Creating High Holiday Memories for Children

Finding ways to make the High Holidays meaningful for your child is an important way to nurture their Jewish identity. There are many ways to celebrate at home, like reading books, making crafts, or discussing what the holiday means to you and them. 

Rosh HaShanah

The Jewish New Year is a holiday with lots of ways young children can get involved. While the timing doesn’t always coincide with the start of school, the theme of new beginnings can always resonate! 

Crafts:

New Year Cards

Many people follow the tradition of sending out new year cards to family and friends – but how much more special is it to send ones that are handmade? Fold pieces of cardstock in half and decorate them using a wine cork dipped in red paint as a stamp to make apples (one of the symbols of Rosh HaShanah). Use a green marker or crayon to create stems and leaves!  Older children can even add holiday-specific messages like "shanah tovahL’shanah tovah לְשָׁנָה טוֹבָה Literally, “for a good year.”  This is a customary greeting for Rosh HaShanah. Also, “shanah tovah.”  " (a good year) or "shanah tovah umtukah" (may you have a good and sweet new year).

DIY ShofarshofarשׁוֹפָרRam’s horn most commonly blown throughout the month of Elul and during the High Holiday season.

One of the most important symbols of the Jewish High Holidays is the shofar. Make a paper shofar at home and hum the different blasts! 

You’ll need: 

• Three cardboard tubes
• A party horn
• Masking tape
• Glue
• Paint 
• Paint brush 
• Scissors

To make your shofar: 

1. Cut one tube open lengthwise.
2. Separate the noisemaker of the party horn and wrap the opened toilet paper roll around it, attaching with masking tape to look like a cone.
3. Pleat one end of each of the other cardboard tubes.
4. Stick the tubes inside each other, then attach them to the roll with the noise maker, creating a curved shofar shape.
5. Wrap the entire thing with masking tape (you can also use paper mâché).
6. Once it’s wrapped (and dry if you choose to do paper mâché), paint it! You can make your shofar white or brown like a traditional shofar or decorate it in your own style! 

Recipes:

On Rosh HaShanah, we eat apples and honey to symbolize our hopes for a sweet and fruitful new year. Try making some of these delicious Rosh HaShanah treats from ReformJudaism.org’s recipe collection: 

• Mom’s Honey Cake with Apple Confit
• Apple Dapple Cake
• Apple-filled Star Challah
• Apple Cinnamon Muffins
• Rosh Hashanah Noodle Kugel

You can also conduct a honey taste test! Sample different varieties of honey, ask each family member which they like best and why, then chart the results.

Conversation starters:

What is something you can do now that you couldn’t do last year?

What is something that you want to learn this year? How can we make a plan to help you?

Yom Kippur

Yom Kippur can feel a little harder to make meaningful for young children, but the themes of forgiveness, helping others, and doing better can resonate with children who are working out the differences between right and wrong.

Crafts:

Kindness Chain

Three primary themes of Yom Kippur are apologizing, asking forgiveness, and striving to do better. A concrete way for children to understand this is by creating a kindness chain, which allows them to articulate through drawing, writing, or dictating things that they want to do better this year (i.e. “I want to take care of animals,” “I want to listen better,” “I want to not fight with my sibling”).

You’ll need:

• Construction paper
• Scissors
• Markers or crayons
• Glue stick or stapler

To make your kindness chain:

1. Cut strips of construction paper.
2. On each strip, write (or draw) ways that you could help others or do better in the coming year.
3. Use a glue stick or stapler to create a paper chain.
4. Keep adding to your kindness chain as the year goes on!

Tzedakah Boxtzedakah boxקֻפְסָת צְדָקָהContainer for collecting money for charitable purposes. It is customary to place money in a tzedakah box prior to candlelighting in the home.  

Another way that we can help others is to think about those whose needs are not met. Collecting money in a tzedakah box can help children associate the abstract concept of tzedakah with a concrete action.

For older preschoolers and children in elementary school, this could be an opportunity to introduce the concept of equity. Everyone has needs, and it is part of our job to make sure everyone has access to getting their needs met. 

You’ll need: 

• An empty coffee can, jar, tissue box, shoe box, or other container
• Scissors
• Stickers, markers, paints, and other decorations

To make (and use) your tzedakah box:

1. Work together to decorate the container. 
2. Add an opening for loose change. 
3. Collect money over time, count it, and decide together where you’d like to donate it. A good way to start is by thinking about a cause that is meaningful to your family or community. 

Recipes:

While many adults fast on Yom Kippur, the traditional break-fast is often one of the most delicious and memorable parts of the holiday for kids and adults alike!  Involve your child in making one or all of these dishes!

• Crown-Shaped Noodle Kugel 
• Easy Chicken Kreplach
• Pipitada (Melon Seed Drink)

Conversation starters:

Can you think of a time that you hurt someone’s feelings or someone hurt yours?  How did you feel?  What helped make it better?

How can you show someone you’re sorry after you’ve apologized?

What is something that our family can do better this year?