A Peek In Our Playroom: Shabbat Edition

I'm veering off topic a bit for today's post, but be sure to check in again next week for more of our tree-themed adventures for Tu B'Shevat, including some early literacy activities, sensory play and a fun field trip! But for today, I wanted to touch on a topic near and dear to my heart every Friday morning--getting ready for Shabbat!

One of my son's favorite weekly activities before Shabbat
is decorating his own plastic kiddush cup to use at the table.

I have written before on the theme of Shabbat, including learning activities that can be done during the week, projects to encourage your little ones' hands in creating a lovely atmosphere and even some tips on making the day itself extra special. I think that as a parent in a shomer Shabbos home, one of my greatest concerns is that my child grow up to see Shabbat as a special and pleasant time and not, G-d forbid, the opposite! With a 25 hour time-span of extensive prohibited acts that even adults can find challenging at times, this can feel tricky. While we do go on walks, visits and even occasionally now make the 1.5 mile trek all the way to shul, much of our Shabbat is spent in the house. There are definite benefits to time at home. We get quality family time together. My son has longer stretches of uninterrupted, self-led play with his toys. It is peaceful and restful and rejuvenating for us all. We do a lot to make the atmosphere extra special--from how we decorate to what we eat to how we dress. That said, as my son grows older and more independent (i.e. more autonomous in navigating his space and accessing things he wants or needs), the challenge of setting up that space to adhere to the laws of Shabbat gets a bit more tricky. Common weekday activities like drawing, writing, arts & crafts, battery-operated/electronic toys, playdough, cooking and more are prohibited on Shabbat. There are a few approaches one can take with a play area regarding this issue. One is to never have those activities accessible at child-level. With our recent playroom updates (including a STEAM cart and fully accessible art center), this is not the option I choose. Another is to have these activities always accessible and either spend the day saying "no" and redirecting or turn a blind eye--after all, they are still just little kids, right? Children are not commanded to begin keeping the mitzvot of Shabbat until they turn 3 and even then, they are not required to be fully observant of them until after bar/bas mitzvah age. As a parent, however, I struggle with the idea of saying (even by not saying anything) that something is OK until all of a sudden one day it is no longer OK. Today you could use your toy computer on Shabbat, but next week you can't! Last week you were allowed to turn the lights on and off but not this week! I feel that not only is this something that could confuse our son, but also something that could create a negative association with growing up as an Orthodox Jew. So much in the same way that I set up our play area the rest of the week to be accessible to what we are learning and exploring as a family, I make a few modifications before Shabbat each week to support the same construct within the framework of Shabbat.

Dramatic play about getting ready for Shabbat and actually being invited to help with the process each week also sets a stage where my son feels involved in creating our Shabbat environment and ownership in the experience.

There is a huge benefit here to keeping a play area minimally stocked and swapping/rotating toys and materials. The idea of things being swapped out and rotated in is already a familiar one, so a weekly change for Shabbat does not feel threatening to my son (like things are being taken away). Additionally, since not everything is out or available all of the time, everything has a novel appeal! Our art center is now big enough that it requires a full tablecloth to drape over the top and not just a large scarf to drape over one shelf. Honestly, there are times my son peeks behind the curtain! We redirect him in those times and engage him in another activity. In addition, we've started something new with our STEAM cart to include Shabbat specific materials, toys or activities in a couple of the drawers each week. Sometimes I use toys/activities from our previous Shabbat theme. Sometimes I stock a drawer with favorite Shabbat books we can read together. There are some great toys and puzzles on the market for Shabbat play and beautiful toy Shabbat sets. If investing in a set like this is something meaningful to your family, you can definitely do so. You can also make your own play sets and involve the kids in that as well. My son particularly likes when I stock a drawer with our homemade Shabbat felt board set. Right now, I choose the toys or activities that go into the drawers and my son has the novelty of being surprised. You could also include children in choosing a toy, puzzle or game from their collections to put out each week for Shabbat.

Labels with a picture of a Shabbat table indicate to my pre-reader that what is inside is special for Shabbat!

Some favorite Shabbat books that he *would* read every day, but we save just for Shabbat itself. He especially likes to use the Shabbat story river rocks alongside our books or in creating his own Shabbat story.

He loves helping to set our Shabbat table and using his dramatic play toys to set his own little table. He also has a lot of fun with this DIY activity I created from a free printable available here.

For right now, my son loves Shabbat. He is excited for it each week and relishes most of the day. There are moments where he wants to make a smoothie or have toast or go to Chuck E. Cheese during the day and has to hear "no." We try to supplement statements of "we can't do that on Shabbat" with "but on Shabbat we can..." It is our hope that through our own modeling and through some creative efforts, we will be able to preserve his joy and enthusiasm for years to come. Shabbat Shalom and Happy Playing!