I love adding Jewish elements to our Thanksgiving celebration (and to any aspect of daily life when the connection is authentic). It’s not hard to find Jewish connections to gratitude and giving thanks. In addition to conversations and activities on Jewish and Thanksgiving values, my children will welcome the Shabbat following Thanksgiving with this sweet and hands-on craft.
What You’ll Need
- 2 tin cans per child
- 2 fall leaves per child (one per tin can)
- Nail
- Hammer
- Tea candles or votive candles, one per tin can
Putting It All Together
1.Save two tin cans from your recycling bin.
2. Remove the paper and glue from the cans. The easiest way I’ve found to do this is to add a couple tablespoons of vegetable or canola oil and the same amount of baking soda to a bowl of water. Simply put your rinsed cans in the bowl and let soak. The paper can then be easily peeled off.
3. Wash the cans.
4. Fill the cans with water and put them in the freezer until frozen solid. Mine took a few hours.
5. In the meantime, send your children outside for a nature hunt, requiring at least one leaf per tin can as part of their collection.
6. Tape one leaf to the outside of the can.
7. Using a hammer and nail, hammer around the outside of the leaf, creating an outline of the leaf. You (or your child) can determine how much spacing you want between the holes. The former perfectionist in me find this step challenging. Having children has been so good for me, for many reasons! One reason is that I no longer need everything to be “perfect.” You can see that not all our spacing is consistent. Nor is the size of the holes–it’s really easy to hammer harder sometimes, creating a bigger hole. I’m ok with it (but I wouldn’t have been before children).
8. Remove the tape and leaf.
9. Place your can in a bowl of hot water to melt the ice.
10. Place a candle in the can.
11. Light the candle, close your eyes, and say the blessing for the candles and welcome in your Shabbat in a beautiful, fall-festive way. Shabbat Shalom!
Finished and Loving It!
Letting the light shine on Shabbat and loving it! (Note: this was a trial photo and didn’t actually take place on Shabbat)
Notes:
- I call this craft “hands on.” My children had active parts in it. But there are some “proceed with caution” parts of it. Your children need to practice hammer safety. And I always get a little nervous with tin cans because of the sharp edges when the lid is removed. Hammering holes in the sides creates sharp edges too. My oldest son’s elementary school always creates luminaries in this way for their Art Day. I was first so nervous to see all these children with real hammer and nails. But they can totally do it. Just be present with your kids as they create this craft and enjoy the time together.
- Freezing the water in the cans made the base of our cans bulge out. It would not stand level if you left it like that. Once you melt the ice, turn the can top down and hammer the bottom. Ours popped back into place.
- I prefer doing crafts that can be done all in one sitting because I don’t like having to make multiple transitions to and from the craft. Unfortunately, this craft requires waiting between some of the steps. Some of the steps can be done before the kids get involved. For instance, you can take off the labels and freeze the water in the cans before the kids even know they are about to do a fun craft. In that case, they will arrive just for the fun part: nature hunt and hammering! And the reveal, of course!
Would you like more ideas on how connecting Judaism to Thanksgiving? Check out my post 3 Ways to Teach Jewish Gratitude at Thanksgiving.
Have a wonderful holiday!
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Great thank you nice and simple. No need of special equipments.