Preparing for the holidays requires some thinking about how to keep children engaged. There are plenty of holiday community events for families and kids all over the Bay Area. (Check out our list of events and volunteer opportunities here.) But what about at home?
These hands-on activities with holiday themes are sure to hold the interest of children ages 2-9, and you might be able to sneak in some educational value, too. In my decade of teaching, I found that most kids enjoy art, science or cooking — and sometimes all three.
All of these Rosh Hashanah projects require apples, but that’s no problem: It’s September, and all the apples you could hope for are perfectly in season. Take a field trip to your local grocery store or farmers market, and load up on supplies for High Holidays fun!
Art: Apple Stamping
Supplies:
- Apples
- Construction paper or similar heavyweight paper
- Washable, nontoxic kids’ paint
- Shallow dishes with water
- Cleaning supplies: aprons/clothes that can get messy, protective paper for your painting surface
Steps:
- Adults cut apples in half vertically, revealing the core. (Make sure kids know these apples are for painting, not eating. Cut up some extra apples for a snack, if you’d like!)
- Kids dip the cut side in paint, then stamp onto heavy paper.
- Rinse the stamps in the dishes of water between colors to avoid a muddy gray mess.
- Stamp to your heart’s content!
Optional discussion starters and extensions:
- Add tools like brushes, try using fingers, and test out other mediums like crayons, markers and colored pencils.
- Mix two colors to make a new color. Before mixing, ask kids to guess what color you’ll make. Do not mix more than two colors in one dish.
- How are apples related to this holiday? Among the numerous possible answers are: we eat them with honey for a sweet year, the seeds represent mitzvot, and the abundant seeds symbolize the “fruitful” Jewish people who we hope will continue to grow, generation after generation.
Science: Apple Taste Test
Steps:
- Collect at least three different apple varieties.
- Have kids taste each kind of apple and describe: red, green, crunchy, sweet, sour, juicy, etc.
- Vote on everyone’s favorite kind.
Optional discussion starters and extensions:
- Collect and write down adjectives to describe apples.
- Draw a picture, or write how many people voted for each apple type.
- Make a fruit salad with all of the varieties and guess which is which for each bite.
Cooking: Apples and Honey “Popsicles”
Supplies:
- Apple slices
- Honey
- Other toppings such as nut butter, raisins, chocolate chips, yogurt chips
- Skewers
- Cookie sheet and parchment paper
Steps:
- Arrange apple slices on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.
- Skewer each slice, laying it flat with a few inches between slices.
- Drizzle honey and other toppings over slices — each child can pick their own toppings!
- Freeze the cookie sheet for at least an hour so toppings solidify.
- Serve and eat before the toppings melt!
Optional discussion starters and extensions:
- Everyone make a popsicle for a different family member.
- How are apples related to this holiday? Among the numerous possible answers are: we eat them with honey for a sweet year, the seeds represent mitzvot, and the abundant seeds symbolize the “fruitful” Jewish people who we hope will continue to grow, generation after generation.
- Older children can help with cutting and skewering the apples (at parents’ discretion).