Sukkot: "Building" on the Theme with Loose Parts

Just when you're feeling about holiday-ed out, the Jewish month of Tishrei throws in a few more, beginning with Sukkot and culminating in the grande finale of Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah. The whole month is like the hokey pokey! You're in Shabbos and Yom Tov [holiday] and back out to weekday and school/work mode, then back in and back out. So walking in and out of the house to get to our sukkah seems only fitting. Y described it best, perhaps, when he said "Mommy, this week is outside." He also tried to convince me this morning that I should not brush his hair because "it is Shabbos and yomtov." Touche, little man, touche!






And with the boys both busy at school creating decorations and learning about the holidays, and C still too little to do much more than pose adorably with our handmade felt lulav and esrog set, I wanted our home activities to be a little more child-led and open-ended. I also wanted something that would, eh em, maybe keep the kids a little busier while I get some cooking done... Loose parts play to the rescue! And the best part about building on the theme of, well, building, is that you can use just about anything you have on hand. Man-made objects, nature-made objects, fabric, toys, seasonal decorative craft supplies, even recyclables. You can also decide how much or how little to set out. I tend to err on the side of less is more--it is usually easier to add something in than to reign it all in when you've added too much. It also tends to work better for the children using the materials when there is not so much out because they can really hone in on what is there, how they'd like to use it and how they can creatively expand if and when they choose to.

When selecting what to use in my loose parts play-times, I tend to choose based on my own curiosity. My favorite things are those for which I cannot think of a purpose; I know the children will. This time I did have in mind the idea of building a sukkah, but I also incorporated the current season of Autumn and left the activity entirely open ended. The children could build a sukkah or anything at all. I also wanted to incorporate objects in different sizes and different textures. I started out by setting out some dollhouse tables and chairs, little dolls, some felt and Fall themed fabric swatches, small wood blocks and a wooden salad bowl filled with Fall shaped acrylic gems, tree cookies, cinnamon sticks, artificial leaves and decorative mini Indian corns and apples. Later in the week, I added in a basket of real mini gourds and pumpkins.

These have been used for stacking/building, feeding dolls and stuffed animals, playing floor hockey and creating a pumpkin patch on our living room carpet...

Fabric swatches have been made into backdrops, carpeting and even the roof or schach of a sukkah... 

Felt rectangles in coordinating colors make great backdrops or sometimes help designate a space for a structure to be built...

The dolls, chairs and tables allowed the boys to have guests come eat in a sukkah. S invited some Carebears and My Little Ponies and mini fairies and gnomes from our Nature Table to join in as well.

Smaller loose parts have been used here for everything from schach on top of the sukkah to delicacies served to guests inside of the sukkah. Y asked if he could bring some things in from our Nature Table as well and I was eager to see how he incorporated some collected natural loose parts and even our china tea set into the scene.

Our wood blocks are all second hand and collected from old Jenga sets. They are a perfect size for a smaller play space and easy to store in a basket between play sessions.

I introduced the materials simply by showing the boys that they were there. I said that I had thought about building a sukkah with them but they could be used for anything at all. S got right to work building a sukkah, but then moved on to making a road across the length of our carpet for skateboarding Carebears! He also asked to use a ruler to measure his road. Loose parts play lends itself quite nicely to STEM skills development.

Meanwhile in our art center, I added in some graph paper, some printed sukkah blueprints, and some printed blueprint/sketch templates. In our Writing Center drawers I also stocked some Fall themed paper, stickers and sight word strips (S is very interested in writing words these days). The boys kept quite busy making decorations and pictures for Sukkot as we got ready for the holiday to begin last week. Open ended activities like this help busy adults foster busy children. Don't get me wrong, we've spent a bit of time watching videos here as well! But I feel good that in between it all, the boys are having fun playing, building and creating and all the while delving into the important themes of this holiday season.

Whether you're looking for a quick way to squeeze in some entertainment and learning as we wrap up the Jewish holidays or a great Autumn themed invitation to play, here are few tips I'd recommend as you choose and set up your materials:

• Use what you already have. Don't go shopping (unless you really want to). Objects can be found in nature, around the house, in old/broken toys and games, your recycling bin, your craft supplies,etc.
• Portion control is hard for children (and many adults). You do not need a LOT of each material, especially if you don't have a LOT of children using them at one time. When I set out materials, I keep in mind how much clean up will be involved if they [re: when they] get all dumped out. 
• The use of baskets, bowls or trays helps keep everything organized. That said, I try to be a little loose about organization of loose parts. If you are really set on things being individually sorted, first off--don't look in my wooden salad bowl! And secondly, you might want to minimize the number of different materials you do introduce at one time.

Want to do more?

• Bring loose parts play into your art and writing areas by encouraging children to draw up blueprints of their ideas or record drawings and/or photos of their finished structures.
• Add an art component and use small loose parts to have children make their own mini holiday themed props. These can then be brought back in to the loose parts building space and used in small world play. Last year the boys loved using loose parts to create their own lulavs and esrogim. S even made me an esrog bracelet--which reminds me that I'd better go find that and wear it before the holiday ends!

• If you're feeling quite ambitious and weather/time permits, bring your baskets of loose parts outside to your actual sukkah and have a blast working and creating in the fresh air! This type of activity is a great one for spaces and groups that include members of varying ages.
• On a larger scale, introduce and offer larger sized materials and loose parts for building a play sukkah that can actually be used by children. Cardboard boxes, old blankets/sheets and fabric, recycled tissue boxes and large cardboard tubes, toys like fort magic or cardboard brick blocks, clothes pins (for connecting) can all be used. Outdoors, large sticks and logs and branches can be incorporated.
• Use edible loose parts for building a sukkah that is good enough to eat! You can go the sweets and treats route and use graham crackers, frosting, pretzel sticks and cereals or candies. You can also go the more nutritious route and use fruits and veggies, perhaps some peanut butter and/or humus for sticking things together.
• For a fizzy fun Sukkot themed science experiment, try your hands at some Exploding Esrogim (our holiday themed version of this fizzy lemon volcano experiment). It was a huge hit at a community event I ran with kids of all ages (and maybe also some grownups). You'll just need some lemons (those are your esrogim), baking soda, some additional lemon juice and optional red food coloring. This one can get a bit messy, so it's a great candidate for outdoor play.

• Check out some of our other favorite Sukkot related and Autumn related activities as well!

We are about to hokey pokey back in to Shabbos and holiday mode here, but we'll be back to routine and reality soon! Until then...

Chag Sameach, Happy Fall, and Happy Playing!

MORE Sukkot Themed Fun!

I love Sukkot! It's my favorite holiday of the year, and where we live the weather is just beginning to feel crisp in the mornings and at night, but warm and sunny each afternoon. Our actual Sukkah is up and standing (albeit, apparently upside down--don't ask...) and inside, our play Sukkah is also up and standing (right-side up, for now...) Yes, it's more cooking and more holiday preparation in a month of holidays that seems at once too short and too long, but with just the right amount of fun and creativity, we can play our way right through it here.

S was eager to hinder help his Tatty put up our actual Sukkah out back. He was in charge of holding the instructions, barking orders and using his toy tools...

We even took a family field trip to the hardware store to pick up some wood scraps and nails so we can try our hands at some simple woodworking during Chol Hamoed next week! Incidentally, S also asked if he could have a large tin trash can and a mop (????)...

S has learned a lot this year at preschool about Sukkot. I had such nachas to see him correctly identify the pitom on our play esrog! He is also convinced he must sleep "under the stars" in our Sukkah out back... That is not our family's custom so I negotiated my way down to pitching his play tent on top of his bed instead so he can view his glow in the dark stars overhead!

 Our strategically placed sensory table keeps S very busy while I am cooking in the kitchen. In the theme of our upcoming holiday, I set up a simple "esrog" scented rice bin. I dyed 3lbs of rice yellow (adding a few squirts of hand sanitizer to help the fool coloring spread and adhere) and added several drops of lemon essential oil. I hung some of our Sukkot themed artwork from previous years around the area and added in some scoops, recycled containers, a funnel and some toy "esrogim" (lemons and limes, but shhh, don't tell S....) It smells lovely and he really enjoys playing in it.

I highly recommend this most recent sensory table hack--a dust pan and brush affixed to the frame of our sensory table with a teething ring (yes, a teething ring)... When we use water, I keep a towel nearby for spills. At all times, I keep an apron/smock nearby to cover up clothing and this way, we are prepared to handle splashes or spills as they occur (as independently as possible).

Both boys got in on the fun of our play Sukkah this year, built using a Discovery Kids brand fort construction kit. I found our set at a TJMaxx a few years ago and have seen them at several discount stores around town. Blankets and sheets made wonderful walls and Fall garlands from Dollar Tree were perfect for the schach. Throw in some clothes pins and you've got yourself a Sukkah! (If only the real thing were so easy to build.) You don't need to buy a toy to build a play Sukkah--a large box can make an awesome Sukkah as well. One benefit to the box version is the ability to set it outside (or inside over a drop cloth) and throw in some paint for decorating!

Up and ready to go...only both boys were (thank G-d) still napping!

A basket of Sukkot themed books and toys and even some gourds and mini pumpkins are an inviting way to encourage play...but you needn't put anything in a play Sukkah at all--trust me, your little ones will come up with some great play ideas!

The wheels of creativity were already turning for S...

He brought in everything he needed to make kiddush and a smoothie for Y in the Sukkah!

Strategically hung toys make our play Sukkah a great place for kicking and playing or tummy time!

S wanted to add a welcome sign, so we got out a large sheet of paper, some markers and stickers.

Well, I've got a play tent to pitch over a certain preschooler's bed and a little more cooking to do... Wishing friends and family a Chag Sameach and Happy Playing!

A Peek Inside Our Playroom: Sukkot Inspired Invitation to Build

I know, I know, it's not even Yom Kippur yet and I'm posting about Sukkot--but in my defense, Sukkot is my favorite holiday, and that sukkah isn't going to build itself!  In our house, we have one little boy who loves to help, loves to use tools and loves to build. It's an ideal combination this time of year. He is pretty set on helping his Tatty build our actual sukkah, so he's going to need some practice. And what better way to practice than through play? With a little creativity and things we had already on hand, we revamped our main toy/activity shelf into a Sukkah Building Invitation Station. Combining materials for building, manipulating, planning, drawing/writing, dramatic play and more, you can easily set up a play area to inspire architects of all ages and sizes. And just in case you need to keep the younger and shorter architects busy inside while the older and taller ones are busy out back, this is sure to keep them busy and occupied!




Every young architect needs a little inspiration. I searched the internet for photographs of interesting sukkahs and printed/laminated them and attached them to a metal ring to hang from our shelf. When the feeling strikes, S can pull the ring off the shelf and search through the photos for ideas. You can select photos from your own album of Sukkots past or pick favorites from over the internet. These will surely inspire great stories, dramatic play and certainly some building!

Before you begin to build, it's important to have a plan! I set out a simple blueprint station with blank graph paper and colored pencils. Alternatively you can print off some blank blueprints templates for a more "realistic" approach. Young architects can draw up their plans, dictate/write relevant notes and labels or capture a particularly great structure on paper before clean-up time.

I like blank graph paper for its open ended nature, but if a blank canvas is a bit too overwhelming, your young architect might like to glean inspiration from a template or some basic sukkah building plans printed off from the internet. If you search "sukkah building plans," you will likely come up with a plethora of unique images to work from.

I like this black and white plan that I found here

You can introduce your budding builder to the components that make up a kosher sukkah and incorporate sentence strips with important vocabulary words like "wall," "door," "schach," "beam," etc.

Next, it's time to build! You might want to add in some toy tools and construction vehicles, or perhaps some hard hats and vests for dressing up. You'll also need a selection of building materials. You can use your children's favorite blocks or manipulatives. Building toys can be pricey, but I have often found great wooden blocks, Legos, Duplos and Mega Blocks, Lincoln Logs and other such items at secondhand stores. Some building toys are worth investing in, in my opinion. Our favorites here are Magnetiles and Tinker Toys. Keep your eyes peeled for online sales when it comes to those. You also don't need to use toys at all! Plenty of amazing structures can be made from recycled materials like cardboard boxes, empty tissue boxes, cardboard tubes and so on. Recycled tissue boxes wrapped in a layer of duct tape can make fun and durable blocks for larger structures.

I like including unique natural materials and small loose parts as well. This combination of wooden tree disks and artificial leaves really brings out the feeling of Autumn. Artificial leaves and greenery or garlands can make for some great schach! Perhaps you might collect some fallen branches, sticks/twigs and greenery from outside. A great rock collection can also be used for building a unique sukkah.

Wooden craft sticks and small pieces of wood are great for permanent crafts but also great for temporary buildings and loose parts play. You may use them on their own or combine them with some playdough for an invitation to build a smaller sukkah--just the perfect size to sit outside of a dollhouse or entertain some Fisher Price sized guests.

It can be tempting to stock your play shelves with every building material and accessory known to man (especially if you have a lot in your collection as we do), but I encourage you to resist the urge. Less is definitely more in these set-ups. You may even want to introduce one material or a couple in combination at a time. Right now we have the shelves stocked with Legos, wooden blocks, and the small, loose parts pictured to the left and above. If any of those materials seem to get a bit stale, I will swap out for something else. On the other hand, if they really draw in my little architects in training, I'll leave them as is and maybe introduce new combinations or accessories.

Every sukkah needs some guests. Toy people or animals can make a great accompaniment. If you have dollhouse furniture, you may want to add that in as well, or perhaps you craft up some of your own chairs and a table. I have high hopes of introducing S to some basic (and supervised) woodworking this season, so we may end up with some handcrafted versions. Your little ones may want to add in some toy food for a festive meal, make their own mini lulav and esrog, craft some decorations or make up a miniature bed for those who have the custom to sleep in the sukkah. The opportunities are as infinite as the human imagination and great sukkahs come in as many shapes and sizes as those who take on the mitzvah of building them!

On a slightly larger scale, our play sukkah was a huge hit last year. Created with a combination of this fort building set we found at a discount store, blankets for walls, fall garlands from the dollar store for schach and a few clothespins to hold it all together. As Sukkot gets closer, we will surely be putting up another version for this year, but until then we will need all the space we can get in our living room for some creative sukkah building.  Wishing all who are celebrating an easy time getting that sukkah up and some happy playing in between it all!

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!

Funday Friday: A Peek Inside Our Sukkot-themed Playroom Plus a Quick Yom Kippur Wrap-up!

Ah, to sum up the Jewish month of Tishrei in a few simple words: Cook, Pray, Eat, Repeat! Yes, we are busy here bouncing between preparing for holidays or Shabbos, observing holidays or Shabbos and squeezing in as much homeschool learning about them and fun play activities in between. We finished up learning about (and made it through) Yom Kippur early this week with a couple of activities based on the story of Jonah and the Whale that is read each year at Yom Kippur services. I introduced a more kid-friendly version of the story to my son.
(You can find a great one with activities for kids here.)

We added a cute craft and some Mad Science Monday Fun with a waterplay sink or float activity in the kitchen (while I got some cooking for before and after the fast done):

My son colored and decorated the paper plate we used for fins on this balloon whale. Inside (though not so visible) is a little Lego Jonah! My little one had lots of fun playing with the balloon "Big Fishy." He also had fun playing with the new Tinker Toys we got to parent entertain him on Yom Kippur. Actually, my husband also had fun with the Tinker Toys; he built a helicopter and subsequently popped the balloon. Shhh..my toddler hasn't noticed it's gone yet...

So I set up the whales and one toy man to play the part of Jonah. Apparently all the people of Nineveh needed a quick dip--the toddler got all of his other Fisher Price Little People to add to the fun!

And now on to my FAVORITE holiday of the Jewish year. Sukkot is coming! Here's a peek in our playroom at what we're doing so far:

Green scraps of tissue paper, construction paper and cardstock were great for sticking onto clear contact paper for this toddler friendly lulav craft. Adult assistance is required to roll it up at the end and the masking tape can then be recycled into the bottom portion!

Completed contact paper lulav and in-progress esrog made from Model Magic. Once it's dry we will paint it yellow!

For some more independent-play friendly activities and great Sukkah or indoor holiday decorations, a paper plate can be hollowed out in the center and covered over with packing tape or contact paper. Here is an invitation to stick on Autumn colored fabric leaves but the same can be done with paper scraps or tissue paper. To add a protective second layer (especially if your custom is to hang decorations in the Sukkah), you can staple on a second hollowed out paper plate prepared in the same manner over top.

Our custom is not to hang decorations inside the Sukkah, but we love hanging them indoors. The whole family got in on this collage last night to build and decorate our own Sukkah. My husband definitely got into the popsicle sticks (he's very much in the sukkah-building mindset this time of year!) and my toddler was VERY into the glue!

Well, our actual sukkah may not be finished yet, but here's our fabulous play suikkah! My little one has had a lot of fun in here so far!

Here we are today--same homemade felt lulav and esrog!

Here's a little blast from Sukkot past: my little one's first Sukkot with his very own handmade felt lulav and esrog