dramatic play

How can we bring Passover to life in our early childhood classrooms this year? Many early childhood educators will choose to focus on the rituals rather than the story–they’ll create a seder plate, make Matzah, and connect to larger themes about freedom. But this is a storytelling-based holiday, one which is built around the idea of teaching our children the exodus story “as if they themselves” were leaving Egypt. 

Interactive theater and kinesthetic learning are the ideal tools to activate this story, making it accessible and engaging through play and imagination. When a child embodies the story as active participants (imagining themselves in the shoes of Moses and Miriam), arts education research shows that they generate a deep sense of connection and detailed memory-making. How can you use dramatic play and hands-on storytelling to transform Passover into an adventure your whole classroom can embark on together?

Here are a few ideas to bring Passover to life with your students this year:

• Tabletop River Ride. Begin the story as a mystery that will capture their imagination: “Our story begins with a baby, hidden in a basket gently floating down the Nile River. I wonder who he is. Where did he come from? Where is he going?”  Create a Nile River out of fabric across a table. Have your students make it move like water, and create the sounds of the water. Now, pass a small cup as the basket down the Nile, and have each child guide the basket safely down the Nile. They can even whisper a message to the baby along the way. You can “find” the basket as Pharaoh’s daughter and take him from the water. 
• Burning Bush Circle Time. Have your students take off their shoes and sit in a circle. Turn off the lights, play the sound of a campfire, and put a flashlight under a sheet in the center of the circle to bring the moment of Moses at the burning bush to life.
• Crossing the Sea. Using two bed sheets held open horizontally, create the Red Sea. Have your students line up at the “edge of the sea.” Now, on the count of three, lift the sheets into two vertical walls, and the students can dance through the center pathway!

For more ideas, you can explore my classroom audio-based storytelling kit, K’ilu Kit: Passover Adventure, which is available for schools to use this Passover! For more information, visit www.kilukit.com. You can also find ideas for dramatic activities each week inspired by the weekly Torah portion at www.playalongparsha.com. 

Jonathan Shmidt Chapman is a nationally-recognized Jewish Educator and Theater Artist who creates projects that activate Jewish early childhood education through theater and imaginative play. He is the founder of K'ilu Kits and Play-Along Parsha. He is also the Founding Project Director of Aggadah Adventures at Congregation Beit Simchat Torah.