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Tag: manipulatives

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Hanukkah Candle Counting Box
Jewish Holidays

Hanukkah Candle Counting Box

by adminupdated on November 28, 2022November 28, 2022Leave a Comment on Hanukkah Candle Counting Box

My kindergartner is very much interested in counting right now so I knew he’d love this Hanukkah twist on a spindle box, our Hanukkah Candle Counting Box! It’s super simple to make and so fun to use Hanukkah candles as our counting manipulatives! What You’ll Need Putting It Together Finished & Loving It! We made …

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It feels a little naughty but a lot nice to be spe It feels a little naughty but a lot nice to be spending the week in San Diego! I have a work conference and I’m lucky enough to have my family come with me. We arrived late last night so didn’t start adventuring until today but boy did we fill today with lots of beauty and fun—beach, cool rocks, tide pools and Annie’s Canyon Trail, which was my absolute favorite and just so incredible ❤️ The conference starts tomorrow so the next couple days won’t have as many family adventures but I think we will still manage to balance family, work and fun! #familytime #family #familyvacation #sandiego #familyhike #beachtime
Looking for another simple and sweet Tu B’Shevat Looking for another simple and sweet Tu B’Shevat activity? Look no further and grab an empty jar or container (or buy one from the Dollar Tree but I liked how I was able to use some of my containers I’ve been saving for *some amazing craft* and it’s such an applicable Tu B’Shevat teaching to reuse and repurpose recycled goods 🙌), decorate however you wish, soak a cotton ball (we added the pouring element which is such a great practice for kids), squeeze it out so it’s not sopping (yay fine motor skill and hand strengthening practice!), place it in the bottom of your container, then sprinkle some chia seeds on the cotton ball. Wait a few days and watch the seeds sprout!!! We’ve done this activity before (in my classroom and at home) but this year we are using a see-through plastic container so I am really excited to be able to better observe the seeds sprouting. They do need to be lightly sprayed every couple days and … we are leaving for a week on Saturday so this experiment may or may not work for our family this year but I’m hopeful and excited we are trying! We supplemented this activity with reading the sweet Tu B’Shevat book Trees Make Perfect Pets by @paulczajak and I seriously feel this book in my soul and could totally see my younger self taking my pet tree everywhere. Who knows, maybe I should try it as a grown up and bring some extra love and specialness to our days 😉 I love trees, I love chia seeds, and you know I love hands-on Jewish crafts and activities so this was the perfect way to end my day before dinner, a good book and bedtime ❤️ #tubshevat #tubishvat #tubshvat #jewishfamily #jewishkids #jewishpreschool #jewishchildren #preschoolactivities #preschoolathome #jewishkidlit #earthday #reuserecycle #recyclemeplay #pjlibrary #recycleandplay
As you can tell, I’m all about simple right now As you can tell, I’m all about simple right now because that’s all my bandwidth can manage. Good thing hands-on and meaningful activities don’t have to be complicated! To initiate a review of the seven species and their connection to the holiday of Tu B’Shevat I set up this very simple sensory bin, prepped with a fabulous (and simple!) tool: the glue gun! I traced a large number seven with the glue gun and also made seven smaller numeral sevens with the glue gun (draw on waxed paper then peel off). I tossed the seven sevens into the bin, along with our seven species cards. Our sensory bin filler? Leftover acorns, caps, sticks, leaves and seeds we collected in the past week or so plus the flower cuttings from sweet bouquet Matt gave me that were ready to say goodbye to their vase. I really like the combination of flowers and leaves in their different stages all mixed together, such a fun sensory experience with great tactile feedback. I invited the kids to search for the seven sevens, setting them up on the numbered spaces, as well as the seven species cards. They then created a pretty little design on the number seven with the sensory filler, the glue gun tracing providing a nice barrier outline. We also looked through the Tu B’Shevat Seven Species Book we made last year, all to remind us what these seven species are and to get us ready to celebrate the holiday next week! ✅ sensory fun ✅ counting and number recognition and practice ✅ Tu B’Shevat learning You can find our seven species cards as part of our Tu B’Shevat Activities Packet for Early Learners, link in bio! I’ll share in stories my sweet boy playing the Tu B’Shevat Symbol Memory Game that’s also part of the packet 😊 #tubishvat #tubshevat #tubshvat #jewishfamily #jewishkids #jewishpreschool #jewishchildren #preschoolactivities #preschoolathome #sensoryplay #sensoryactivity #sensoryplayideas #sensoryplaytolearn
It’s been a minute since I’ve had it in me to It’s been a minute since I’ve had it in me to set up any crafts or activities for the kids but it definitely felt good to set up this super simple Oak Tree Art in honor of Tu B’Shevat and our love of oak trees. We love all kinds of trees but oak trees have a special place in our hearts. Matt’s Hebrew name includes Alon, Hebrew for oak tree, and O’s middle name is Ilan, Hebrew for tree. For years we spent every weekend walking around the oak grove at our local arboretum. There’s just something about oak trees that make us happy. And this craft also made everyone happy: I reused a paper grocery bag to make the trunk, picked some of our wintery oak leaves from the front yard tree, then let the kids glue and crumple and glue some more to make their own sweet little oak trees, wishing them a special happy birthday wish as we created ❤️ Do you have certain trees that make you feel extra happy, peaceful or just embracing by that beautiful connection to nature? #tubshevat #tubishvat #jewishfamily #jewishkids #jewishpreschool #jewishchildren #preschoolactivities #jewishcrafts #preschoolathome #happybirthdaytrees #welovetrees
Today, January 27th is Holocaust Remembrance Day, Today, January 27th is Holocaust Remembrance Day, marking the many many lives lost in the Holocaust. In our house we read some of the few children’s books about the Holocaust and lit two yahrzeit candles for our adopted Shoah children—children who died in the Holocaust before they could become a bet mitzvah. If you are interested in adopting and being responsible for remembering specific Shoah children I highly recommend contacting @onemorecandle and The Remember Us Project. May such atrocities never happen again and may we always stand up for ourselves and others in the face of hatred. #holocaustremembranceday #neveragain
Last night my grandmother, Janet Ghirardelli, of b Last night my grandmother, Janet Ghirardelli, of blessed memory, died. Matt and I feel blessed that we could be there, having one last opportunity to say goodbye and that we love her. My grandma was not Jewish and so is not following traditional mourning and burial practices. I find myself yearning to find an appropriate balance between wanting the comfort of permissible grief, for stopping the world to focus on this personally monumental change to our world, and wanting to hide in bed and cry. As my family so often does, we are creating our own rituals to mark this life event and to find connection and comfort when and how we need it. We thought about attending services and saying Kaddish with our congregation, but I just didn’t feel like I could face a whole group of people. My shell is so thin and it’s been cracking constantly today. And while I appreciate the beauty of the idea of having a community mourn with you, I just don’t feel strong enough to break down in public. So tonight we started by lighting a yahrzeit candle for my grandma. Yahrzeit candles are traditionally lit each of the seven days of shiva, the seven days of mourning following a loved one’s death. Even though we won’t be sitting traditional shiva, we lit the candle and shared memories about our grandma. We also lit our Shabbat candles, with one extra to represent the hostages who are not able to light their own Shabbat candles; may they all return home soon and fill their homes with light and love 🙏 By the light of these candles, we talked and ate pizza takeout as that has special memories of Saturday lunches at my grandma’s, her baking a frozen pizza in the oven and cutting it up carefully for her great-grandchildren, always served along with small cups of goldfish and a dessert of vanilla ice cream with sprinkles the kids got to put on for everyone. Simple treats they really looked forward to and that always make us think about her ❤️ May this Shabbat be restorative for all of us, giving us the gentle love and support we need, and may the end of Shabbat bring the first of the released hostages and, as soon as possible, all those who remain ❤️ Shabbat Shalom ❤️ #grief #loss
We kicked off our Tu B’Shevat exploration with t We kicked off our Tu B’Shevat exploration with this simple, but oh so lovely, loose parts tree creation. The kids loved that the invitation used some of their stick collection and they had such a great time maneuvering the nature items and the loose parts to create a really beautiful tree. Happy early birthday to the trees! #tubshvat #tubshevat #tubishvat #jewishfamily #jewishkids #jewishpreschool #jewishchildren #preschoolactivities #preschoolathome #looseparts #loosepartsplay
New calendar year, trying something new for our Je New calendar year, trying something new for our Jewish holiday explorations over here … instead of fully setting up a themed Shelfie and showcasing every activity at once, I will set up as I’m able (it’s been a lot emotionally these past couple weeks and my work FTE is increasing, eek!) and plan to highlight one activity at a time, as the kids explore and enjoy them. The very sweet holiday of Tu B’Shevat, the birthday of the trees, starts in just a month, on the evening of February 12th. I pulled out our Tu B’Shevat tub and set out various activities and printables we’ve done in the past, as well as our beautiful collection of books about trees 😍 Since none of these activities are new, the kids can explore as they wish without instruction, which feels like a good speed and plan for us right now! Tomorrow we’ll share our first new activity of this holiday’s exploration!! We have a lot more Tu B’Shevat information and activities in our Tu B’Shevat Hub on our website, link in bio! #tubshevat #tubishvat #jewishfamily #jewishkids #jewishpreschool #jewishchildren #preschoolactivities #jewishcrafts #birthdayofthetrees #pjlibrary @pjlibrary
This week has felt long and heavy but today we exp This week has felt long and heavy but today we experienced a beautiful, incredible happening: after two days of unconsciousness, being unable to open eyes or respond, moving fitfully in discomfort, my grandma miraculously opened her eyes, sat up and was able to talk! Hallelujah! Such feelings of gratitude and relief after days of overwhelming sadness, at her expected loss and at seeing her in the hospital in such distress. As one of our Hanukkah gifts I bought this new book, To You I Call: Psalms Throughout Our Lives by Rabbi Jade Sank Ross. I had envisioned using it for the first time for something fun, a psalm for anticipation or gratitude. Instead, I turned to the Psalm for Beginning Hospice Care. The new hope is that my grandma will be discharged from the hospital tomorrow, into hospice care. We are so happy she is alive and that we will get to see her … but the emotions are still huge and strong. So if you’d like, we are saying the Mi Shebeirach again for her tonight and if it’s your custom to do the same and want to add her name: May Janet Ghirardelli be blessed with healing, with restoration, with care and always, with love. Amen ❤️ #jewishlife #jewishfamily #jewishprayer #prayerforhealing @reform_rabbis
Happy last night of Hanukkah (Night 8!) and happy Happy last night of Hanukkah (Night 8!) and happy first day of 2025! Our plans to head to the snow for the day had to shift as apparently the snow had melted and the rain started in the morning so we enjoyed a hike at Jack London State Historic Park instead. Love starting our new year with a day of nature adventures! When we came home, we lit our hanukkiyot, all candles of every Hanukkiah full and shining bright, ate our last night of latkes, bimuelos, and Hanukkah cookies, then enjoyed cuddling on the couch together watching our home movie of 2024 adventures drinking hot cocoa (with the adorable frozen whipped cream Hanukkah cut outs inspired by the brilliant @rebekahlowin , even if ours melted 😂) ❤️2024 was full of a lot of fears and tears and my heart still feels broken from the continuing nightmare of October 7th and the hostages still to come home, but watching this movie together reminded us of all the joy, happy moments and so much love that existed this past year too. May 2025 bring us all more peace, more light, more people home where they belong, and so much more love ❤️ Happy Hanukkah and Happy 2025! #hanukkah #chanukah #hanukah #happynewyear #happy2025 #jewishfamily #jewishkids #jewishchildren #familytime #familyadventures #bethelight
Hanukkah Night 7 + New Year’s Eve = Glow Party a Hanukkah Night 7 + New Year’s Eve = Glow Party and Ice Cream Treats 🕎❤️🙌 We enjoyed one of our favorite latkes, Indian Spiced Latkes, made adorable chocolate sprinkle dreidel toppers and blue whipped cream for our ice cream treats and read through our 2024 Blessings Jar ❤️ Then we started the Maccabeats Hanukkah mix, turned on the foam glow sticks from K’s bar mitzvah as well as some Dollar Tree ones, then danced and sung and laughed together in the glow of the sticks and our Hanukkah candles ❤️❤️❤️ Happy Hanukkah, Happy Last Day of 2024 and Happy New Year! #hanukkah #chanukah #hanukah #newyearseve #happynewyear #glowparty #jewishfamily #jewishkids #jewishchildren #familytime #icecream #icecreamtime #familydanceparty
Even with a couple of us moving slowly due to a co Even with a couple of us moving slowly due to a cold, we still enjoyed Hanukkah Night 6, our Crafts + Cuddles Night! Made Matt’s favorite bimuelos, seasoned with anise seeds, and had multiple platters of the sweet treats we’ve made this week … which is a lot 🤪 For our crafts this year we made crayon resistant thank you cards, fire starters for ourselves and friends, popsicle stick bracelets and some beautiful rosemary Stars of David ✡️❤️ I was bummed our crayon Hanukkiah centerpiece wouldn’t stay lit but we still enjoyed all the other beautiful candles lighting up our house and holiday 🕎❤️ #hanukkah #chanukah #hanukah #jewishfamily #jewishkids #jewishpreschool #jewishchildren #jewishcrafts #familytime
Happy Hanukkah Night 5, our Make, Eat + Give Night Happy Hanukkah Night 5, our Make, Eat + Give Night! I loved eating our spinach and raisin latkes + chocolate latkes dessert in the glow of our DIY rock Hanukkiah centerpiece 😍 I also loved the opportunity to remind our kiddos that even if potato latkes are the type of latkes most well known, there are so many delicious types of latkes that are enjoyed all over the world ❤️ With bellies full of Hanukkah deliciousness we worked together to make yummy treats to share, ate a few ourselves (full bellies won’t stop that!) and of course licked the spoon 😉 #hanukkah #chanukah #hanukah #jewishfamily #jewishkids #jewishpreschool #jewishchildren
The fourth night of Hanukkah saw us taking a hike The fourth night of Hanukkah saw us taking a hike during the day and snuggling together watching a movie at night. Nature + snuggles makes for a pretty amazing day! And we only saw one tree fall down right by our trail 🤦‍♀️ We also brought in more nature during dinner with our waxed paper nature lantern Hanukkiah centerpiece 🍁❤️ Side note: old playdough not only works to stick Hanukkah candles in their holders but is also handy if the holder breaks off the base 👍 Hanukkah Sameach 🕎❤️ #hanukkah #chanukah #jewishfamily #jewishkids #jewishchildren #familytime #familyhike #familymovienight
We shifted our previous Popcorn + Movie Hanukkah N We shifted our previous Popcorn + Movie Hanukkah Night 3 plans to celebrate Shabbatukkah with friends! Schlepped our sweet potato latkes, matzo ball soup, rugelach, rice crispie dreidels, and @jewishfood bimuelos de kalavasa for an evening of light, laughter, and love with friends. And yes … when we came home we lit all our own hanukkiyot, including the DIY clay oil lamp menorah centerpiece, so that we could enjoy the light and miracles even more ❤️ The last Shabbat of 2024 … May it be one of peace, restoration, and the return of our hostages ❤️ Shabbat Shalom and Chag Hanukkah Sameach! #hanukkah #chanukah #hanukah #jewishfamily #jewishkids #jewishpreschool #jewishchildren #shabbat #shabbatshalom #bringthemhomenow
Hanukkah Night 2 is always Game Night, starting, o Hanukkah Night 2 is always Game Night, starting, of course, with dreidel 🙌 This year we even had rice crispie dreidel treats, thanks to the @erin.eats.mtl tutorial ❤️ After playing dreidel, we enjoyed some of the new games we got this Hanukkah, as well as some favorites from years past. Lights, love, laughter, family, joy in traditions new and old are all wonderful ways for us to carry on the legacy of the Jewish people, show pride and joy in our heritage, and embody resistance even when it feels like so many are against us 🕎❤️ Inspirational gelt can be downloaded for free from @makeitjewish . They are such a beautiful addition to our dreidel game and Hanukkah activities. Highly recommend! More light and inspiration are always a blessing ❤️ #hanukkah #chanukah #hanukah #hanukkahtreats #dreidel #familytime #familygames #jewishfamily #jewishkids #jewishpreschool #jewishchildren #jewish #jewishpride #jewishjoy
Chag Hanukkah Sameach! Day at the beach, home to f Chag Hanukkah Sameach! Day at the beach, home to fry and light the candles ❤️ Leftover Chinese takeout + Chinese potato latkes with soy sauce dipping sauce, apricot and raisin rugelach, and, our first night of Hanukkah tradition: Opening Presents 🙌 As soon as we lit the first candle, I could feel that light entering our world. May we continue to light up the world, literally with our candles and figuratively with our mitzvot, making the world a brighter, more joyful place ❤️ And yes, the acorn hanukkiah did catch on fire but we got to enjoy the light for a little bit before the flames 😂 #hanukkah #chanukah #hanukah #jewishfamily #jewishkids #jewishchildren #jewish #jewishholidays #winterholiday #chinesefoodonchristmas @peacelovelightshop @bringhomenow
I so hoped we wouldn’t be lighting these @bringh I so hoped we wouldn’t be lighting these @bringhomenow candles, that all hostages would be home by Hanukkah 💔 In today’s @naamatusa Hanukkah email, they invited us to light an extra menorah for the hostages. We made a polymer clay yellow ribbon Hanukkiah … and hope that there will be no need to light it now or in the future … our greatest Hanukkah wish is for the hostages to be released and surrounded by the love and light of Hanukkah in their own homes 🙏 We also made a hanukkiah for our “adopted” Shoah children. May the memories of Boris Kac and Eliyahu Cemach forever be for a blessing ❤️ @onemorecandle #therememberusproject May the hostages return home and may the memories of those we have already lost forever be a blessing ❤️ We know we are strong and we persevere. But we also grieve and our hearts hurt. If it feels meaningful, I encourage to light an extra menorah for the hostages, and if you are interested in adopting a child of the Shoah, reach out to One More Candle and start lighting a candle for this child and saying their name with kavanah ❤️ #bringthemhomenow
Squeezing in one final, pre-Hanukkah activity that Squeezing in one final, pre-Hanukkah activity that is easy peasy! We made our own interactive Hanukkah counter, with the plan to add a new candle each night of Hanukkah ❤️ All you need is a base (we painted a piece of cardboard), a hanukkiah/menorah base (we glued a paper cut out to the cardboard and numbered the candle holders 1-8 + wrote the word shamash on that candle holder), candles (we used our wrapping paper extras, glued them to popsicle sticks, cut around the sticks, then added drops of glue to correspond with the number of the night that candle will represent), then some Velcro dots to be able to attach each new candle. The craft was simple, the activity fun to make and to use, and it also involved fine motor skills and some math/counting/one to one correspondence practice, all beautiful, good things! Our new Hanukkah counter is all ready for the first night of Hanukkah, which starts tomorrow! Now, a big question is: are YOU ready?! 😂 I have not crossed off all my to do items, but I am so definitely ready to bring more light and love into the world! #hanukkah #chanukah #hanuka #winterholiday #jewishfamily #jewishkids #jewishpreschool #jewishchildren #preschoolactivities #jewishcrafts #jewish
I had a(nother) Hanukkah dream: to create special I had a(nother) Hanukkah dream: to create special menorah drip trays, one for each of our hanukkiyot 🕎 Matt made these lovely menorah drip tray bases and we filled them with our nature collections of shells, driftwood and rocks that we’ve collected over the last year (and some that we’ve been storing in our garage from years and adventures past). He poured resin and we waited for them to dry and ta-da: lovely, specially customized nature collection menorah drip trays made by each of us ❤️ Don’t worry, we are not getting rid of our original DIY wooden menorah drip tray! My oldest was horrified at the thought and said we absolutely could not replace it with something new … so we will have these special nature drip trays for our hanukkiyot and the wooden one on our dinner table, perfect for my other Hanukkah 2024 dream: a new DIY Hanukkiah for each night of Hanukkah. Think of what special collections you and your family might have and want to showcase for years to come. I bet you could capture them in some resin 😉 Or, if they are flat, place on some paper or fabric, then add a piece of glass from a picture frame on top! Super cheap, easy to clean and store, and no sticky resin to deal with 😂 #hanukkah #chanukah #hanukah #menorah #hanukkiah #jewishfamily #jewishkids #jewishchildren #jewishcrafts #jewish #collections #naturecrafts #naturecollection #naturecollage
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