To review the High Holidays symbols, and make it into a fun little game, my kids played with a High Holidays I Spy Sensory Bin and Bottle. They had so much fun searching for the matching symbols!
Have a baby who is too young to safely play in a sensory bin? Pour the contents into a clear container and you have a sensory bottle! My babies have loved listening to the sounds and watching all the fun items move around inside the bottle.
What You’ll Need
- Sensory filler (I used yellow dyed rice)
- High holiday symbolic items (see the description of my items below)
- I Spy Sheet (DIY it, details below)
Putting It Together
- Add your filler to a sensory table, bin or Tupperware.
- Gather your High holiday symbolic items. These are the symbols that we used: I made the round challahs and shofar out of polymer clay. So adorable! I painted rocks with acrylic paint for the bees 🐝 The wooden apples came from Woodpeckers Crafts which I painted green and I grabbed some blue pom poms for the tashlich symbol. I had the plastic pomegranates and wooden honey sticks from previous years. Tip: buy High Holiday items in bulk that you think you’ll enjoy again then save them in your holiday tub. We’ve been using some of these same symbols for years and still enjoy them, especially when we think of new activities to use them with! Don’t have or want to make these symbols? Use stickers, printed out clip art, or your own drawings.
- Take a picture of all the symbols to create your I Spy Sheet. Add their names in English and Hebrew, if you want. Print it out.
- Invite your children to search for the symbols and match them with the I Spy prompt. To make it more challenging, hide the symbols in the filler and encourage them kids to dig around looking for them.
- If you want, you can talk about the importance of each symbol and its relation to the holidays. You can easily pair this activity with your favorite PJ Library High Holidays book or our High Holidays Montessori-Style 3 Part Cards for deeper learning.
- If your baby is too little to safely play in the bin, add some filler and one of each symbol to a sensory bottle. They will love it!
Finished & Loving It!
My kids loved this High Holidays I Spy Sensory Bin and Bottle! They saw me make some of the symbols so their interest was already piqued. But seeing it all come together and being challenged to search for the items was a really fun spin on a regular sensory bin.
We do sensory bins and play a lot in our house. Sensory bins are not only fun, but they are a great activity for relaxing as well as creative play. This set up let the kids explore different textures and the sound of the rice moving. And of course the symbols of the holiday!
We revisit the symbols a lot in preparation of the holiday. We read a lot of PJ Library books, review our High Holidays Montessori-Style 3 Part Cards, do lots of activities that focus on the symbols, and talk about what these symbols mean and why they are important. Repetitive exposure through play is such a fun and easy way to learn about the symbols and the holiday.
My kids all really enjoyed the exploration but the younger two stayed longer and kept coming back throughout the day. The youngest also had lots of fun shaking the sensory bottle! I was comfortable with him exploring the bin under supervision to make sure he didn’t eat any of the items, but for independent play or with a younger baby, the bottle is such a great alternative. The sound can act like a rattle and it’s fun to try to turn and twist the bottle to find all the items inside.
Having the words in English and Hebrew was great reading exposure and practice in both languages. I love finding easy, but meaningful ways to incorporate Hebrew learning in our house.
What items would you use for your High Holidays I Spy Sensory Bin and Bottle? I would love to see what you come up with!
Check out our High Holidays Hub for more information, resources, and lots of activities for you and your kids to explore this Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur!
A few of our favorite quick references:
For some of our favorite High Holiday books, take a look at our Bookshop.org With Love, Ima Storefront (each purchase supports local bookstores!).
Looking for a fun way to incorporate apples and honey into your Rosh Hashanah celebrations? Check out these delicious products from Nuts.com! We LOVE Nuts.com and think your tummies will love these goodies too. Shanah Tovah!
*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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