With Yom Ha’atzmaut, Israeli Independence Day, coming up in a little over a week, it was the perfect time to set up our Yom Ha’atzmaut Shelfie + Starter Activities! The kids helped me create many of the activities and decorations that we displayed and explored. Yom HaAtzmaut (can be spelled either way!) is such a great time to learn about the country of Israel, its topography, culture, regions, and diversity. It’s also a fun time to incorporate some birthday-related activities since we are honoring Israel’s birth as a country.
I hope the activities I’m sharing today will inspire you to gather similar ones or create ones that are meaningful to your family as you explore Israel and celebrate the holiday of Yom Ha’atzmaut!
What You’ll Need
- Your favorite books about Israel (check out our recommendations here!)–including children’s books but also any informational books you have on the country or any of its regions or culture or even history
- Your favorite Israel 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 Yom Ha’atzmaut Shelfie.
- Yom Ha’atzmaut Book Box + our favorite children’s books about Israel, as well as some informational books I bought when I visited
- Yom Ha’atzmaut Montessori-Style 3 Part Cards
- Camel Counting Stones (or other desert representation!)
- Synagogue/Jewish House + Peg People (the wood cut out house is an adorable new product from Woodpeckers Crafts called chunkies! They stand up on their own and are so cute. I can’t wait to create more. Use WithLoveIma5 for a discount!)
- Star of David Happy 74th Birthday Israel Posting Box (download your free printable here!)
- LeeLaaLou Yom Ha’atzmaut sign
- My Birthright Israel Photo Album!
- Cupcake Pom Pom Posting Box (download your free printable here!)
- Israel Flags
- Western Wall blocks and prayer prompt
- Birthday Balloons
- Dead Sea Salt Tracing Tray + Prompts
- Kibbutz farming set up
Finished & Loving It!
Yom Ha’atzmaut Book Box
I love putting together decorated book boxes for our holidays so we can gather the holiday books and have them all in one location. So easy to find for this family of readers and book lovers! For Yom HaAtzmaut I made a very simple book box, just painted white with a blue Star of David on the front, echoing the Israeli flag. Simple but got the job done!
What are some of your favorite Israeli or Yom Ha’atzmaut children’s books I should add to our collection?
Yom Ha’atzmaut Montessori-Style 3 Part Cards
We kicked off our learning about this holiday with our Yom Ha’atzmaut Montessori-Style 3 Part Cards. They are so easy to do a quick summary of the holiday and its customs and traditions and the kids love matching the cards.
Camel Counting Stones
I really wanted to include some kind of Negev desert representation since I have really vivid memories of my time there when I visited Israel. I pulled out the camel counting stones I used for another activity last year. They are perfect for counting or just talking about some of the animals, or things, you might see when visiting the Negev!
Synagogue/Jewish House + Peg People
I wanted some kind of Jewish house or a synagogue to represent Israel as a Jewish homeland. I love including peg people to encourage open ended play. Excited to see what play the kids come up with!
Isn’t the wooden house so adorable!! So many possibilities … I’m thinking we need an entire Jewish village. Looks like I will be ordering more from Woodpeckers Crafts soon!
Star of David Happy 74th Birthday Israel Posting Box
This was the perfect cricut project (no way would I have patience to hand cut 74 of these but if you do, yay!). My daughter and I glued them to the popsicle stickers earlier in the afternoon. I set up a super easy DIY posting box—just a print out taped over a painted box with slits cut in the stars. I invited my preschooler to post the sticks and count them as he did. He’s not ready for 74 so I counted most but it’s such good practice! I plan to use these sticks in a variety of counting and math activities in the next week. My daughter is currently working on regrouping—74 manipulatives gives us lots of opportunities to practice that skill!
You can also print out the printable and use a dot paint to mark each star and practice counting that way!
LeeLaaLou Yom Ha’atzmaut sign
LeeLaaLou updated their Yom Ha’atzmaut packet for this year so I printed it out and we did the first page. It’s a great way to introduce the holiday and practice some Hebrew!
My Birthright Israel Photo Album!
I had so much fun sharing my Birthright Israel memories with the kids! So young! So tan! So many amazing places we visited and lifelong friendships made.
Have you gone on Birthright Israel? I’d love to hear your stories!
Cupcake Pom Pom Posting Box
I don’t usually do two posting activities at the same time but I couldn’t resist this simple cupcake pom pom one as a fun way to celebrate Israel’s birthday! Just print out the image, tape it to a box and make holes where indicated with scissors or a drill. Invite your kiddo to push a pom pom through the hole. Easy peasy and fun!
You could also print out the printable and use a dot paint or circle sticker to decorate the dots, aka the cupcake sprinkles! I think I will have my guy(s) do that later this week.
Israel Flags
Making an Israeli flag is such a simple craft but the kids love doing it each year. Last year we had such fun with a salt art flag but this year I just did a simple paper one. They are lovely decorations and always perfect for the parade if your community has one!
Western Wall blocks and prayer prompt
It’s really important to me to talk about the Western Wall and the practice of prayer, there, in our home and wherever anyone needs it! The kids had the opportunity to draw or write their own prayers. I showed them how the paper prayers are usually folded up and slipped in between the bricks. They had so much fun doing that themselves!
We also got to see my photos of the Western Wall. Truly one of the most meaningful experiences when I was in Israel.
Birthday Balloons
This year we decorated balloon cut outs as another way of representing and celebrating Israel’s birthday. Make It Jewish shared this activity last year and I was so excited to give it a try this year. It’s super simple and you can use whatever supplies you have on hand. These could also be fun for a parade!
Dead Sea Salt Tracing Tray + Prompts
The Dead Sea was another fun Israel experience of mine. This year I focused on the salt part (although the mud is tempting!) and made a simple salt tray. I added Salt Tray Prompts so that the kids could practice writing the letters or words in the salt themselves. Such an amazing way to practice this skill and expose them to different parts of the Dead Sea!
Kibbutz farming set up
I’m always very intrigued by Kibbutz life and set up a super simple invitation for this first activity. I look forward to exploring more with the kids later on! For now, this is a very open ended invitation for creative play!
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 so many different regions, cultures, food, and celebrations that relate to Israel and Yom Ha’atzmaut.
I have lots of ideas planned for the next couple weeks so make sure to check back (or subscribe!!) but so much learning already happened just in this afternoon and with these few shelves!
We have a whole page dedicated to Yom Ha’atzmaut, our Yom Ha’atzmaut Hub. Check it out! It will include some of the Yom Ha’atzmaut activities we do this year, as well as the activities we’ve done in previous years.
And don’t forget our Yom Ha’atzmaut Montessori-Style 3 Part Cards, a wonderful way to introduce the holiday!
Check out our recommended Yom Ha’atzmaut books from our Bookshop.org Shop!
The following sites are amazing resources for learning more about this holiday:
Reform Judaism: Yom Ha’atzmaut
Chag Sameach!!
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