Sukkot and Simchat Torah Theme: Part 2

We are on the homestretch of holiday season here. Sukkot and Simchat Torah are my very favorite holidays of the year. Even so, around this time each year I am equally excited about getting back to some semblance of routine and structure once the holidays end!

Couldn't get my hands on a copy of this book, but check out the end of this post for some books we have been loving this season!

In between holiday days, which come with their own fun of going to shul, spending time as a family and visiting with friends, we've been learning about, reading about and crafting about Sukkot and the upcoming holiday that ends it all, Simchat Torah. Two of the most common toddler and preschool crafts done this time of year are play Torahs and festive flags to wave around as we celebrate the gift of the Torah and completing another yearly cycle of reading it one parsha (portion) per week. This year rather than making the classic cardboard tube play Torah or felt stuffed Torah, I snagged an idea from my favorite fellow Jewish homeschooling blogger, and prepared a felt Torah puppet for my son to decorate with glue, sequins, foam shapes and plastic jewels. He had a lot of fun with this one! We used the same concept and materials to create his flag for this year.

Our felt flag for this year (pre-toddler additions) and our flag from last year--we used tissue paper squares, sequins and card-stock shapes inside a laminating sheet. After a run through the laminating machine and some duct tape and a dowel, it made for a wonderfully durable flag!

Simchat Torah: The Original Request to Read it Again!

I love this song from 613 Torah Avenue for learning about the days of Creation and Parsha Bereishit!

My little one has peaked in his phase of "read it again!" We end up reading through certain favorites four or five times in a row before we're either tempted to cut him off or he finds his own distraction (many times another book). This time of year I am reminded that while my son may not be the inventor of "read it again," the Jewish people may have! What do we do when we finish reading the last parsha in the Torah? We roll it up to beginning and read it again, beginning with the first parsha, Bereishit, the story of Creation. This is one of my favorite Torah portions to teach and learn about. There is so much you can do to create fun and playful, hands-on exploration of this theme and many children's programs and preschools devote weeks to the topic. The parsha itself always falls on Simchat Torah and therefore often gets left in the shadows of the holiday season when you aim to teach about the parsha as they occur in the Jewish calendar. This year I am incorporating activities at home into the non-holiday days of this week and again after the holiday next week. Here's a peek at some of the activities we've done so far:

I LOVE paper plate crafts! We're doing a paper plate craft for each of the days of Creation.

I saw this idea in a few places on Pinterest and quickly headed to the Dollar
Tree for a pill box. This is a great DIY material to playfully demonstrate the 7 days and for older kids, can be used as a sorting activity and fine motor tool.

I used stickers and small pictures (plus one Lego guy). You could also use buttons, foam shapes, miniature toys or even make your own with Sculpi or Model Magic clay! 

Our Days of Creation on display so far...

Here are some of our favorite books for Sukkot and Simchat Torah. All of them are available on Amazon.com. 

As always, happy playing and one final chag sameach!