A week before the party we send home invitations that say "come to the party, dress to get messy". On the day of the party, we cut out big dreidels and organize them on the floor with different kinds of brushes and paint.
Everybody has a blast painting the dreidels. On their kneels and all.
Every year we send hanukiyot (menoras) home. The children work very hard on their hanukiyot. It's a nice keepsake for future hanukkah celebrations. While the family light the candles on the menorahs the children can also pretend to light the candles on theirs.
This hanukiya was made with three year old children. We, the teachers, prepared the cardboard hanukiya pattern ahead of time. The children painted the menorahs and the stand. They painted the candles and added the shiny "lights" on the candles with glitter dipped in glue. We also glued some Star of David confetti to the menorahs. Because of the clothespins, this menorah is very good for hand eye coordination, counting, and for small motor skills.
This hanukiya was made with two year old children. It's much simpler. The children painted the egg carton as the base of the hanukiya. They painted the paper towel rolls and glued them on the base. The teacher carved slits on the roll for the candles. The thin craft sticks were the regular candles, and two craft sticks were glued together to make the Shamash. This year instead of the two sticks the teacher used a fat craft stick as a Shamash. It is bigger and taller then the others.
This year I teach the two year old children. I always use simpler songs, simpler projects, and simpler books for them. I just found this song in one of my books, which I think is great for this age.
Tune: Where is Thumbkin?
Where is Judah Maccabee X2
Strong and bold X2
He helped the Jewish people X2
We've been told X2
Shalom, Judah Maccabee X2
Strong and bold X2
You helped the Jewish people X2
We've been told X2
We wish you all a Happy Hanukkah.
