Hanukkah Craft For Kids

My son is fascinated with candles, he tried to touch the burning flames on his birthday cake so I knew I had to do a flame free menorah activity this year. This is a simple but useful Hanukkah craft for kids.  If you are not familiar with the traditions and significance of Hanukkah click here for a great overview. This is a great project for an older child to do with a parent or the way we are doing it for a parent to do and have their child help with the lighting every night of Hanukkah!

1. Gather your materials. You will need 4 sheets of foam, they don’t need to be sticky back but it’s even easier if they are, especially the candles. Scissors, some ribbon, an orange marker, and a pen.
2. If your child is helping you I would have then paint or decorate the base piece of foam or paper. While they do that you can start the cutting.
3. Start by cutting out a semi circle. in the silver foam. After you do this fold in half and make a series of 4 small 1/4 inch wide and about 2 inch long cuts into the semi circle arching towards the center. ** For an easier more kids friendly version you can simply cut out a semi circle and add small squares on top for each holder and use a larger square for the center.
4. Trim all but the center holder , the middle should be higher than the other 8 holders. You can see my ill fated drawings, going free hand ended up working the best.
5. Cut out a base for the menorah.
6. Using the white foam cut out 9 rectangle candles. Older children can do this no problem.
7. Using the yellow foam cut out 9 flames.
8. Draw a little orange marker in the middle of the yellow flames.
9. If you are using sticky back foam peal back only a small part of the flames backing and attach it to the white candle.
10. Attach the menorah base on the backing piece( foam or your own paper that was decorated) .
11. Add the menorah to the backing.
12. When it’s time to light your menorah just peel off the backing of the candle and stick it on. For how to properly light a menorah check out Chabad.org
13. Poke small holes in the upper corners of the backing and thread a ribbon through, tie a knot and trim the end.
14. This is how it will look fully lit!

Hanukkah Books

These are just two of the great Hanukkah books widely available. The title links are affiliate links.

Hershel and the Hanukkah Goblins by Eric Kimmel is a great book, not just because it’s funny, and action packed but it explains so much about Hanukkah in an entertaining way. It is a little long for young preschoolers and the goblins may frighten some too but for the elementary crowd this is a great book! I found it interesting and loved to see Hershel outwit those nasty goblins to
save Hanukkah.

The Only One Club by Jane Naliboff is a cute book about a little girl named Jennifer who is the only one in her class who celebrates Hanukkah. Soon she finds out that there are lots of “Only Ones” in her class , like the only one with red hair, the only one who wears dresses every day and the only one with a unique last name. I like the message this book has, that we should celebrate our diversity and tell our kids it’s not a bad thing to be unique.