Nature Weaving (Play) S'chach

We love imaginary play and fine motor activities, which makes this Nature Weaving (Play) S’chach such a special and fun Sukkot activity! All four kids got super into this activity. We all love nature and this was a fun way to bring nature into our play, learning, and holiday celebration!

The s’chach is the special roof of the sukkah. The s’chach has certain rules with which it must comply. The materials used for it must be grown from the ground, from a living plant. Branches or bushes, palm fronds or bamboo are all popular and typical choices. These plant materials must be detached from the ground and then placed across the walls of the sukkah to form the roof.

It was very simple to create these Nature Weaving (Play) S’chach and my children had lots of fun in the process!

What You’ll Need

4 sticks
Yarn
Scissors
Nature materials

Putting It Together

Make your loom by fitting your 4 sticks into a square or rectangle.
Fasten the sticks together by wrapping yarn around each two juxtaposed sides, continuing to wrap until it feels secure. Cut off excess and tie tightly. Do this on all four sides.
Tie yarn on the bottom left then start wrapping it vertically, wrapping it around twice when you get to both the top and bottom sticks before going to the opposite parallel stick. Repeat until you have wrapped and created vertical lines across your loom.
Gather nature items like sprigs of herbs, leaves, flowers, stalks.
Weave the nature items over and under each line of yarn.
When finished, hang as a decoration in your sukkah or add to a play sukkah (cardboard, wooden blocks, lincoln logs) as its s’chach, its special roof.

Finished & Loving It!

I created the looms for each child. If you have children interested in this step, it really isn’t difficult and would be lovely for them to take part. But because I planned this for an after school activity, I knew I would need to do some of the prep ahead of time.

My daughter helped me collect different natural materials from our garden. She specifically looked for items that would be long enough to weave, that were pretty and that smelled good. Did you know that s’chach is not supposed to be made from anything that doesn’t smell good? And that it’s a mitzvah to beautify Jewish observances (hiddur mitzvah)? So she participated in two beautiful Jewish values as she collected flowers and herbs from our garden!

I was so excited their Abba finished work and came down to help participate in this activity. The younger kids especially needed some guidance on how to weave the materials in and out of the yarn. It definitely did not have to be perfect, but weaving is a really great skill to practice so I was happy to explain and model to them how to do it.

Each Nature Weaving (Play) S’chach of course had its own unique look, which was so special. And all kids practiced such amazing fine motor skills, focus and concentration as they wove the materials on this special loom. Their pincer grip was strengthened and it’s a great activity for developing spatial awareness and figuring out how to move items over and under.

We set up lincoln log walls and added one of the s’chach to the top as a roof. Once a few peg dolls were added it really became a beautiful opportunity for some lovely imaginary play! I also liked hanging the remaining s’chach inside our sukkah as decorations (one for each corner, yay!).

My children loved creating their own s’chach from natural materials. Not only was it a beautiful way to review what a s’chach is, it was a lovely Sukkot decoration and an opportunity for lots of open-ended, imaginary play!