Oftentimes welcoming guests appropriately can take lots of practice and can sometimes feel overwhelming which is why I created the How to Welcome Guests Social Story to walk my younger kids through how to do this (and give my older kids a refresher course!). With Covid we have gotten very little practice welcoming guests into our house (or, more accurately, even our backyard!). One of the most familiar parts of the Abraham and Sarah Torah story is how wonderfully they welcomed their guests and practiced hachnasat orchim. I thought sharing this How to Welcome Guests Social Story would be a wonderful way to connect this practical life skill with our study of the Torah story this week.
What You’ll Need
Putting It Together
- Print out the How to Welcome Guests Social Story free printable.
- Cut the pages and staple them together.
- There are a few blank pages if you want to add your own guidelines.
- Read the social story with your child and talk about how it works when you welcome guests into your house.
- Make sure to discuss any practices specific to your house–do you have guests remove their shoes? During Covid are you only meeting outside?
- Let your child ask any questions they have.
- Reread the story as needed to provide gentle, consistent guidelines of your expectations and appropriate practices.
- Connect the concept of welcoming guests to the story of Abraham and Sarah. You can review the entire Torah story with our Abraham and Sarah Montessori-Style 3 Part Cards. Or you can just focus on the part where they practice hachnasat orchim, welcoming guests. In the story, Abraham sees the three visitors approaching and makes sure he and Sarah make them welcome. They bring out food and drink for their guests and make sure they are comfortable. It’s a great example of how to welcome guests!
Finished & Loving It!
A social story can be helpful to let children know what they can expect and what is expected of them in various situations. Helping kids feel prepared not only helps them to act within your expectations, but also reduces their anxiety about a situation. So these social stories can be so helpful!
We have been very Covid cautious so my younger two kids have had very few opportunities to practice welcoming guests into our house. And while we have seen some family and friends in outside places, it is different when you invite friends into your house or backyard. I was really excited to share this social story with my kids. The preschooler did have some questions and that’s perfect! We want them to ask and make sure they completely understand the situation and our expectations!
Sometimes practices can be confusing so it’s helpful to go over them ahead of time. For instance, we don’t wear shoes in our house. But we do not ask guests to remove their shoes. That inconsistency could be confusing to kids if we did not share our guidelines and expectations clearly with them before the guests arrive.
I love how easily this social story was to connect to the Abraham and Sarah story. We reviewed our Abraham and Sarah Montessori-Style 3 Part Cards and I also emphasized the specific ways Abraham and Sarah acted as good hosts. I asked my kids what they could do that was similar. We recently had workers in our house fixing our floors and we bought them a pizza for lunch. The kids remembered that and how we offered them this food. Way to go kids!
Extension Activities
There are so many amazing extension activities that you could use to supplement this How to Welcome Guests Social Story and the practices of Abraham and Sarah. PJ Library has many books about hachnasat orchim, welcoming guests. Reading any of these books and connecting what the kids heard and saw with the social story would help reinforce these practices.
Shaboom! has a lovely video on hachnasat orchim that we love!
And BimBam and Shalom Sesame both have videos on Abraham and Sarah.
Need a snack to share?
Offering guests food is one way to welcome them and make them feel comfortable, just like Abraham and Sarah did. We have totally fallen in love with Nuts.com and buy a ton of delicious healthy (and some treats!) snacks that we love sharing with our guests. If you haven’t discovered Nuts.com yet, check them out!
How do you practice welcoming guests into your home?
I’m adding our Torah story activities to the blog. Check out the ones I’ve posted so far:
- Adam and Eve Pom Pom Posting Tree
- Sheep and Shepherds in the Torah Transfer Activity
- Creation Story Sequencing Sensory Bin
- How to Create a Family Peace Table
- Torah Activity: Eliezer Finds a Wife for Isaac Coloring Book
- Rivkah’s Jewelry
- Abraham and Sarah Montessori-Style 3 Part Cards
- Abraham and Sarah’s Journey Montessori-Style 3 Part Cards
- Tower of Babel Montessori-Style 3 Part Cards
- Noah’s Ark Montessori-Style 3 Part Cards
- Cain and Abel Montessori-Style 3 Part Cards
- Adam and Eve Montessori-Style 3 Part Cards
- The Creation Story Montessori-Style 3 Part Cards
- Rainbow Challah Hack
There are many more on my Instagram account!
And for more learning about Torah stories in kid-friendly (as much as there can be!) ways, check out these resources:
*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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