Chanukah, Oh Chanukah: Math Activities

Learning about Chanukah is all fun and games with our favorite themed math activities! Often times the word "math" elicits images of worksheets, number two pencils, heavy textbooks and dread. And I wonder when we started thinking this way about it? Fostering a love for and confidence in math skills starts early, and we do that here through play, DIY games and activities, and a heavy dose of exposure and encouragement. For the activities below as well as many more, we made use of a few great online resources for Chanukah activities and free printables:

• Living Montessori Now offers great ideas for Chanukah themed activities and links to additional online resources.
• We loved the free tot pack and many of the activities posted over at the 3 Dinosaurs Stomping, Romping & Roaring blog.
• And we are getting a lot of use out of the great Chanukah ideas and printables available at A Jewish Homeschool Blog.

You do not need to spend a lot of money or time preparing great learning activities this time of year. You likely have everything you need already at home to teach some great early math skills!

Using dreidels, gelt, Chanukah candles,and traditional holiday activities, you can reinforce several important concepts including:

• one-to-one correspondence
• counting (especially to the number 8!)
• pattern recognition
• sorting skills
• early addition & subtraction
• fractions/ratios
• sequencing

The dreidel game played by the traditional rules is a great way to introduce the skills of addition & subtraction as well as fractions (specifically identifying half of a whole). Just grab your favorite dreidel and some gelt (you can use coins or other small objects like buttons, beads, pompoms, etc.) and give it a spin!

When you land on 

NUN: player gets none

GIMMEL: player gets everything in the pot

HAY: player gets HALF of the pot

SHIN: player puts two in

There are a lot of wonderful ways to teach about patterns at Chanukah. I love to use colorful candles and dreidels for these activities. You can print out or prepare your own set of pattern cards to follow and complete or create your own activity. Even preparing candles in the menorah each Chanukah night can become a fun challenge to create or complete a pattern as your young mathematician selects the candles to light each night!

Sorting is another great math activity this time of year. You can sort dreidels or candles by color using a sorting tray or several cups, bowls or trays. You can also sort by size (big and little).

 For practicing counting to 8, we love using this interactive poster, children's books, finger-plays and holiday artifacts.
Here's one of our favorite finger-plays

8 Little Candles
T.T.T.O. Ten Little Indians
We begin with both hands in fists, putting up one finger at a time to correspond with each number. You can go in reverse to count back to one!


 One little, two little, three little candles,
Four little, five little, six little candles
Seven little, eight little Chanukah candles
Light the menorah, oh so bright!

Eight little, seven little, six little candles
Five little, four little Chanukah candles
Three little, two little, one little candle
That we add each Chanukah night!

 We used laminated sequencing photos of a menorah with candles along with an actual menorah and 8 candles plus one shamash (I use a longer candle to distinguish it, but you do not need to) for this DIY math material. There are 8 photos in my set, one for each night. I store them on a metal ring to keep them together and in order. I begin with the shamash in its special spot and for each card, the child/children can add the appropriate number of candles. This can help them learn one-to-one correspondence as they match the number of candles on the photo to the number in the actual menorah. (The added bonus is that putting candles in a menorah is a great fine-motor activity!) If you are concerned that there may be confusion from the menorah in the photo being of a different style than your actual menorah, you may wish to use a picture or photo that matches the menorah you are using. You can even take your own photos and print them! For an added challenge, you can take the photos off the ring and work on sequencing and putting them in order.

I shared ideas about this DIY game in a previous post and play is always a great way to learn important skills in a way that is fun. Don't forget about the learning that happens when you head to the kitchen and follow a recipe! Inviting your little ones to help prepare latkes, sufganiot or your favorite cookie recipe this time of year helps them learn about fractions and ratios as well as the important sequencing skills required to follow a recipe. You may want to avoid counting calories over Chanukah, though!

Happy learning and, of course, happy playing!