| MORE CHANUKAH IDEAS.... |
| Stained glass cookies. Mix together a sugar cookie recipe. Ground up clear hard candies, separating colors. (My blender works great for this.) On a table place a bowl of chilled dough, and several cups of the separated colors of ground candies. Also have small pieces of aluminum foil for the kids to make each creation on. Give each child lumps of the dough. Have them make "ropes" out of it, and then help them form the ropes into symbols about Hanukkah. In the gaps created by the rope outline, fill in with the crushed candies. (cover the open space well, but you don't need to fill to the top of the dough.) They can also form indentations to the dough, and sprinkle bits of candy there, for things such as a flame on a candle. Each creation should be made on a separate piece of foil so they can be easily placed on a baking pan. Don't remove the cookie from the foil, as this would destroy the creation. Bake as normal sugar cookies, but check often to make sure the candy doesn't scorch. The finished product gives you a beautiful "stained glass window" effect as the candies have melted together. Mixed colors in one opening turn out beautiful! This is simple even for tiny hands, with just a bit of guidance. And even if your not sure what your 3 yr. old symbol is, they are proud to tell you! |
| - Magic Dreidel Using masking tape create the outline of a Dreidel on the floor. This is the "magic Dreidel." Invite the children to step inside the "magic Dreidel." Once inside sing the song that follows. Children can stand inside the Dreidel individually or in groups. Either the teacher can pick the activity done inside the Dreidel or the children can. Magic Dreidel Song (Tune is a variation of "Little Red Wagon") Jump inside the magic Dreidel, Jump inside the magic Dreidel, Jump inside the magic Dreidel, Jump jump jump jump Jump, jump jump. Actions can be changed to hop, shake, tap, clap, spin, bow, run, smile, sit.... |
| - Cool Menorah poster Create a menorah on a poster board any way you want. by making eight candles and a shamesh. cut out the shape of nine flames so that there is nothing there. Staple this poster board to another one (red pink or yellow the flame collors along the edges except one side making a pocket. Place a poster board that is the same color as the one you made the menorah on inside the pocket. Now you cannot tell that there are flames since it is backed with the same color. Each day in school you move the inside poster board out sliding it slowly so that one flame is revealed. Since in the back of it is a pink/yellow/red poster board you will nw see a lit flame. (very easy for kids to do and safe because it is fake fire). Remember to move it each day one more so that you add a flame each day. |
| - Suncatchers I fold a piece of construction paper in half and cut out a basic dreidel shape, then cut out a large square from the middle. Now I have a dreidel "card," with an empty square in the middle. I give the kids a piece of wax paper, some diluted glue, and little pieces of tissue paper, and they make a collage on the wax paper, which then gets glued inside the dreidel shape. Sounds much more complicated than it actually is- really very simple. Another cute shape to use is an oil jug. I recommend using tissue paper bits from the same color families; e.g., a blue dreidel outside, and blue/purple turquoise tissue paper, or a yellow oil jug and yellow/orange/red tissue paper. |
| - Oil, Science, project and more For my pre-K class we did olive oil experiments, and had the kids taste, predict, mix, and record the results. I set up 4 cups of liquid that were similar colors to oil, like honey, OJ, water with yellow food coloring, apple juice, and one cupof oil. I let all the kids touch the liquid and describe the feeling. (Sticky, cold, wet, smooth,creamy) Then they tasted each kind by licking their finger ( just a little gross) and then we predicted what would happen if mixed with water, and recorded their hypothesis. In each case, the liquid mixed, and all became the same color, or like honey, it sank to the bottom, and the last one, the oil, they thought would do the same, so they were very surprised when they saw it stayed floating on top, no matter how hard we mixed. Then we made really cool crafts, where everyone got an empty, see through water bottle (poland spring) and filled it up half-way with water. Added a food-coloring of their choice (not yellow) and added oil on top. Then they added glitter and mixed sequins, and it was sealed very well. Twist cap tightly, and seal with a glue-gun! They had soooo much fun shaking those things around, and seeing how the colored water never mixes permanently with the oil, but the glitter and sequins float through freely. Very pretty! |