Gimmel Tammuz- The Chabad Rebbe's 16th Yahrtzeit

In honor and memory of the Rebbe's 16th Yartzeit, we made our own picture frames for a picture of the Rebbe- I gave the munchkins glue, Popsicle sticks, markers, colored paper and foam Alef Bet letters and they each made their own creations... check them out:)

We got this magnet set as a gift from friends of ours- it is just fabulous- my Little Einstein made an airplane filled with passengers and he pretty much did most of it by himself- the only thing is that there are small pieces so make sure no little curious toddlers are around when playing!

Some Summer Jewish Activities

Since we concentrate on the Jewish Holidays and Parshah during the school year, we will be doing some fun activities, with a Jewish and meaningful twist~~~

We read about the Parshah every week, simply because Little Einstein loves loves loves it- and will throw in a Parshah project here and there, but here are some all round fun Jewish ideas:

My 5 Senses do Mitzvos!

• make a book of the 5 senses, one sense per page and make or find pictures of different mitzvos you do with each of the senses
• make a cutout person out of large construction paper and attach a mitzvah to each part of the body that that part performs
• using a mirror, help your cutie make a self portrait and discuss each part of the face and how each part does different mitzvos
• using glue and beans, have your cutie write their name on paper with the glue then glue the beans to make "braille" explaining what braille is and how it helps blind people see

Tzedakah!

• Using half water, half white vinegar, and YOUR supervision! clean pennies- your cutie will be amazed at how shiny and clean the copper gets
• Use an empty container (coffee, chocolate powder, matzah meal- any container with a lid) and decorate it with paint, tissue paper, markers etc. to make their own tzedakah box. Fill it through out the summer and at the end of the summer, go with your cutie to give the money to a place that needs it so they can see that all the money they collected is actually going to help someone

Mezuzah!

• show the cuties a real mezuzah and whats written on the parchment
• get feathers and paint and let cuties write with feathers on paper just like a sofer writes mezuzos
• out of clay, make a mezuzah case then paint it

Kosher!

• Collect old wrappers from kosher products and make a collage with all the different kosher signs
• cut out pictures of dairy and meat products from magazines and stick them in 2 different sections (one red, one blue)
• "Magnet Fishing" make fishing rods out of a stick, yarn and a magnet at the end. Make kosher fish with fins and scales and unkosher fish (octopus, eel, crab etc) and attach paper clips to them. Let the cuties go "fishing" and divide whatever they catch into kosher and unkosher piles

Brachot!

• Make copies from The Very Hungry Caterpillar (by Eric Carle) of all the foods he ate. Then make a book or chart with the different brachot and cut and paste each food into the various columns or pages

I hope to post some photos as we do each project~ Happy summer to all!

Fabulous Parshah reader for Little Ones

My First Parshah Reader- check it out at http://www.judaism.com/display.asp?etn=BDECF
We read it everyday, my little Einstein loves it- it is simple, highlights the highlights on the Parshah and has pictures- I highly recommend it!

And then as they get older, The Little Midrash Says- alot of stories and really great! http://www.amazon.com/Little-Midrash-Says-Torah-portion-Midrashim/dp/B00071NC2K/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1274945615&sr=1-6

Shavuot Arts 'n Crafts and Books to read

Some fabulous Jewish books to read with a connection to Shavuot:

A Dozen Daizies for Raizy- A Shavuos Story by Rebecca Kempner

When the World was Quiet by Phyllis Nutkis

The Dancing Shul by Chaim Folgelman

Five Alive by Dina Rosenveld

We also listened to Uncle Moishy - Around the Jewish Year while doing our arts 'n crafts

Our Own Torah's

We made our own Torahs, everyone put something from the Torah inside their scroll and then decorated a cover. We used foam Alef Bet letters and shapes and sequins

Our Own Har Sinai

We used a foam half circle as Har Sinai and used plastic flowers to push in all around it. We then made Luchos out of scrapbooking paper and stuck Alef Bet stickers on them

Time to Count the Omer!

OK, I admit we were 15 days late in making our Sefirah chart, but better late then never, right:)

So I took a bulletin board and put green constunction paper on the bottom for the grass, blue on the top for the sky and a brown mountain for Har Sinai in the middle.

We layed it down on the floor in middle of the room so the munchins (age 4 and 2.5) had complete access to the entire board.

We talked about how there was a fence around the mountain, flowers on the mountain, lighting in the sky, how we eat dairy on Shavuos etc.

I then gave them the goods:

• popsicle sticks to make a fence
• stickers of flowers, ice-cream, kids, butterflies and a few other stickers (they love stickers)
• a pre-cut Torah to stick on the top of the mountain with Alef Bais letters to stick on the Torah
• pieces of thin paper to make lightning with
• glue and tape

The kids did all the work, by themselves. They glued on the fence, stuck on the stickers, the Torah, the lightning. I helped them make a sign that says "Sefirat HaOmer" and a countdown chart on the mountain that we put a shiny star of David sticker on every day to count.

I used a permanent marker to write a number on each sticker so we can keep track of where we are up to.

We hung it up in our playroom and the munchkins are so proud of it!