PARSHAT SHOFTIM

HANDPRINT TREE

This is my first attempt to do a parsha project while living in someone else's house in Israel, without our stuff, feeling very unsettled. My connection to the internet is sketchy. I don't have any of my basic art supplies. And, I am not a car ride away from Michael's! But, thankfully, Israel does have a surprising number of little craft stores. At this point, I limited myself to buying some basic paper and paints. I don't even know what kind of paints I bought, if they are washable, etc, but we will use them outside and they will have to do.

In this week's parsha, there is the prohibition against destroying fruit-bearing trees because "haadam etz hasadeh." We talked about how trees and people are alike and how we have to be kind to both. We made these pretty tree prints using our forearms, hands, and fingers.





On Shabbat, a bunch of kids were whacking a tree and Maya came over to me and whispered in my ear: "They are not being nice to the tree like it says in the Parsha." That's my little Goody Two-Shoes!

PARSHAT DEVARIM

GLITTER STARS

PARSHAT MATOT-MASAI

COTTON BALL SHEEP

In an email to the editor of Challah Crumbs, I wrote "Parshat Matot stinks for kids crafts ideas…Ill see what I can come up with but I am not optimistic…" The parsha spends alot of time on vows and war and I was not very inspired. For preschoolers, I am looking for concrete objects like people, stars, food, clothing, or animals - especially animals. So, I looked again and I found...sheep! In Parshat Matot, the tribes of Reuven and Gad ask Moshe for the lands east of the Jordon so that they can have more land for their cattle. So, all I had to do was figure out how to make lots and lots of sheep!

Thankfully - yet again - not only do Christian Sunday School teachers love donkeys, they also love sheep (Jesus is the good shephard, the parable of the lost sheep..) Lamb crafts are especially popular for Easter time.

So, luckily, I had an easy time finding a sheep craft that used all stuff that we already had at home - toilet paper rolls and cotton balls. I wanted to do a model one for Challah Crumbs but I couldn't exactly remember what a sheep should look like. Andy reminded me of the image from the mattress commercials:



Our version came out super cute:





I used a mini-plastic kiddush wrapped in black felt for the nose. I have no idea why we had this grassy material in the house but it made for perfect pastureland...

PARSHAT PINCHAS

DAUGHTERS OF TZELAFCHAD PAPER DOLL CHAIN

Since my "classroom" is made of two little girls- who also happen to be my daughters - it was a pretty easy decision for me to focus on the story of the Daughters of Tzelafchad narrated in this week's parsha.

I decided to do paper dolls again since they are easy and the girls just love doing dress-up doll things. This time though I decided to get some scraps of materials so that we could make them fancy skirts and dresses.



For some reason, Maya really enjoyed learning the names of the five girls - Machlah, No'ah, Chaglah, Milkah and Tirtzah. She decided which "doll" was which girl and we wrote their names on their backs. On a whim, I put a few pieces of magnet tape on the back of the dolls so now they hang on our fridge and we are reminded and inspired by their "feminist revolution!"

PARSHAT BALAK

DONKEY PUPPET

We are big fans of this Parsha since Andy is its g-dcast narrator. Check it out! Needless to say, the girls have watched their father's cartoon numerous times so they know this parsha has something to do with a donkey.

Anyway, you can't NOT do a donkey craft for Parshat Balak! Thankfully, there were a million donkey craft ideas on the internet, thanks yet again, to the Christian Bible. Apparently, Christians are very into donkeys since Jesus apparently spent alot of time riding on one. There is even an entire website called Bible Donkeys.

Kids love talking animals and they love puppets so this seemed like the perfect opportunity for a good old-fashioned paper bag puppet. I think that he came out super cute. I would listen to what he had to say...

PARSHAT CHUKAT

PAPER PLATE SPIRAL SNAKES

Crafting a red heifer (or a parah adumah) seems like the most obvious idea from this week's parsha, especially after seeing Julie Seltzer's parah adumah challah! But, I couldn't imagine trying to explain the concepts of tumah and taharah as they relate to this ritual!

So, instead, we focused on another weird animal story in the parsha. Its short, so I will just quote the whole thing here:

And G-d sent poisonous snakes among the people, and they bit the nation, and many perished of the people of Israel. And the people came to Moshe, and they said, “we have sinned, because we spoke against G-d and against you; pray to G-d that He take away from us the snakes.” And Moshe prayed on behalf of the nation. And G-d said to Moshe, “make for yourself a snake and put it on a pole, and it will be that anyone bitten will see it, and live.” And Moshe made a copper snake (nachash nechoshet), and set it on a high pole, and it was that if a snake bit a man, and he stared at the copper snake, that he lived. Numbers 21:6-9

The most obviously problematic aspect of this passage is that the copper snake seems kinda idolatrous-y, no? Well, apparently, as long as the command to fashion objects out of precious metals comes directly from God - like the Keruvim - then it is not avodah zara.

So, it was snakes for us instead of cows. I found this VERY easy and fun way to make snakes. All you need is a cheap paper plate. My original plan was to make just the copper snake but that didn't go so well. First of all, I didn't have any copper-colored anything. So, I used the leftover gold glitter paint that we had (close enough). But, I was impatient and didn't wait for it to dry so it was a big mess but you can get the idea...



Then I decided that this project was so easy that we should just make a whole bunch of snakes, poisonous and all. I realized that the easiest thing to do is to use markers when the paper plate is still intact and THEN cut it in a spiral shape. The results are really cute:





We made and hung lots of snakes and they are still up in our dining room. And, now I have a package of paper plates that are great for puppets, masks, etc.

I was very excited to see another "mama" do this parsha project over at Adventures in Mama-Land - yay!

PARSHAT KORACH

AARON'S BLOSSOMING STAFF

Yes, I am a little behind schedule. But, it is not because we haven't been doing Parsha Projects around here. Lehefech - just the opposite. We have been all Parsha, all the time. Between working for g-dcast and helping out at Challah Crumbs, there seems to be only so much time I can dedicate to thinking, writing, and crafting about the Parsha. So, actually working with my own kids on Parsha has suffered a bit - mainly in my taking the time to photograph their works in progress, which of course I think is the best part of this blog!

My first idea for this week's parsha was to somehow recreate the earth swallowing up Korach and his followers. Some kind of volcano or earthquake science project? But, I decided (once again) that this wasn't one of the narratives I was jumping to tell my kids.

So, instead I focuses on a brief episode in the Parsha in which Aaron's rod of staff, representing the holy tribe of Levi, "puts forth buds, produced blossoms, and bore ripe almonds (Bamidbar 17:8). My kids already think of staffs as very biblical objects - they associate them with Pharaoh and Moses.

Making the staff was SUPER easy. I just used electrical tape to wrap two paper towel rolls and attach them together:



Then, I glued on pink tissue paper flowers and leaf and almond shapes cut out of foam paper.





It came out very pretty and it now lives in the playroom where the girls use it in various forms of dress-up and make believe.

In retrospect, I might have chosen to use real leaves, flowers, and almonds to decorate the rod. That certainly would have expanded the project since we could have spent time collecting these things outside. But, on the other hand, such a project would have been trashed by now...

PARSHAT SHELACH

ISRAEL MAP MOSAIC

Two public service announcements:
1) I have added a sidebar that lists the entries from this blog according to CRAFT which I think is a nifty idea.
2) I have received a very nice shout-out from homeshuling. Thank you!

This week's parsha is all about the 12 spies being sent into the Land of Israel to check it out. Basically, the Land gets mixed reviews. I assume that the timing of this parsha with the controversial news now coming out of Israel will be the source for many a Rabbi's sermon this week.

This parsha is especially relevant for our family since we are moving to Israel this summer. In addition, we feel somewhat like "scouts" on behalf of other American families who we hope will join us in building a new community in the Negev. (Please come!!!)

So, I wanted to make a map of Israel with the girls this week. A long time ago, I had flipped through Rosie O'Donnel's book Crafty U at Barnes and Noble (no, I didn't buy it) and came across this project and it had stuck with me ever since. So, one sleepless night (there are many of those nowadays), I decided that I would use dried beans and the like to design the map of Israel.

I did a trial run of this without the kiddos since I had to get the idea into Challah Crumbs and I wanted to experiment a bit.

First, I tried to figure out what I could use for the blue of the waters. When I came up empty, I decided that I would have to dye or paint the food items. Having no idea how to do this - guess what - I googled. I learned that the best method for dyeing dried pasta is to put the pasta in a big ziploc, add a few drops of food coloring, and one teaspoon of rubbing alcohol. Priding myself in actually possessing (and locating) all of those items in my home, I tried it and it worked easily and perfectly. I dyed white rice blue and Israeli couscous (I thought that was a cute touch) green.



I then cut up an old Huggies diaper box as my base.



I drew an outline of the map of Israel - copying from images that I found online.



Then, I just starting gluing section by section...







...until, walla -


I was surprised and thrilled by how it came out. The girls freaked out when they saw that I had "done Parsha" without them. We ultimately did do this project together but, let's just say that they used a little more poetic license than I did.

Maya decided that she wanted to do a rainbow, but she said that it was a rainbow IN Israel. Close enough, I guess.





Avital, well, she just went freestyle...



Although, as always, it was challenging for me to "let go" and allow them to play, I did let them do as many mosaics as they wanted and we now have a nice collection.



Now, how do I tell them that these will NOT be going with us to Israel...

BEHAALOTCHA

Menorah Shapes and Game

Exciting news for those of you who would actually like to USE the ideas that I post here but are frustrated because they are always posted only AFTER the week's Parsha...my Parsha crafts will now be available on a new website called "Challah Crumbs!" This website was recently created by a friend of mine who lives in Israel and she asked me to contribute my Parsha craft ideas. I am thrilled to do this but the only catch is that I have to get them to her a week IN ADVANCE - challenging for me since my ideas have typically been brainstormed the night before or the morning of... So now, I I will just continuously be teaching my kids the parsha for the upcoming week (they don't know the difference!) So, check out the website and you can already see NEXT week's project...amazing. You will still have to look at this blog if you want to hear my parental and educational musings and photos of my cute kids.

Parshat Behaalotcha is chock-full of good stuff but I decided to focus on the first few verses which describe the commandment for Aaron to light up the Menorah in the Mishkan. The Menorah seemed like an obvious choice for a project. I immediately started googling images of the Menorah but realized that I wouldn't be able to use any of them for the "Challah Crumbs" website because of copyright issues. So, I a proud to say that I just went ahead and designed my own in a word document using auto-shapes. I think it came out pretty darn good for someone who is not a graphic designer!

My idea was to make the Menorah using basic shapes like circles and triangles and let the girls cut out and glue these shapes onto the Menorah to fill it in.





Maya was able to do this but Avital was happy just coloring in the picture...



Then, we were ready to play the game - "Pin the flame on the Menorah!" Since we did this project on a Sunday morning, it was a family affair...

BAMIDBAR

TRIBAL FLAGS AND MUFFINS

It feels good to start a new sefer! I feel relieved and re-energized by starting Sefer Bamidbar. This parsha has lots of lists and numbers but it also introduces us to the concept of the 12 tribes and the design of the encampment in the desert which is fun and interesting.

The girls were already familiar with the concept of the 12 sons from Parshat Vayetze so I now wanted to introduce them to the concept of the twelve tribes that ultimately descended from those original twelve. The word "tribe" was surprisingly tough to explain to Maya - I used lots of metaphors like family, group, etc. We looked at pictures of how the Machane (camp) was laid out. I mainly used this one that I found in the text of a dvar torah on Bar Ilan's website by Gabi Cohen:



Then, we moved onto flag making. I found these great little images of the tribes' symbols. We simply colored them in, cut them out, and attached them onto toothpicks.





This made for a great project but I also wanted to demonstrate where the tribes were situated. In a stroke of genius, I realized that muffin tins contain the magic number 12! I was going to make cupcakes with frosting but since we always have rotting bananas laying around, we made chocolate chip banana muffins instead (at least they sound healthier)



When the muffins were cool, we placed three muffins (we pretended they were tents!) to the North, three to the South, three to the West, and three to the East.



Finally, we put our flags into our muffin-tents.







I am not always thrilled with how our projects turn out, but this one was definitely a winner. As always, the best part of the project for the kids was EATING it!

EMOR

OMER CALENDAR

Sometimes I think that I am learning more about Christianity working on these projects than Judaism. Let me explain.

In contrast to Parshat Tazria, when doing an Omer project would have been a cop-out, this week's parsha actually includes the mitzvah of counting the days between Pesach and Shavuot:

"And you shall count from the next day after the sabbath, from the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering; seven sabbaths shall be complete; To the next day after the seventh sabbath shall you count fifty days; and you shall offer a new meal offering to the Lord."

So I decided that - although we were already more than half way through the Omer - better late than never to do an Omer project. The inspiration for this project came straight from the blog Homeshuling. After googling "chocolate omer advent calendar," Amy Meltzer found this Omer Counter on Jewschool.

I loved the Omer charts on Homeshuling and Jewschool but I didn't actually know what "advent" was. Enter Wikipedia. "Advent is the season observed in many Western Christian churches, a time of expectant waiting and preparation for the celebration of the Nativity of Jesus at Christmas." Basically, a month-long countdown to Christmas. Apparently, advent calendars are very popular, especially homemade crafty ones! I spent an hour looking at great advent calendars. Here are some of my favorites:

Dixie cups and tissue paper:


Mini-muffin tin:


Envelopes:


But, as usual, my time and energy were limited so I didn't do anything this fancy. Instead, I bought a big bag of Hershey kisses and otherwise used recycled materials.



I printed two coloring pages - one for Pesach and one for Shavuot.





Then, I divided a piece of oak tag into 49 squares:



Then, I wrapped two Hershey's kisses (one for Avi, one for Maya) in red cellophane (leftover from Shmot) and gold ribbon (leftover from Terumah)MANY times. This was way too time-consuming and the girls couldn't do it themselves. Next time, I will use tins, or cups, or envelopes or something that they can fill easily themselves.

The idea of course is for us to happily and diligently count Omer together every night as a family and then eat chocolate. Although the chart hangs prominently on our front door, we STILL haven't been consistent! But, when we do, it is fun. Better next year.