Listening to the shofar being blown during Elul and the High Holidays is so special so I decided to incorporate that into a kid-friendly Blow Paint Shofar craft! The Blow Paint Shofar allows the kids to practice blowing, which is an important skill in itself but also connects to how the shofar works. And any activity including a shofar is a wonderful way to introduce or review this important High Holiday symbol.
What You’ll Need
- Shofar cut out, ideally from cardstock
- Paint
- Straw
Putting It Together
- Add some blobs or drops of paint to the shofar cut out.
- Give your child a straw and invite them to blow near the paint to make it move and decorate the shofar.
- Let the Blow Paint Shofar dry.
- You could pair this activity with the informative book It’s Shofar Time!
Finished & Loving It!
You know I love my process art opportunities and this was another great one! It allows for creativity and exploration in the color of paint choice. It’s also challenging to predict exactly what will result so it really is about the process.
Blowing straws is great for kids. It strengthens facial and oral muscles. It involves hand eye coordination and fine motor skills. If the kids are watching the straw and where the paint is going they are practicing visual tracking skills. And it’s a unique and fun art method that could be applied to any symbol (through paper cut into that shape) so is very versatile.
I also noticed that it wasn’t easy for my kids to move the paint. Check out our reel on Instagram to see them in action! They had to work hard! This is great for their muscles. And my kids were fine with it. But if your kiddo is feeling frustrated because the paint isn’t moving enough, water down the paint with some water. When the paint is thinner, it will take less effort from blowing to move it.
We enjoyed cuddling up and reading about the shofar as our Blow Paint Shofar dried. I even had my husband blow the real shofar so the kids could hear it and compare its shape to the cut out and the Blow Paint Shofar they created. I highly recommend setting up a shofar exploration invitation like the one I did a few years ago. My kids are fascinated with the shofar and it’s so great to let them explore and better understand, and connect to, this special High Holidays object.
And because we love a good dance party here, I put on our Rosh Hashanah playlist and pretended to blow our Blow Paint Shofar as we danced around before I hung them on the wall! Shana tovah!
We have a whole page dedicated to the High Holidays, our High Holidays Hub. Check it out! It includes some of the High Holidays activities we do this year, as well as the activities we’ve done in previous years.
And don’t forget our Rosh Hashanah Montessori-Style 3 Part Cards, our Yom Kippur Montessori-Style 3 Part Cards, or the High Holidays Montessori-Style 3 Part Card Bundle, all a wonderful way to introduce High Holidays!
The following sites are amazing resources for learning more about this holiday:
Chag Sameach!!
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