Child-led Curriculum Leads To Havdalah Candles
For the past several years my class has done a short Havdalah service on Monday mornings. We can see the children’s energy shift as the lights turn off, the curtains close, and Debbie Friedman’s “Birchot Havdalah” begins to play. The children, who minutes earlier couldn’t contain their excitement over telling their teachers and peers every detail of their weekends, enter what can best be described as a meditative state. They immediately sing along to the opening “La la la la” nigun, and hold hands around the circle. It’s a side of our enthusiastic 15 four-year-olds we rarely see.
As educators at a Reggio-inspired school, we began to ask “What is it about Havdalah that the kids are responding to?” We soon discovered their interest was mostly focused on our twisted rainbow Havdalah candle.
After a short discussion about why we use multi-wick candles, and what makes a candle kosher for Havdalah, several students asked if we could make Havdalah candles at school.
This is my favorite part of being an educator in a school with a child-led curriculum! I had no idea how to make the kids’ idea come to life, but with the help of YouTube, I soon learned about using colored sheets of beeswax. The class was able to cut the sheets into strips, and then wrap them around a wick.
After creating between 4 and 6 individual candles, each child chose to either braid or twist them together creating a multi-wick Havdalah candle. Additionally, making candles enhanced the children’s love of Havdalah, as well as their love of nigunim. The children now wake up from nap time with a Batya Levine playlist, and can regularly be heard singing “Nechama” through the hallways of the cdc@cbi!
This activity became a perfect showcase of how the class’ interest can not only lead to developing important skills like fine motor control, but can also fundamentally change the vibe of our classroom.
Aaron Perchonok
CDC@CBI
Congregation Beth Israel, Austin, TX
