by Judith Broder Sellner Special To The Jewish Week
Chanukah is a perfect time to teach our children about our Jewish heritage and values in an atmosphere of pure joy, with the help of child-friendly, holiday-specific objects, activities, and games. Many of the items described here were shown at the New York International Gift Fair. You can find them in your favorite Judaica store, museum shop, or the gift department at larger stores.
Providing a light approach, Rochelle Stern/Regal Spectrum, importer of Judaica from Israel, has a delightful collection of matching ceramic tzedakah boxes and menorahs decorated with brightly colored, amusing animals. Why this combination? Stern refers to the lesson of teaching youngsters to donate dreidel game winnings to charity. When they light the menorah, kids also learn to think about giving tzedakah
— and remembering less fortunate children.
Mitzvah Family’s assortment of paint-your-own Chanukah projects will boost your children’s self-esteem when you frame and hang their paintings on canvas as decorations. Other d-i-y Chanukah projects for artistic youngsters from this company are glittery velvet bags, umbrellas, ceramic tzedakah boxes, mugs, and menorahs to keep or to use as gifts. All include washable paints or markers with brushes where required; some have glitter.
The writer’s 4 ½-year-old niece could not wait to fill in Pigment & Hue’s ten, Z-fold cards and send them to her friends. Chanukah All Around the World, from the company’s line of cards for kids to color, is packaged with four non-toxic crayons and features historic menorahs from various countries. Chanukah Facts and Fun, a set of 10 placemats with crayons, lets young artists share their coloring talents when family and friends gather at the table. The colored mats also make holiday wall decorations.
Beyond coloring and creating, games for older children will stretch their imagination, patience, and analytical skills. One contender is Brain Teasers for ages six and up from Jewish Educational Toys. When properly arranged, the tricky, nine-position square for one player reveals a picture of children engaged in Chanukah activities. Designs are also available for other holidays.
Puzzles are good, too. Pigment & Hue’s 24-piece Chanukah Menorah giant floor puzzle, 1 ½-by-2 feet, shows a menorah with four dreidels in a window against a starry sky. In the one-foot square, 30-piece, hand-crafted wooden puzzle from Melissa and Doug, children sit on the floor playing the dreidel game in front of a large menorah.
At the Jewish Museum’s Cooper Shop, www.thejewishmuseum.org, big is better when it comes to dreidels; soft and cuddly with big is even better. Enchant the under-four set with the 9-by-18-inch Oversized Fleece Dreidel with pieced-together panels of at least ten brilliant tones, or with the equally appealing 4-by-8-inch huggable Plush Dreidel. Both teach the tots colors and their first four Hebrew letters. It will be tough prying them away from these pillow-like decorations. Not as cuddly, but outsized and eye-catching as a decorative centerpiece, is a hand-made wooden dreidel combining light natural wood color with light and dark blue painted panels.
Toddlers can start to learn basic math and basic Chanukah with plush-covered My Very Own Chanukkah Counting Book, picturing popular symbols, including latkes, dreidels, and menorahs in appealing colors. Dexterity and colors are the ultimate lessons of The Stacking Wood Dreidel, with rainbow-colored wooden blocks to form a dreidel. Similar results accrue from the new Deluxe Soft Chanukah Set, with 14 colorful, plush pieces, in a clear plastic zipper bag.
You’ll find new, amusing and enchanting, menorahs with child appeal at both the Jewish Museum and the Museum of Jewish Heritage, www.mjhnyc.org. Karen Rossi’s laser-cut metal pieces, always catchy, include her new transportation menorah with a fire truck, school bus, police and passenger cars, and traffic signals, all seemingly in motion up a winding road. The blue metal moped with candles across the seat and the hand-painted folk art animal menorahs are winners. So is the train menorah pulling into the station. Youngsters will like the dogs, cats, and acrobats, ballerinas, the ‘60’s style blue metal bus, and the Israeli-made, long orange glass bus with people in the windows.
For infants who are too young to read, paint, color, light menorahs, or compete in games, Chanukah wear will appeal to gift givers who are not too young to read. Bibs include those inscribed “got latkes,” “got dreidels’” and the ever-popular “baby’s first Chanukah,” all with appropriately designed fabrics. The infant’s T-shirt, light blue with white lettering, reads “future dreidel champion.” What better wish at this season for a Jewish baby!
Check these Web sites for retail store information.
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