We are so looking forward to Sukkot, spending time in our sukkah with friends and family, so it was so much fun to kick off our learning with our Sukkot 2024 Shelfie + Starter Activities!
I had a few themes that guided me in most of the activities I set up for this year’s Shelfie:
- we build (a sukkah)
- we decorate (yep, our sukkah again!)
- we welcome (guests, such a great opportunity to practice hachnasat orchim)
- we bless (back to that sukkah with the very special lulav and etrog blessing!)
I made super simple theme cards to help guide us. You can get (and even decorate if you wish!) them here.
What You’ll Need
- Your favorite Sukkot books (check out our recommendations here!)
- Your favorite Sukkot arts, crafts, toy sets, and activities that you already own and/or look below to see if any of ours inspire you to create similar ones!
Putting It Together
Here is the list of activities that I set up. Get inspired or grab whatever of your own! I also plan to add new activities as we create them to this Sukkot Shelfie.
- Sukkot 3 Part Cards
- Sukkot Book Box
- Do You Want to Build a Sukkah Prompt
- Roll + Add the Sukkah Decorations
- Nature S’chach Weaving
- Lamination Sheet Leaves
- Nature Paintbrush Painting
- Sukkah Small World Play
- How to Welcome Guests Social Story
- Social Justice Ushpizin Nomenclature Cards
- Lulav and Etrog Plushie
- Etrog and Lulav Positional Words
Finished & Loving It!
Sukkot 3 Part Cards
As always, I first brought down our Sukkot 3 Part Cards for a quick and simple overview of the holiday. I love how the preschooler feels so proud and accomplished that he can match all the images. The reading summaries are perfect for the middle two. Everyone feels like they can participate and I love that they are learning at the same time.
Sukkot Book Box
We have such a lovely collection of Sukkot books, including some new releases! We made the Sukkot Book Box years ago. I keep it stored in my closet and bring it down every Sukkot to help gather and store our holiday books for easy retrieval and use.
Do You Want to Build a Sukkah Prompt
I set out supplies for a super easy DIY flat sukkah craft. I included popsicle sticks, pre-cut paper leaves and crayons. I wanted the kids to remember the elements of a sukkah, but really have the freedom to create their own.
My second grader was bummed that it wasn’t a sukkah that stood up. We’ve done that invitation before and it’s fabulous. But for today’s Shelfie, I liked the idea of something simple that could also be used as a decoration.
This activity would be very easy to set out during a Sukkot dinner this upcoming week. If you’d like to print the free printable, you can find it here!
Roll + Add the Sukkah Decorations
I set up multiple activities around the theme of decorating the sukkah. This first one lets the kids practice decorating a sukkah using stickers. It also incorporates a math practice, which I love. The kids rolled the dice, counted the number, then counted out that number of stickers to add to the sukkah printout, thereby decorating the sukkah.
This is another fun and simple activity, perfect for your sukkah table or whenever! Get the printable prompt for free here.
Nature S’chach Weaving
This weaving invitation is from a previous year but I absolutely love it. The s’chach is the special roof of the sukkah and must be made from nature. I love how weaving is such a great practice for fine motor, concentration and mathematical skills.
We use nature to make the loom and for the weaving materials, connecting it to the s’chach rules. They look and smell so sweet and were a special decoration in our sukkah last year. Now we are ready to hang them in our sukkah again this year!
For the full tutorial, please see our Nature Weaving (Play) S’chach post.
Lamination Sheet Leaves
Looking for a super simple sukkah decoration? Use a lamination sheet to draw some leaves with sharpie, then let your kids color the leaves in with whatever sharpies they wish. Cut out the leaves and hang them in your sukkah. The light shines through in fun ways and they’re waterproof. So perfect for the sukkah!
In addition to coloring in the leaves, you could also invite your child to draw the leaf outlines. They could freehand draw them like I did, or trace them. Tracing is a really good practice–you have to hold down the stencil or cookie cutter while also using your other hand to move the sharpie around.
You could also incorporate a cutting practice into this activity by inviting your child to cut out the leaves once colored. So many options depending on the length of time, interest and ability of your kiddo!
Nature Paintbrush Painting
I love painting with nature and we’ve done this invitation many times before. This time I made nature paintbrushes by taping plant and flower sprigs to popsicle sticks. I set out paint in a few fall colors and some sheets of heavy paper my grandma gave me. The kids painted however they wished, creating really cool nature art!
Question: how should we use this special art? Sukkah table runners? Placemats? Cut into fall leaves and hang from the sukkah roof? Let me know what you think!
Sukkah Small World Play
For our welcome guests theme, I set up this darling sukkah we made last year, as well as some peg dolls. This invitation allows the kids to practice welcoming guests into the sukkah. It encourages imaginary and creative play, dictated by the kids but magically themed just by including the sukkah prop. Love!
How to Welcome Guests Social Story
Once again we used this How to Welcome Guests Social Story to review how to be a good host. A social story is a short little story that can help kids better understand social skills and expectations. It’s so easy to make them for your own family, incorporating the goals and values that are important to you.
I made this social story coming out of Covid and if you feel it might be helpful with your little ones, please print and share with them!
Social Justice Ushpizin Nomenclature Cards
We also went through our Social Justice Ushpizin Nomenclature Cards to talk about different biblical guests that we could invite into our sukkah and what their social justice symbolism would be.
Ushpizin are an important part of Sukkot. There are many opportunities for discussion, incorporating biblical characters that you may want to discuss with your children, as well as contemporary guests that could ignite interesting conversation.
Each Sukkot we also ask our children who THEY want to invite into the Sukkot, real or imagined, living or dead. It’s a fascinating window into their interests and curiosity. Last year we made these ushpizin dice to give some fun prompts to thinking about the different guests we could invite. I loved hearing my family’s answers!
Lulav and Etrog Plushie
Our lulav and Etrog plushie is always such a great way to act out the Sukkot blessings. I printed off a blessing sheet from URJ so the kids would also have the words to practice.
Etrog and Lulav Positional Words
This invitation was for fun and of course for some good positional language understanding. I made a simple prompt that can be used for any holiday or situation. I had lulav (made out of paper) and etrogs (yellow pom poms) available and challenged the kids to put the etrog in the correct position to the lulav. This was such a great practice! And pretty cute too!
If you’d like to use the positional language chart for Sukkot, or anything, you can get it here for free.
Setting up my holiday shelfies really brings me such joy. It’s a way for me to review aspects of the upcoming holiday that are important to me, what themes and goals I want to make sure we learn, review and explore, and an opportunity to make sure my kids find Jewish joy and learning through play. Meaningful and fun Jewish experiences are so amazing!
Just the beginning …
We had such a great time with all these starter activities! And these are truly starter activities, just the beginning of our learning about the traditions and celebrations that relate to Sukkot.
I have lots of ideas planned for the next week+ so make sure to check back (or subscribe!!). It was so fun to see all the fun that happened just this afternoon!
We have a whole page dedicated to Sukkot, our Sukkot Hub. Check it out! It includes some of the Sukkot activities we do this year, as well as the activities we’ve done in previous years.
Coming Soon: Sukkot, Shemini Atzeret + Simchat Torah Activities Packet for Early Learners!
Yes, just like the activities packets we’ve made for the other holidays, we are almost finished with the one for these holidays too!
And don’t forget our Sukkot Montessori-Style 3 Part Cards, a wonderful way to introduce Sukkot!
The following sites are amazing resources for learning more about this holiday:
Chag Sameach!!
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