Looking for fun and easy Passover crafts for kids? Check out these creative and festive ideas to keep your little ones busy during the holiday!
Introduction To Passover And Its Significance
Passover, or Pesach in Hebrew, is one of the Jewish religion’s most sacred and widely observed holidays. It commemorates the story of the Israelites’ departure from ancient Egypt and slavery during the reign of the Pharaoh Ramses II . Passover is one of the most important holy days in Judaism.
The dates of Passover change every year because the Hebrew calendar is not the same as our modern calendar. Passover often falls in April and is from the fourteenth day of the month in the evening, until the twenty-first day of the month in the evening. It is celebrated for eight days because although the Israelites left Egypt on the first day of Passover, they were chased by Pharaoh’s army for a whole week.
Each family will have its own unique Passover customs, just like we have our own Christmas customs based on the main theme:
The house is cleaned of chametz (food and drink containing yeast or baking powder) to remind Jews of the flat loaves the ancient Jews baked in the sun for their hasty escape. All leavened foods are replaced with matzo (flat square crackers) for the whole week of Passover.
The Sedar plate is a large round plate with six indentations. to hold the following items –
- An egg, which is a sign of new life
- Bitter herbs to remind us of the ancient Jews’ hard lives
- Parsley to represent spring (dipped in salt water depicting Jewish people’s tears)
- Charoset, a sweet mixture of apples and honey that represents the mortar used by the enslaved Jews
- A shank bone as a reminder of the slaughtered lambs
- Lettuce or horseradish to symbolize the enslaved Jews’ bitter lives
The Haggadah
Which is the Passover book that everyone follows along with at dinner as the leader recites it. This text features the story of the Exodus along with prayers and songs to complete the observance.
The kiddush cup
A kiddush cup represents the prophet Elijah’s empty spot. It’s believed that Elijah will announce a time of peace for our world. Peace is reached when people are free of slavery and social injustice, so a cup out so that he knows he is welcome and to arrive.
The Passover Story for Kids
Over 3000 years ago the ruler of Egypt (who was called a Pharaoh) used the ancient Jewish people (who were called Israelites) as slaves, they had to do his bidding. It was a very hard life, he didn’t pay them and gave them very little food. He even killed Babies.
One Jewish mother, afraid that her baby would die, put him in a basic and floated him down the River Nile. He was discovered by the The Pharaoh’s daughter who named him Moses, and became his mother. Moses was safe and became a prince. When Moses grew up, he discovered who he really was and worked with God to free his people, the Israelites.
God sent a series of 10 plagues to Egypt. The water turned to blood, frogs swarmed, there was an itchy lice infestation, wild animals roamed the cities, the cows died, the people got boils (terrible sores on their skin), there were hail storms, swarms of locusts ate the crops, and the sun went away for three days. But the Pharo still was evil.
Finally, God had no choice but to intend to kill the firstborn of both man and beast. To protect themselves, the Israelites were told to mark their dwellings with lamb’s blood so that the angel of death would pass over their homes. After this devastation, the Pharaoh finally relented. “Go! Leave!” he yelled. The Israelites were happy but mistrustful of Pharaoh, afraid he would go back on his word again. They quickly grabbed dough before it had time to rise and followed Moses into the desert with only this “matzo” to provide them sustenance.
On the seventh day of their journey, they came upon the massive Red Sea. They were exhausted, and the water was too vast to swim across. That’s when God gave Moses the power to part the water by raising his arm. The Jewish people crossed the water through this path, and when the army followed, the path closed, and the sea drowned Pharaoh’s soldiers.
Once the Israelites were safe, Miriam, Moses’ sister, led a group of women in gleeful song and dance. Their positive energy was contagious and the ancient Jews rejoiced in their newfound freedom. For the next 40 years, they travelled through the desert until they reached Israel, where they enjoyed liberty.
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Benefits Of Doing Crafts During Passover
As a non-Jewish person, the benefits for me and my children in doing Passover crafts mean that we learn and experience more about another faith. I have learned that crafting is a joyful, magical, and simple way for children to connect.
For Jewish children, Passover crafts are a great way to cement their faith and also learn more about what happened during the Passover in an age-appropriate way. Family’s Passover celebrations often involve many traditions and crafts and art is a great multi-generational way of sharing knowledge in an accessible way.
Matzah Cover
This beautiful kid-made no sew DIY Matzah Cover by Arial Loves is a great way to bring a personal touch to the Seder Table and how wonderful to bring it out year after year. I am a great believer in handmade, especially kid-made items bringing more meaning to traditions and celebrations.
DIY Seder Plate
I adore these DIY Sedar places by Brenda Ponnay, author of Secret Agent Josephine made for Tori Avery. She says in the post that you can not pop them in the dishwater, but if you use porcertlan paint pens like we did on our Christmas lights plate you can. I love that they have an explanation of what each of the elements represent so you can learn more. You could also plant your own seder plate on a paper plate before hand or with younger children.
Mons and crafters show you how to make a felt seder plate here, which is brilliant for younger children.
Plague Puppets
These are a great way of introducing the ten plagues without being scary. I adore this finger puppet version, which are a free download when you sign up for the Jewish Together newsletter designed by Marni, the surface pattern designer behind Jewish Together. The Ten Plagues of Egypt in Order are: water turning to blood, frogs, lice, flies, livestock pestilence, boils, hail, locusts, darkness, and the killing of firstborn children. I love this 10 plagues sorting bin!
With Love, Ima also has some great character puppets including Moses and Miriam that are coloring pages you cut out and mount on popsicle sticks. I think
Afikoman Bag
I love that this DIY Afikomen bag is made from recycling a paper grocery bag which makes it an eco project and really accessible.
It is customary in Ashkenazi communities for the children to attempt to “steal” the afikoman from the person leading the seder (who will hide it from them). A favorite time for such a “theft” is while the leader is washing his hands before the meal, and the “ransom” is usually the promise of presents. The custom encourages the children to keep awake during the seder .
Frogs
Another great way of talking about the Ten Plagues is to make egg carton frogs. They would make adorable Passover place settings.
You could also make Origami frogs which jump and a pretty mess-free craft and would make a great play toy too
Red Sea Diorama
I love this type of craft where you raid the recycling bin and pull out cardboard, toilet rolls and such and they turn into something wonderful and educational like this Red Sea diorama by Creative Jewish Moms. I also love that she shares images of the ones her original post inspired.
This could be a class activity or group activity and I can see so much conversation and learning based around this about the Jewish holidays.
Baby Moses in the river
This craft by Make it Jewish is just adorable and a great way to start the conversation about his journey with younger children and is a great accompaniment to The Moses Basket: A First Bible Story by Jenny Koralek