This years back to school looks nothing like other years. Some children will be distance learning, some will be learning in person. Some schools have already gone back to school. Others are about to start. Locally most schools start September 1, with Yeshivas, already back since Rosh Chodesh Elul. Where we are its hard to know who will be distancin ...
Tefillat HaTal Escape Game
This post looks very different than the one that should have gone here. I intended to talk about my daughter’s Bat Mitvah celebration last year, the new design we did because her celebration was at the Bird Observatory, and how we might have done some things differently. However, given that the world is in isolation and that many Bnei Mitzvah have post ...
A Quiet Megilla Bingo Game
This quiet Megilla bingo game is for children who find Megilla reading a little too long, despite all the fun in making noise when hearing the name, Haman. I usually bring Purim related stickers and games to our local synagogue. Smaller children can use them during the megilla reading so that they do not disturb everyone else. Clearly disturbing others ...
Building Swing Chesed Project
What makes a great Bnai Mitzvah chesed project? While there is no one answer, I think Gilad's swing building is a special project. Gilad chose to build swings in Oz VeGaon reserve. Gilad's building swings chesed project is an active, physical chesed project. Where? Gilad and a group of his friends built swings for Oz VeGaon. Oz VeGaon ...
Community Garden Scavenger Hunt for Tu Bshvat
Last year the children’s committee of our local synagogue organized a gathering in honor of Tu Bshvat. We held it in one of the local community gardens. One of the garden’s volunteers (thanks Shoham!) was kind enough to do an educational session about the plants in the garden. What we Brought Everyone brought something along the lines of fruit/n ...
Lunch Box Taste Testing
Have your children already returned to school? Here school starts September 1st and pretty much everyone is on vacation the last two weeks of August. The following lunch box taste testing project is good for those still with kids at home that last weekday and those whose children have already returned to school. Razelle and Dov W’s lunch taste testing ...
First Aid for First Class Teachers: Teachers Gifts at the end of the road
What do you do when you want to thank all your teen's teachers for their help and support along your child's educational journey? Homemade first aid creams! This idea is courtesy of Noga Hullman from Upside Down Parenting who made these amazing first aid creams for her daughter's teachers. We are sharing this today in honor of the end of the high schoo ...
Sketchnotes for Education
Sketchnotes for Education Experiments Around Hanukkah I posted some drawn notes that my son did, on his own, to record what he had learned about the laws of Hanukkah. At the time I loved the idea of sketchnotes for Jewish education, but I did not know there was a concept of sketchnotes at all. Since then I discovered The Sketchnote Handbook by M ...
A fruity use for socks, use those spares!
We love sock projects and this fruity use for socks is an easy one. Recently a friend posted on facebook about a business that made "avocado socks". That is, socks made out of shetland wool in order to ripen avocados. I thought that was a cute idea but also thought, lets try that ourselves! How this Works Apparently, avocados release the gas eth ...
Can You Figure Out These First Grade Hanukkah Notes
Last year my then pre-reading first grader came home one day excited to show me something. He was talking about Hanukkah notes that he had taken. At the time, he and his classmates were still in the early stages of learning to read. Writing still took an awful long time. I could not imagine exactly what his notes would look like, but was excited to see ...