A Camping We Will Go! And More Lag B'Omer Fun...

Lag B'Omer, literally translated as the 33rd day of the Omer count, marks the anniversary of the passing of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, author of the Zohar. This great mystic and sage instructed his disciples to mark the day of his death as a day of joy and celebration and indeed, to this day, the 18th day of the Jewish month of Iyar is a day of festivity in Jewish communities worldwide. This day also coincides with the end of a plague that struck Rabbi Akiva's disciples who were mysteriously passing away after quarreling and being disrespectful toward one another. On Lag B'Omer, they ceased to argue and so ended the terrible plague. On Lag B'Omer now, Jewish people celebrate with outings, bonfires, and community wide celebrations of Jewish unity. It is a wonderful time to teach our children about ahavas yisrael (loving their fellow Jew) and to play about the themes of this festive day.


There are many fun play and learning themes in Lag B'Omer. This year, I focused our experience on a camping theme and the idea of friendship/kindness. Join us for some fun dramatic play, a "fireside" singalong, a playful Yoga sequence and a cute craft!

 We began our day by pitching our play tent in the living room. Had we not been experiencing a few rainy, cool days outside, this lesson would have been a fabulous one to take to the yard! My little guy was super excited to play inside! He started by collecting some favorite books to read together inside and then it was time to build our campfire. There are many toys and props that can be used to build a play campfire and if you have a wooded area that is accessible, collecting sticks and twigs can be a lot of fun! It was rather soggy outside, so we used recycled cardboard tubes for logs and kindling and some tissue paper "fire." He had a lot of fun setting up and stacking the "wood" and even created his own little gross motor activity by using his feet to move them from place to place! We sat together around the "campfire" and sang some of our favorite Lag B'Omer and Camping themed songs and action rhymes:

We began with a couple of songs about friendship...
Amar Rabbi Akiva

Amar Rabbi Akiva, amar Rabbi Akiva
V'ahavta l'reacha kamocha (2x)

Shelli shelach, shelach shelach
Shelli shelach, shelach, shelach
Zeh klal gadol batorah!

Rabbi Akiva says, Rabbi Akiva says
To love your friend like yourself (2x)

What's mine is yours, I share with you
If you need me, I'll come through
This is the basis of our Torah!

Make New Friends

Make new friends, but keep the old
One is silver and the other gold!
A circle is round and has no end
That's how long I'd like to be your friend!

Next, we sang a fun little song about camping...

You can sing and adapt your own version of this song
to the tune of "The Farmer in the Dell"

This was the perfect segue into our camping themed Yoga sequence. I incorporated some of our favorite Yoga poses into a camping themed story:

We begin in a boat pose [sit in a v-shape balancing on your sit bones with legs and arms raised] and row our boat across the lake. You can sing "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" as you paddle along. Soon we arrive at our campsite! There are lots of trees [tree pose--stand with one leg balanced against your other shin or thigh and arms out, raised or gathered in the center for balance] and big rocks [child's pose--curl forward over your knees like a little rock] and a place just perfect for pitching our tent [downward dog pose--bend from the waist with feet and hands hip width apart creating a tent shape]. It is already getting dark and the moon [moon pose--stand up with arms raised above head and hands clasped and stretch to one side; repeat on other side] is shining brightly. We must build a campfire so we can cook our dinner! Once the fire is built, we sit around it to roast some hot dogs and sing some camp songs. [Sit in butterfly pose with feet touching or criss-cross and sing a favorite camp song.] Once the hot dogs are done cooking, we sit in chairs [squat in chair position] at a picnic table [begin on back and lift your hips and arms into table pose] and eat our supper. The stars [stand in Warrior Pose with legs wide and arms out to create a "star"] are shining so brightly! Boy are we tired from all the work of getting to and preparing our campsite. It's time to go to our tents [downward dog] and get some rest [lay on back into resting pose--you can invite your young yogis to close their eyes if they are comfortable to play some sounds of nature for them to listen to and see if they can imagine the sounds of the forest].

Well, all of that fun and exercise made us hungry for a snack! The tent was the perfect spot for this and you can even prepare a camping themed snack if you'd like--such as s'mores, or  s'mores trail mix (graham crackers/tea biscuits, mini marshmallows and chocolate chips--I was out of chocolate chips so I substituted pretzels per my son's request).

You might even have some fun singing

The Campfire Pokey
to the tune of "The Hokey Pokey"

You put your marshmallow in
You pull your marshmallow out
You put your marshmallow in and you shake it all about
You do the campfire pokey and you turn yourself around
That's what it's all about!

We love our DIY felt fishing
set for indoor fishing

Fishing is another great outdoor activity related to camping. We had some fun with another little action rhyme and some indoor waterplay and dramatic play. I created a magnetic fishing activity with felt fish that each have a paperclip "mouth." Using a wooden dowel, some yarn, duct tape and a magnet, I created a fishing pole to go with it and we've had fun over the last couple of years going fishing inside with this little activity! If you have a nice day outside or don't mind some waterplay indoors, try out a toy fishing set in a basin of water (or the bathtub) or try your hand at this fun "ice fishing" sensory bin!


As you fish, you can chant this playful action rhyme:

One, two, three, four, five
Once I caught a fish alive!
Six, seven, eight, nine, ten,
Then I let him go again!
Why did you let him go?
Because he bit my finger so!
Which finger did he bite?
The little finger on the right!


 In years past, we've had some fun making Lag B'Omer themed arts and crafts projects. Some of our favorites included painting with marshmallow "paintbrushes" dipped in vanilla pudding dyed with yellow and red food coloring to make a Lag B'Omer bonfire. You can also use regular washable paints and create handprint/footprint bonfires and add cut brown paper for your kindling and logs. One of my favorite arts and crafts projects for Lag B'Omer is one we did last year to create our own little campfire prop that actually lights up!

To make your own, you will need:

• a clear plastic cup
• a paper plate
• brown construction paper, cut into strips for logs/wood
• red, yellow, and orange tissue paper squares/scraps
• a small wooden dowel
• a cotton ball "marshmallow"
• an LED tea light
• glue

To create your own light-up campfire and marshmallow for roasting, begin by gluing on your brown construction paper wood to the paper plate base. For the marshmallow, dip one end of the dowel into glue and stick your cotton ball on top. You will need to pinch it on for a minute to help it stick and then let it dry. Meanwhile, you can create your "fire" by gluing on tissue paper to the outside of the cup. You can crumple the tissue paper or leave it flat for different textures. Once the project is entirely dry, place the cup over top of the LED tea light and turn it on to make your campfire glow. My then younger toddler had SO much fun pretending to roast his marshmallow in the fire! He still uses the project as a little nightlight in his room every once in awhile.




Well, learning and playing about Lag B'Omer and camping has been a lot of fun! We are rained in for a few days but this Sunday, which marks the actual festival is forecast to be warm and sunny. We look forward to celebrating with our friends and community. Until then...


Happy Playing!