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/nuts. And each of the committee members prepared something different. One brought herbs, a “finjan”, which is a small metal pot often used for camping, along with a camping gas heating element and cups to make herbal tea. Another of us sprouted sprouts and seeds for children to plant and take home.
Games
My job was games. For the older children, I set up a Tu Bshvat based escape game, that I had found from Tzafon Bkufsa. This went over fairly well, with a group of students from 2nd grade through 6th working together throughout the gathering to figure it out. Of course, an escape room is not an ideal activity for younger children. We expected many more younger children, so I made a scavenger hunt. I used the community garden itself for pictures. I also added some shapes, in the event that they found everything and wanted to find more items. That is the basis of the community garden scavenger hunt that I am sharing here.
The event seems to have gone over well and we plan to do something similar this year. This year we plan to do a small workshop that works for multiple ages. In any event, you are welcome to use the community garden scavenger hunt for your own Tu Bshvat celebration. It is a bit site specific but you can use the pictures as a jumping off point. I see that this year I may need to change some of the pictures since the garden has changed a bit since last year.
We have other ideas for Tu Bshvat on the site. Largely projects like making a succulent garden with a toddler, or flower projects. Check out the Tu Bshvat section for more ideas.
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