Its a difficult time now for families in many different places. Our thoughts are with innocent victims and families that are suffering. It has been inspiring to hear how some people are expressing gratitude, given the trying times. Maybe I'll share some of them at another time. This post is supposed to be about helping kids give thanks to Gd. In t ...
Hanukkah Oil and Decorations
Its getting close to Hanukkah season. Here are a few projects I meant to post last year in time for Hanukkah but didn't- As a Hanukkah oil tie in: A fun Hanukkah oil craft is Marbelized paper. There is alot about this project in the marbelized paper post. I did this with our art chug last year (4/5 year olds.) We made marbleized paper using canola oil ...
Thank You for the Food You’ve Given Me- Gratitude
Kids are both the best and the worst at showing gratitude in general because they have incredible honesty. For instance, you might hear something like "Wow! Thank you so much for giving me a hamster! You are the best parents in the world!" uttered with complete feeling, followed by "Now I want two" or "I wan't a dog" or "How come you won't get me a hors ...
Blessing the Bad- Blessings and Gratitude
Part of the Global Day of Jewish Learning topic of blessing and gratitude is the topic of "Blessing the Bad." I had not intended to speak about this at all. I did watch Rav Steinzaltz's video on the topic. This is available if you sign up for the Global Day of Jewish Learning. Then I stumbled onto Mayim Bialik's Kveller piece about thanking the firefigh ...
Global Day of Jewish Learning
This is a quick heads up about the Global Day of Jewish Learning which will take place November 18th. This year the topic is blessings and gratitude. Many communities around the world will be taking part and it should be interesting. Take a few minutes to go to their site and register to access their materials. I'll write more about this in another post ...
Hanukkah Gelt Learning Opportunity
Yep, Hanukkah is getting closer and closer and we are starting to think about what that means. Lately I have middot on the brain and this is a little post on that topic. Children often receive "gelt"/money for Hanukkah. This is an opportunity to discuss with them opportunity to give to others. American Jewish World Services has put together a tzedaka ...
Jewish Informal Education Pinterest Collaborative Board
Do you pin? Do you pin about Jewish education or crafts? I've set up a collaborative pin board for Jewish education, crafts and the like. If you are interested in joining, leave a comment here or on the facebook page or on pinterest. I have asked that people only pin things for which they have permission. This means either your own content, content b ...
Fun Noach Dessert
Noach seems to get alot of food play on this blog. Here's a picture reminder: These were sugar cubes. We've lately made chocolates using these same molds. Thought I'd pass along Themed Thinking's take on rainbow cupcakes. So simple and pretty. Noach is rather popular as a decorative element for kids. I always wondered about that as the story se ...
Tal season is wrapping up
Its almost Rosh Hashana which mean Yom Kippur and Sukkot are around the corner and therefore Tal season is finishing up. That is, soon we'll be switching from the Tal/dew prayer request to the Geshem/rain prayer in the Shemonah Esreh prayer.) I wanted to share an idea and activities that came out of something that happened on Pesach/Passover. Someone ...
Cutting down on Electricity- what are you doing?
You may or may not know that through September the Israeli electric company is having a "contest" to get people to use less electricity. The basic idea is that people will get a discount on reduced usage between 10-30%. Why the 30% cutoff? Probably to make sure people are actually still in the apartment and using electricity in a regular way. We are ...