Beyond a ‘bag of plagues’

One key tenet of Passover is sharing the story with children-but what’s the best way to keep them interested? Three winners of JUF’s Sue Pinsky Award for Excellence in Jewish Education –which celebrates teachers who show passion and dedication for Jewish early childhood education–offered these suggestions to keep kids engaged at the Seder and beyond.

Ellyn Weisz, 2021 Pinsky Award Recipient

In my classroom, we make a Red Sea and puppet characters of Moses and the Jewish people walking through the parted waters. It can be set on the table and children can play with it during the Seder. Children can easily make this craft before the Seder. Use your imagination and change it up to your liking!

Use the following supplies to create and decorate your Red Sea model:

• 1 large sheet of blue & brown paper
• Scissors
• Gingerbread/person shape cutout to create people crossing the Red Sea
• Paper cups
• Markers
• Plastic fish and animals like cows and goats
• Seashells

Margie Pines, 2017 Pinsky Award Recipient

• The Parting of the Red Sea science experiment – You will need a bowl, ground pepper, dish soap, and water.
  1. Fill the bowl with water (add blue food coloring if you want).
  2. Let children sprinkle pepper on top.
  3. Next, add a drop of dish soap and see how the sea parts! I always let the children add the dish soap. Just give them a small amount in a cup or recycled bottle.
• Make a matzah self-portrait using matzah, cream cheese, butter, egg, carrot, cucumber, parsley, and any other food item you have on the table. Let the children make a self-portrait using the matzah as a base and then eat their creation!
• You can set up a Passover obstacle course outdoors where the children have to complete tasks like: sneaking the Hebrew slaves water by filling a bucket using small cups; making a river using aluminum foil and water so that baby Moses can hide there; creating their own burning bush using yarn or ribbon; helping Moses gather his sheep (cotton balls) into a bucket; using chalk to hopscotch across the ten plagues; and balancing through the Red Sea–just draw a line to tiptoe across.
• Try the River Ride story walk from PJ Library. After you download the story from their website, put the pages on cardboard and place them around your living room or yard. Each page tells the story of Passover and has an activity with it. There are only eight pages total in the story, so it is not a big project for families. Some activities in this book include building pyramids out of blocks or MagnaTiles, finding a hiding baby Moses or burning bush, singing Passover songs, and hurrying across a blue tarp sea. Don’t forget to celebrate freedom at the end using any type of noisemaker you have or by dancing together!

Claudine Guralnick, 2016 Pinsky Award Recipient

• The 10 Makkot masks — The children can color the different plagues on masks and can use them during the Seder.
• Give them a job — The children love to help setting up the table, and they can be responsible in passing around karpas , matzah, or maror .
• Get comfortable — I always allow the children to bring a stuffed animal or pillow to use during the Seder.
• In my classroom, the children always made their own matzah and charoset . It is a wonderful way to develop so many skills.

~Compiled by Michelle Cohen