Fabulous Tefillah Curriculum- The Tefillah Box

We all daven with our kids. Its just part of what we do every day.

Some of us use musical instruments, CD's, points, whatever we can do to keep the Davening exciting and not monotonous.

 Now the thing is, at least for the English speakers among us, how many of our kids actually know what they are saying? Do they actually feel connected to Hashem when they are davening or is it just for the stars on their chart or the fun songs?

We recently purchased The Tefillah Box. The second I saw this I knew we had to have it as part of our Homeschool Curriculum.

This is what we received- a Box filled with goodies and a Teachers Guide:

Inside the Box is the Student book and a bunch of miniature toys- an instant attention grabber for the kiddos:

  

Here's all the miniatures it came with:

We all sat at the table and turned to the first page, Modeh Ani 

Click Here for a Sample Page of Modeh Ani

We all sang Modeh Ani and began the discussion in the Teachers Guide about expressing Gratitude to Hashem for waking up, we spoke about how we charge our iPads over night so they're at 100% in the morning, the same thing happens with our Neshamas. 

We then discussed how Scuba divers go exploring the Ocean floor for hours at a time, but they need to come back up to the surface to refill their oxygen tanks, just like us when we go to sleep. Thats how we refill our tanks. And when we wake up, we say 'Thank you Hashem for refilling my Oxygen tank!' 

And then we had an adorable Scuba toy to pass around and play with and make the lesson so much more tangible.

Each Tefillah has its own page with the Tefillah written in Hebrew, Transliterated and Translated into English. Then there is an adorable poem explaining what it means and how we can personalize and connect to it. The toys are the cherries on top.

Here are a few of our favorites:

Thank You Hashem for opening my eyes every morning! 

Kids love wearing their funny glasses for this Bracha and they really understand it.

Thank You Hashem for giving Strength to the Weak! 

We went around and saw who had the most strength by blowing the ball the highest.

Thank You Hashem for Straightening us Up- this little Bendy Guy is too much fun, we bent him and straightened him reenacting how we wake up and stand upright.

Thank You Hashem for not making us a Slave- we have the FREEDOM to be the best Jews we can be! Just like a bird is free to fly high, we have the freedom to reach high levels!

Its just so interactive and hands on and the kids GET IT- they really do. 

Morning Brachos are not 'just brachos' anymore. They actually understand that they have SO much to be thankful for and it is such a beautiful way for them to connect to Hashem.

I highly recommend My Tefillah Box as it really has enhanced our davening experience and I am sure it will yours. 

Click Here to Purchase My Tefillah Box 

Click Here to Purchase My Tefillah Box 

And Click Here to LIKE their Facebook Page and to win a FREE My Tefillah Box!

This is such a fabulous asset to a Jewish Homeschool Curriculum.

I am sure you will enjoy it as much as we have!

Have a wonderful Shabbos

Always,

Sweet Book Review and Davening Chart

I was recently given the pleasure of review two very wonderful Jewish childrens' books. 

The Tattered Prayer Book  is a gentle introduction to the Holocaust for children ages 6-10. Ruthie discovers a secret about her father, while looking through a box of mementos from the ‘old country.’ As her father tells his surprising story, Ruthie learns a piece of her father’s story, a slice of Jewish history and the circumstances under which the family fled Nazi Germany.  

The illustrations in this book are beautiful and it really gives the child a very gentle yet clear view of the difficulty during those times. It is not written from a religious perspective, but I found it really beautiful how once the father starts telling his daughter about this Siddur that he rescued from a burnt Shul you can feel the love that he once had for his precious heritage. You can purchase this book here.

Shabbat in the Playroom is a really sweet little story about Shira who's family is not religious. She learns all about Shabbat at school and asks her parents if they can celebrate Shabbat at home, to which they respond that they are too busy. 

Shira then decides to celebrate Shabbat with her dolls in her playroom and creates an entire Shabbat table using all her toys. When her parents see this, they realize how much this means to her and begin to celebrate Shabbat.

The only issue I had with this book was that she made Yalmukahs out of napkins for her dolls and she used one for herself. My kids didn't really notice it as it could look like a doily that some women use when lighting Shabbat candles, but I thought it would be important to mention that. You can purchase this book here.

*****

Another thing I wanted to mention was something I started doing with my kids that is working out really well.

While I really don't believe in rewarding kids for doing things that they should be doing (learning, davening) I found that they are sometimes 'less enthusiastic' about davening so I wanted to do something that doesn't give immediate reward, but enough of an incentive that they get a little more excited to do it. Here's what I came up with:

During davening, I give out these raffle tickets to the kids who are looking inside their Siddur and singing nicely and clearly. Even my 4 year who doesn't know most of the tefilos likes to sit in and pretend he's saying the words now that he can get raffle tickets.

After we finish davening, everyone writes their names on their tickets and we have a raffle where a different kid picks the name out of Daddy's hat every day. 

Each child has their own Raffle chart like the one below and each time they win a raffle, they stick their winning ticket onto their chart. Once they fill in all 10 boxes with winning raffle tickets, they get a prize. Although they know this may take a while, they really love the excitement of doing the raffle every morning.

This is more of a summer thing that I am sure will ultimately lose its momentum, but we will keep doing it as long as the kids are enjoying it! You can Click Here to download a Pdf of these charts to print out for yourself. I laminated both of them and the kids use dry erase markers to write their names on their tickets.

Hope you are ready for a fabulous summer~

Have a wonderful week,

Always,