzzles encourage fine motor skill development, focus and concentration and problem solving. And do you see this guy’s happy face? He was so proud of himself when he figured it out!
Stereognostic Hanukkah Mystery Bag
This was a new activity we tried this year and oh my gosh it was so simple and fun! I grabbed some of our toddler-safe items and put them in the beautiful Hanukkah themed bag that my husband’s cousin’s wife made us years ago. The kids had so much fun feeling the objects and guessing what they were. And then they had to play with them, of course!
Stereognosis is the ability to perceive and recognize objects when you can’t see (or hear) them. Kids have to use tactile information from touching the object to guess what it is. It’s a great way for them to match texture and size to objects.
Wow! This really was an amazing week of exploring so many Montessori-Style Toddler Activities with a Hanukkah Twist! I love that we were able to make so many of these activities and explore so many benefits of them while also having some Hanukkah fun!
Don’t forget to kick off your Hanukkah learning with our Hanukkah Montessori-Style 3 Part Cards!
Check out some of our favorite Hanukkah resources:
For some of our favorite Hanukkah books, take a look at our Bookshop.org With Love, Ima Storefront (each purchase supports local bookstores!).
*This post may contain affiliate links, which means I may receive a small commission, at no cost to you, if you make a purchase through a link!*
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