7 Ways to Get Kids Involved at the Passover Seder

Passover time is upon us and it's an important time of year to be with family and enjoy a meal rich with tradition. 

Sometimes the seder can be long and a bit boring for kids, so we have several ways to get the kids involved and included in preparing the decorations, making gifts for guest, acting out the story and even dressing up like the 10 plagues of Egypt! 

 

passover crafts

 

1.  Ask guests to dress up like the plagues;

Wear red for "blood".
Wear green to be a frog or buy plastic frogs and attach them to your clothes.
Dress up as a cow for the cattle plague.
Mess up your hair and put lice combs in it for lice plague.
Dog flies can be represented by dressing up as a dog and wearing a flea collar around your wrist.
Boils can be created using makeup on your face and arms.
Buy plastic bugs from the dollar store and pin them to your clothes for locusts.
Hail can be fun by using styrofoam balls and attaching them with velcro to clothes and hair.
Wear black for "Darkness".
Pretend to be pregnant or bring a baby doll for "First born son".

Ask your guests to stand up when their "plague" is talked about in Hagaddah.  

 

2.  Decorations:

Using plants in your house, add red "flames" with tissue paper for the Burning Bush.

Buy blue plastic shower curtains at the dollar store to "part" the sea at your doorway (add fish and sea creatures for fun!)

Make a diorama telling the Passover story.

Make baby Moses or use baby dolls to show him in the basket.

Decorate the table with frogs, hail, locusts, etc. to demonstrate the 10 Plagues.

 

3. Get the kids to make their own seder plates.  Here are 11 different ways to make a special plate using paper plates, tissue paper, mod podge and even denture cream!

 making a passover plate

 

 

4.  Get one child each year to help hide the afikoman and get the others to make a list of where they plan to check!  Get even more creative by making maps to find it during the Seder! 

 

 

5.  Bake matzoh treats with the kids!

Martha Stewart has a great recipe for Chocolate Matzoh or make a Matzoh House

 matzoh house for passover

 

 

6.  Dance like the women crossing the Red Sea and create musical instruments to play.  Homemade tamborines and shakers are perfect for a Passover dance.  Decorate with Passover symbols and stickers.

 

making instruments for Passover

 

7.  Decorate a glass for Elijah and for each guest at the table.

making cups for passover

 

1. Start with a plastic wine glass or goblet, which you can buy at a party supply store or dollar store.  Older kids might want to use a real wine glass found at the dollar store.
2. Let kids decorate the glass with rhinestones, glitter, glitter glue, sequins and stickers to embellish it. Be sure to write Elijah's name on one glass.

While there only needs to be one cup for Elijah, each child can make his own drinking container for the traditional four cups of wine (or in their case, grape juice) during the Seder meal. Just make sure the embellishments are not too close to the top of the cup.

photo credit

Ideas inspired by Jill Berman.

We wish you and your family a Happy Passover!

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St. Patrick's Day Shenanigans and Fun for Kids

St. Patrick’s Day is a celebration of the patron saint of Ireland, St. Patrick.  It is a national holiday in the Republic of Ireland and in Northern Ireland, and around the world it is marked informally as a celebration of Irish culture and history.  Traditional symbols associated with St. Patrick’s Day celebrations include the shamrock, whose three leaves are thought to represent the Holy Trinity, the colour green, rainbows, and of course pots of gold and leprechauns. According to Irish folklore, a leprechaun is a mischievous type of fairy who spends his time making shoes in the forest, and hides his gold in pots at the end of a rainbow. If a human captures a leprechaun, the leprechaun must grant the captor three wishes or show where his gold is hidden in order to be released. 

 st. patrick's day fun

 

From starting the day with green pancakes, to treasure hunts, parades, rainbow experiments and shamrock crafts, there are many fun ways to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day with your kids. One of my favourites is to engage in leprechaun shenanigans throughout the day. 

You can bring the magic and mischief of the leprechaun into your house this St. Patrick’s Day with these easy ideas:

 

- Squeeze a few drops of green food colouring into the bottom of your child’s cereal, and then cover the food colouring with dry cereal.  When you or your child adds milk to the cereal, it will magically turn green
- Place a shamrock sticker or temporary tattoo on your little one’s face or hand while she’s sleeping
- Turn picture frames upside down
- Hide everyday objects in unexpected places.  Your child might find a shoe in the fridge, a teddy in the plants, or Dad’s clothes in her closet
- If each member of your family has a regular seat at the table, change the placemats around, or set your spot with your toddler’s cutlery (just make sure your little one doesn’t get yours!)
- Use repositionable tape to attach leprechaun hats or shamrocks onto pictures of family members
- Pour out some of your child’s regular cereal, and add Lucky Charms to the box.  Cover the Lucky Charms with a thin layer of regular cereal.  When the cereal is poured, there will be a special surprise
- Change name plaques on your kids’ bedroom doors
- Stick scraps of green felt in the doorway, or on a window sill as evidence that the leprechaun made a hasty escape
- Hide a few chocolate coins around the house.  Think of unexpected places like inside a glove, a backpack pocket, or inside a toy car
- Replace shoelaces with green ribbon
- Carefully peel off a portion of the aluminum foil covering a single serve container of vanilla yogurt. Stir in a few drops of green food colouring, use a dab of non-toxic glue to reattach the foil, and allow your child to open the yogurt and discover the surprise.
- Draw shamrocks, leprechaun hats, or rainbows on bathroom mirrors with window crayons or dry erase markers
- Change the ringtone on your phone to Irish music
- Sprinkle gold dust (gold glitter) near the door
- Empty a box of crayons, and refill it with only green crayons

 

Whether you are of Irish heritage or not, may the luck of the Irish be with you this March 17th!

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Books about Exploring - Little Explorers curriculum theme for toddlers and preschoolers

momstown's going exploring with our Little Explorers curriculum theme! We've got 5 books to kick off this theme and share with toddlers and preschoolers who are ready to explore their world both indoors and out!  Don't forget to grab some healthy on-the-go snacks before you head out exploring!

 

little explorers

 

Explorer Extraordinaire (Fancy Nancy)  by Jane O’Connor   

Fancy Nancy starts an explorer club! She and her best friend Bree explore insects, flowers, birds, leaves, and the nature all around them. Find out just how fancy the outdoors can be!


It’s Raining, It’s Pouring, We’re Exploring  by Polly Peters   

When it’s raining outside, three children decide they can go exploring inside... with their imaginations! Written in rhyme and with colourful illustrations, this story highlights the magic of imaginative play, and children will be able to connect to how they play at home!

 

Let’s Explore, Moose!  by Audrey Fraggalosch   

Moose is teaching her baby how to explore his forest home. The moose baby explores the forest, finds new animals, learns to swim, and discovers new foods to eat. When Spring comes, the baby is now a young moose, and can live and explore on his own.

 

Dora’s Cousin Diego   Nickelodeon/Leslie Valdes   

Everyone's favourite explorers – Dora and Diego – are off to explore and save baby jaguar before he plunges into the waterfall. Children can participate by making animal noises, counting, and of course warding off Swiper! 
 

We’ll All Go Exploring by Maggee Spicer and Richard Thompson   

Three friends go exploring in the ‘world of trees’ and find different kinds of trees and different animals living in each one. Simple text written in rhyme, the tree pages open up to reveal the animals living within them. The imaginary forest contains trees and animals from all over the world (maple, gum, jungle, mangrove). Great book for all ages – colourful illustrations will captivate young ones and the older children will enjoy seeing different animals and learning about different types of trees.

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momstown chapters read The Very Hungry Bear

momstown chapters across Canada embraced our Polar Animals curriculum theme this month, with a great story brought us by Scholastic for our Tales for Tots program - The Very Hungry Bear!

 

the very hungry bear

 

The little ones loved the story of sharing and friendship between a brown bear and a polar bear.

 

 

A very young reader from momstown Guelph!

 

 

momstown Burlington got creative after the storytime, and made their own chalk polar bears - a great low-mess activity that kids of all ages can do!

 

 

momstown Central Alberta's readers pulled out the props to make this story really interactive for the kids!

 

momstown is proud to partner with Scholastic Canada - our partnership enables momstown communities across the country to offer great programs like Tales for Tots, bring a literacy element to Baby Basics, and offer Contes pour les boux d'choux in French. Join your local community today to experience one of our early literacy programs with your child!

 

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Five Little Chicks: How to Make an Washcloth Chick

Easter means new life, bunnies, eggs, springtime and baby chicks and we have all the crafts to help decorate your home and teach your child about this season! 

 

We love this craft for moms who have some basic stitching knowledge or those who want to learn!

 

Materials:

yellow washcloths

scraps of orange and black felt

embroidery floss

ribbon

 

Directions:

See the full tutorial instructions from "Own Two Hands" for this chick and an adorable bunny (using a white washcloth) as well!

 

As the tutorial recommends, I hand stitched the folds of the faces together to give them a bit more of a solid look, and stitched on the eyes and beaks for durability and safety, but if you wanted to use your chicks as washcloths again it would be simple to take the stitches out, or to simply rely on the folds.  Similarly, you could stick the faces on removable glue, or just tack them down with one or two stitches.

 5 little chicks- diy washcloth chicks

 

There are many ways to play with this fun chicks;

 

1.  They were perfect for "beanbag" toss game at our Easter party (the shape made them particularly easy for little hands to hold).

2.  Play catch with them.

3.  Create stories and use the chicks to act it out or use them as "puppets". 

4.  Practice colours and counting.

5.  They are great to use as prompts while reading rhymes too

 

Here is one that is particularly appropriate:

Five Little Chicks

Five little chicks went walking one day (five fingers up, change to fingers walking motion)
Into the barn and around the hay (walking fingers with wide round motion).
Mother hen says, "Cluck, cluck, cluck, CLACK!"  (Hands palm together to open like a beak)
And 4 little chicks come wandering back.


Four little chicks ....
Three little chicks ...
Two little chicks ...

One little chick went walking one day
Into the barn and around the hay
Mother hen says, "Cluck, cluck, cluck, CLACK!"
And 5 little chicks come wandering back.

 


I’m a Little Chickie (Sung to the Tune of "I’m a Little Teapot")


I'm a little chickie, (crouch down inside your egg)
Ready to hatch
Pecking at my shell (Pecking motion)
Scratch, scratch, scratch! (scratching motion)
When I crack it open,
Out I'll leap (jump out of shell)
Flap my wings and, cheap, cheap, cheap!

 

Happy Easter from momstown Calgary

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Our Favourite Pinterest Easter Crafts

We love to spend time on Pinterest and search for some new holiday craft ideas to share with momstown moms.  We have already shared our momstown top 16 Easter crafts with you, as well as our favourite Easter snacks!

 

This month we have looked for the cutest, simple Easter crafts to make with your kids.  Be sure to follow momstown on Pinterest for the best crafts, recipes and ideas for your family!

 

1.  Visit your local paint store for the bright or pastel shades that remind you of Easter and springtime.  Cut them into egg shapes and staple or glue a beautiful wreath!

 

Easter paper wreath

 

2.  Feeling ambitious?  Then you will want to try these incredible egg creations Store them safely and they can be brought out each year at Eastertime and placed in a glass vase or turned into a garland.

 

egg creations

 

 

3.  How cute are these coloured cotton ball bunnies???  Foam ears, feet, teeth and whiskers with google eyes complete these adorable little guys.  Not only are these a cute decoration, but could be used as characters in a puppet show!

 

cotton ball bunny craft

 

4.  Using recycled materials is our favourite way to teach our kids about reusing- try this coffee tin Bunny that can be personalized and used to collected eggs on Easter morning!

 

coffee tin bunny

 

5.  Handprint and handmade cards are so lovely to give grandparents, teachers or siblings.  These are some of the cutest ones we found "Somebunnies love you"!

 

handprint easter card

 

6.  Create this sweet chick using your child's hands.  Simple to make and using items you already have at home!  What a cute decoration- For full instructions- click here.  An alternative is to use your child's hands dipped in paint.

 

easy chick craft for easter

 

handprint chick craft

 

 

 

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