I brought out the sweet simanim rocks I made for this year’s High Holidays Shelfie and combined them with our brand new Rosh Hashanah Simanim Nomenclature Cards to create a hands-on, meaningful and fun Rosh Hashanah Simanim Match Sensory Bin!
What You’ll Need
- Sensory bin
- Sensory filler (your choice! I used leftover dyed rice and lentils)
- Simanim Nomenclature Cards
- Simanim rocks, images or use the image cards from our Rosh Hashanah Simanim Nomenclature Cards
- Optional: seder tray, Rosh Hashanah play set
Putting It Together
- Fill up your sensory bin with your filler of choice.
- Print and cut out the Rosh Hashanah Simanim Nomenclature Cards.
- Set out the control cards (image plus summary).
- In the sensory bin, set out your simanim rocks, images or image cards. To make simanim rocks, just mod podge small simanim images, one per rock.
- Invite your child to match the simanim representation in the sensory bin to the correct control card.
- As each match is made, or if your child can’t pause until the end (like mine!), wait until they finish then review each simanim by reading the control card and saying the blessing that goes with that simanim.
- You can also use the Simanim Nomenclature cards as blessing cue cards during your Rosh Hashanah seder.
- If you have a seder tray or Rosh Hashanah play set, invite your child to “set” their Rosh Hashanah seder table and enjoy exploring the simanim and Rosh Hashanah symbols.
Finished & Loving It!
You know me, I love a sensory bin, especially when they are simple and easy!
This Rosh Hashanah Simanim Match Sensory Bin focuses on identifying and reviewing the different simanim that are important for Rosh Hashanah. It’s my hope that all these review activities will create familiarity with these special foods and help the kids identify them on our Rosh Hashanah seder table.
I enjoyed creating the Rosh Hashanah Simanim Nomenclature Cards as another way to review the simanim, but also as a way to practice the blessings we will say during the seder.
For my kids, the actual matching activity was quite short which is totally fine. They reviewed the simanim and heard me say the blessings. But the exploration that continued after the “official” activity was also so meaningful (and long lasting!)—they enjoyed placing the simanim rocks on the tray, lighting the holiday candles and nibbling on the special Rosh Hashanah challah. Play like this involves so much learning!
Why simanim rocks? They add another tactile layer. They are another option for identification and review. And they can be used in so many ways—sensory bins, matching, stacking, small world play and more!
May your holiday, and new year of 5784, be filled with sweet learning, exploration, and meaningful play and fun! Shanah tovah!
We have a whole page dedicated to the High Holidays, our High Holidays Hub. Check it out! It includes some of the High Holidays activities we do this year, as well as the activities we’ve done in previous years.
And don’t forget our Rosh Hashanah Montessori-Style 3 Part Cards, our Yom Kippur Montessori-Style 3 Part Cards, or the High Holidays Montessori-Style 3 Part Card Bundle, all a wonderful way to introduce High Holidays!
The following sites are amazing resources for learning more about this holiday:
Chag Sameach!!
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