Havdallah Playdough Recipe

Mmmm smells like Havdallah in our house with the special Havdallah Playdough I made for today’s Havdallah Tuesday observance!

This summer we started observing Havdallah on Tuesday mornings. Did you know that it starts Saturday night (once you see those three stars in the sky!) but can be observed through Tuesday? For us, Tuesday mornings work better than Saturday night. On Saturday evenings we are tired and in the let’s-get-everyone-to-bed frame of mind. Now on Tuesday mornings my husband takes a break and comes downstairs to join us and we all celebrate together by singing, lighting the candle, sniffing the spices and sipping the juice. It’s been such a lovely tradition and I hope we continue it once school starts again (we are down to a two week countdown, yikes!).

The Havdallah playdough I made today smells just like a Havdallah spice box. My kids can’t get enough of it! And I find myself playing with it every time I pass the table!

Enjoy and Shavua Tov!

What You’ll Need

2 cups flour
1/2 cup salt
1.5 cups boiling water
2 Tbsp cream of tartar
1.5 Tbsp ground cinnamon
1 Tbsp ground cloves
.5 Tbsp ground cardamon
2 Tbsp vegetable Oil

Putting It Together

Whisk together the dry ingredients.
Add 1.5 cups boiling water and 2 tablespoons vegetable oil.
Mix together with a spoon, then knead until it’s a smooth ball.
Your Havdallah playdough is ready to play! If you want to set up a Havdallah Playdough tray you can add a three wick candle (I made a small one from Hanukkah candles), a cup to represent the kiddush cup, and a Star of David cookie cutter. Or whatever other Havdallah symbols you may have around your house!

Finished & Loving It

I set up this invitation to play and my three year old immediately came over to see what was going on. I think the smell drew him over! It smells so good! He started playing, sticking the candle in the dough and filling the cup up. He wanted to light the candle but we explained this one was just for play.

The bigger kids soon joined. And like I said, I can’t resist pinching some as I walk by the table 😉

After the kids played for awhile we shifted to the actual Havdallah ceremony with the real ritual objects. But I was tempted to use the playdough in place of the spice box it smelled so good!