Passover

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.

10 Ways to be Kind to Yourself During Times of Stress

During Passover, we savor time with family and friends as we gather around the Seder meal. The weather begins to get lovely with the sun shining and flowers blooming. It is the perfect time to sit outside, get out in nature and just be grateful for the changing seasons.

As much as we would like to take time to enjoy the sunshine, we are usually inundated with pressing thoughts and reflections. We are thinking about the end of this school year, and looking ahead to the next school year. We are meeting with and evaluating staff. We are working on our budget. And to top it off, we are busy planning for Passover at our school and home. All of which can lead to uneasiness and stress for the heart and mind. 

The following is a list of 10 ways to be kind to yourself during times of stress:

1. Take 5 minutes. Sit by a window and look outside. What do you see? Notice the colors, shapes and movements at play. Buildings sitting still. Birds flying. Trees swaying. Clouds. Take it in. Breathe. Find beauty in our world and this life, at this moment.
2. Connect your body to the breath. Sit comfortably. Close your eyes. Inhale through the nose. Gently tilt your head to one side sending the ear towards the shoulder. Exhale through the nose. Inhale, gently tuck your chin into your chest and rotate head to the other side, sending opposite ear to shoulder. Exhale. Repeat a few times and then do full head and circles. Don’t forget to breathe.
3. Listen to music. Put some headphones on or turn the music up loud in your room.  Play a favorite song or one that is meaningful and makes you feel good. Sit. Dance. Laugh. Cry. Take a deep breath. Inhale and exhale. Turn it up. Be the song. Let the rhythm move you.
4. Be grateful. Upon waking or before going to bed, write down 3 things you are grateful for and state why you are grateful. 
5. Turn off technology. Take 20 minutes to an hour and “unplug” from technology. Turn off the television, computer or radio and leave your phone in another room entirely. Maybe read a book, write in a journal, or you just sit in the quiet. Resist the urge to go to your phone.
6. Get up and move.  If you are at work and have feel stuck at your computer, stand up once or twice an hour and move. Walk down the hallways, around the building, or the long way to the restroom.
7. Say no. Prioritize what is most important for you right now.  When we don’t set appropriate boundaries, it leads to stress, exhaustion, and meltdowns.  Recognize that you can’t do everything and that is OK.
8. Smile.  It is that simple. The physical act of smiling, even when you may not necessarily be in a smiling mood, is proven to reduce stress. 
9. Remember that you are human.  It starts with awareness. We all make mistakes. Let go of any perfectionist tendencies that may be dragging you down. Let go of any unrealistic standards that you set for yourself and fail to reach.  Relax. Remember you’re human, and move onward.
10. Take it all in for a moment.  At some point during your Passover Seder, pause for just a minute. Listen to the discussions. Notice the sounds, smells, feelings, and the movements. Notice voices and facial expressions. Breathe. Notice your body. Relax your shoulders. Remove the tongue from the roof of your mouth. Relax the belly. Soften the eyes. Breathe. Love. Live. Be grateful.

Mary Passell
Director, Temple Chai Early Childhood Center
Temple Chai, Phoenix, AZ

Bringing Passover to Life in the Classroom

Why is Passover such a popular Jewish holiday? It appeals to the senses. We listen to a fantastic story as we touch, dip, smell, taste, and look at objects that trigger emotions. Where do we begin with our youngest children?

What is important at each age?
Passover, like most Jewish holidays, has three parts: the story of the holiday, its ritual observance and music, and its special foods. And of course, PJ Library books! Ask yourself what you think is important for children to learn and what you find compelling. Consider focusing on one concept or Jewish value as you touch on each part of your holiday exploration. Let’s look at four age groups and four Jewish values to make the holiday come alive.

Babies and toddlers – joy [of Passover] / simcha
Introduce babies and toddlers to happily explore Passover aromas, textures, and the symbols on the seder plate. Read Dayenu! or Passover is Coming!

• Use egg shakers when you sing “Dayenu.”
• Tape PJ Library’s Passover River Ride on the floor to explore, surrounded by sensory squares of sand paper, sheepskin scraps, wheat stalks, etc.
• Create a peek-a-boo seder plate, similar to this sensory board, using textured images or fabric.

Twos – welcoming guests / hachnassat orchim
Help twos prepare for guests in their home and being good guests elsewhere. Teach table manners as part of your holiday preparation. Read Company’s Coming and Lotsa Matzah. Make your own playdough matzah squares, using a fork to make holes. Dry it out in the oven, or use a simple glue and water glaze for permanent matzah toys. Use them for stacking or hiding.

• Invite families to set a holiday table in the school foyer and have a conversation about welcoming guests.
• Make matzah snacks recommended in the Lotsa Matzah book or on the PJ Library Educators’ Passover Pinterest board, and practice table manners. 

For more on welcoming guests, read the resource guide for And Then Another Sheep Turned Up.

Threes – courage / ometz lev
Passover is a story of courage and overcoming obstacles. Talk about how the Hebrew families chose to go and live somewhere else. On the way they would bravely learn new skills, solve problems, make new friends, and try new foods. Read Pippa’s Passover Plate with resource guide and Only Nine Chairs with resource guide.

• Passover is a story of courage and overcoming obstacles. Talk about how the Hebrew families chose to go and live somewhere else. On the way they would bravely learn new skills, solve problems, make new friends, and try new foods. Read Pippa’s Passover Plate with resource guide and Only Nine Chairs with resource guide.
• One of the Four Questions says, “On other nights we may not dip our food even once. Tonight, we dip two times.” Try dipping all kinds of foods at snack time, such as pretzels in honey-mustard or carrots in humus. What other foods do your students like to dip? Switch to dipping green veggies into salt water and point out the differences between everyday dipping and Passover dipping.
• Invite families to cook with your class or contribute recipes for a new dip to courageously try, such as cucumber-yogurt dip.
• Make a feely box to explore seder plate items. It is a safe and fun way to face the unknown.

Fours – cooperation / shituf peulah
The Passover holiday takes a lot of work. The Hebrews didn’t get to choose their work, but we do. The Seven Dwarfs understood it’s easier to work as a team – particularly if music is in the background. Check out PJLibraryRadio.com for pre-Passover music. Read Izzy the Whiz and Passover McClean with resource guide and The Little Red Hen and the Passover Matzah.

• Bake matzah. Can you get it into the oven in 18 minutes?
• Play games where the class works as a team. For example – challenge your students to pass a hardboiled egg across the room without the egg touching their hands or the floor. Each child must have a turn carrying the object. What will they use to carry the egg? How will they pass it?
• Ask children to plan a Passover experience for their families. Allow children to design every aspect of the event from invitations to décor and food.

For more Passover fun go to pjlibrary.org/passover or pinterest.com/pjgts/passover-books-and-activities/

Lisa Litman
Director, PJ Goes to School