PRESCHOOL PASSOVER RESOURCES
Passover is a joyous celebration!
A celebration of freedom! Each item on the seder plate is symbolic of the Passover story. The literal translation of seder is “order” — there is a set sequence to the Pesach meal, and the Haggadah serves as a guide through this process. Matzah reminds us that the Israelites had to leave Egypt quickly and had no time to bake bread. We taste the parsley or celery, which reminds us that Passover comes in the spring when everything begins to grow, and the salt water reminds us of the tears of the Jewish slaves in Egypt. Charoset, a mixture of apples, nuts, and juice, reminds us of the mortar the Jews used to make bricks to build Pharaoh's cities. Maror, a bitter herb, reminds us of the bitter way Pharaoh treated the Jewish people, an egg reminds us of new life that grows in the spring, and the shank bone reminds us of the lamb the Jewish people ate when they celebrated their first Passover. We ask the four questions, look for the afikomen (hidden matzah), and enjoy our seder meal.
Follow the page below to access our list of resources for a fun filled Passover experience at home! Want more or don’t see something you are looking for? Please let us know!
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Clean house top to bottom! Use big tubs of water and soap so your child can clean their toys
Go through your cabinet and determine what you can eat during Passover and what you cannot eat. Wondering what hametz is? Click here.
Listen to the story of Passover (story below)
Reenact the story of Passover
Paint and decorate rocks and recycled materials to represent parts of the story like baby Moses, the basket, frogs, Pharaoh, or matzah
Decorate your house. Hang sheets to make a tent and have the first part of your Seder sitting on pillows pretending you are in the desert.
Provide robes, towels and scarves as dress up items for the children.
On the last night before the seder, go on a chametz hunt with a flashlight, paper bag and feather. Use easy to find items to represent chametz (e.g. a few cheerios spread around the house) that your child can find and brush into the paper bag. It is customary to then burn the chametz. For more on this Jewish tradition click this link.
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Seder Resources
Songs
Passover Story Time
As we begin to share the story of Passover and the Exodus with our children think about the message you are relaying — what is important to you about Passover? What do you hope your children will gain from the story? How can you relate this to their personal experiences?
Passover Foods
Other
Construction Project
During passover we learn that the Israelites were slaves and were made to work very hard, even when they didn't want to.
Get some styrofoam, golf tees, and a small plastic, metal, or wooden hammer for a fun way to practice some hard physical work. If they can do it all by themselves you can prompt them by asking them to use specific color golf tees, or make a shape.
Afikoman Cover Decoration
The afikoman is the center matzah, which during the Seder gets covered and hidden to later be found and eaten. There are many different traditions around this, but in many homes it is hidden by an adult and then searched for by the children in attendance. the child who finds it often gets a gift.
There are many ways to cover the afikoman and this activity is very open ended, depending on what you have at home. The idea is to let the children decorate something which can be used to hide the matzah in, but exactly what you use is up to you. You can use a paper bag, a paper napkin, a cloth napkin, or a small fabric bag. If you want to make this but don't celebrate Passover, you can use it to hide other things and play a sort of hide and seek game around the house with your child.
Elijah and Miriam Cups, or Personal “Wine” Cups
During the Seder we drink four cups of wine, as well as fill a cup for Elijah (which we leave on the table and open the door, to invite Elijah to come in). A cup for Miriam has also become quite popular to honor the women of the Passover story.
For this project you will need a wine glass (can be glass or plastic, or even the party supply wine cups), glue, and jewels and/or string and/or stickers and/or sequins and/or tissue paper. Have your child decorate their glass, making sure to only decorate the outside, and to leave a ring around the top so that they can still put their mouth to the glass (this can be done by taping the top and then removing the tape when they are done).
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Afikomen — From a Greek word meaning “dessert.” A piece of matzah that is hidden during the course of the Seder, found after dinner, and eaten as dessert at the end of the seder meal.
Beitzah — Hebrew for “egg.” A roasted or hard-boiled egg is placed on the seder plate to symbolize rebirth.
Dayenu — Hebrew for “enough for us,” this is the name of a song sung at the Passover seder that tells of all the miracles God performed for the Israelites. Listen to it and see the transliteration in this video.
Haggadah — Hebrew for “telling” or “recounting.” A haggadah is a book that is used to tell the story of the Exodus at the Seder.
Hametz — Bread or any food that has been leavened or contains a leavening agent, hametz is prohibited on Passover.
Haroset — A sweet mixture of nuts, juice, and apples on the seder plate that symbolizes the mortar used by slaves in Egypt.
Karpas — The third step of the Passover Seder, in which a piece of greenery such as parsley is dipped into salt water and then eaten.
Maror — Bitter herbs. The eighth step in the Passover seder, in which the herbs (usually horseradish), or ginger symbolizing the bitterness of life under Egyptian rule, are eaten.
Matzah — Unleavened bread. According to the Bible the Israelites ate matzah right before they left Egypt. Today matzah is eaten during Passover to commemorate the Exodus from Egypt.
Seder — Hebrew for “order.” The Passover ritual where family and friends gather on the first one or two nights of Passover to retell the story of the Exodus. The story is told in a particular order, with specific rituals.
Zeroa — Shank bone. The bone is placed on the Seder plate represents God’s outstretched arm
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According to the Passover story, God sent Moses to ask Pharaoh to let the Israelites go. When Pharaoh refused, God sent ten plagues onto him and his people: blood, frogs, lice, wild beasts, cattle plague, boils, hail, locusts, darkness, slaying of the first born.
We have prepared a series of activities for you to engage in with your child, each designed to explore one of the Ten Plagues. Please note that activities for the plague affecting the cattle, the plague of boils, and the slaying of the firstborn have been omitted, as we were unable to identify developmentally appropriate ways to address these particular themes. If you think of something, we'd be happy to add it.
Frogs
In this plague frogs appeared everywhere and filled the land.
Movement frog activity: Pretend to jump like frogs! Hop around the house. See if you can (safely) hop on the couch, under the table, and other places frogs usually don't belong.
Blood
In this plague all water was turned into blood.
Water to blood sensory play: Fill a bowl, bin, or bucket with water and put some toys or cups in it for water play. After a few minutes of playing, add some red food coloring or water coloring to the water and watch it all turn red!
Locusts
In this plague, the land was overcome by locusts, which ate all the crops.
Locusts cooking project: Take celery, cut it into pieces that will be the locust bodies, fill each "body" with peanut butter (or some other nut or seed butter), put a pecan on the back (to look like closed wings on the back), use pretzels as legs, and another pecan or a marshmallow as the head.
Wild Beasts, Idea #1
In this plague wild beasts roamed the land.
Wild beast movement activity: Pretend to be wild beasts. What kind of beasts, or scary animals do you know? Let your child think about what scary animals they know and what makes them scary, then you can suggest some ideas of your own and then be wild beasts together!
Some ideas: lions, tigers, elephants, dinosaurs. Beasts can seem scary if they are really big, or if they roar loudly.
*Some children really love these animals, so it's important to talk about how they are not bad or scary by nature, but can seem scary in some cases.
Wild Beasts, Idea #2
Wild beasts shadow play: Set up a flashlight in a dark or mostly dark room and see how as you get closer to the light, your shadow on the wall gets bigger and may look less like you and maybe more scary. You can either put the flashlight down and do this with your child, or hold the flashlight and only have them move/move the flashlight around them.
*If you see that your child is starting to get scared by these big scary beasts of shadows, it is important to talk about the fact that you are just playing with shadows and it's still you/the child, and to show that you can always move away from the light to seem small and like you again.
Hail, Idea #1
In this plague there was hail as big as ping pong balls that came down on Egypt.
Hail/ice sensory play: Fill a bin, bowl, or bucket with ice cubes, put plastic houses, people, and animals in the ice and to play with. Depending on the size of your ice cubes and of the toys you have to play with, you can point out to your child that like the hail in Egypt, this ice is almost as big as the person, etc.
For further exploration: have your child fill the ice cube tray with you the day before and talk about what ice is. How do we make ice? We're putting the water in the freezer, do you think it will still be water tomorrow? What else might it be? Do you remember what we put in here yesterday? Was it ice or water? Is it cold or hot? Wet or dry?
Hail, Idea #2
Ping Pong ball play: Get a bunch of ping pong balls and start by just exploring them- roll them, try to throw and catch them. Are they heavy or light? Rough or smooth? Then have your child hold out a piece of paper and place some ping pong balls on it-did anything happen? Likely not because they are so light, now try to drop the balls from a height and see if it makes it harder to hold the paper as the balls hit it harder. This can show how the hail, that comes from really high up, can hurt the paper, or the ground as it's falling.
*Try to avoid saying that hail hurts the people, or if you do, make sure to mention that it was really big hail, much bigger than anything we have, to not create stress or fear around hail, rain, and snow (which all might be similar in a child's mind).
Darkness, Idea #1
In this plague everything went completely dark.
Dark obstacle course: Set up a simple obstacle course in a dark room. You can either give your child a flashlight or glowstick to navigate their way, or just let them explore it by touch. If you have older children- this can be prepared for all and then the younger one can use a light while the older tries to get through by touch alone, or by getting verbal instructions form you or their sibling.
*If you choose to have your young child explore by touch only, make sure it's very very simple and has no sharp or even hard edges. An example can be tumbling on a mattress between some pillows.
Darkness, Idea #2
Guessing box/bag activity: Take a cardboard box and cut a hold in the lid big enough to fit a hand through, or take an opaque fabric bag that can cinch around an arm, place something in the bag/box and let your child put their hand in and try to guess what it is by feel.
You can guide them by asking questions like: is it smooth or rough? Is it big or small? What shape does it feel like? Is it soft or hard? Don't let this game go on for too long. After a bit of time ask them if they want to look at it. Even if they don't guess what it is, this is a great experience at using the sense of touch!
Lice
In this plague Pharaoh and all of his people got lice.
Chia seeds sensory play: Chia seeds are small and black, much like lice (but much less itchy!). You can play with them dry, and then mix 1/4 cup chia seeds with 1 3/4 cups water in a resealable container. Seal, and refrigerate overnight. Next day, uncover your “lice” and see how the texture has changed and how they feel now.
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מַה ִנּשְׁתַָּנּה הַלַּיְלָה הֶַזּה. מִכָּל הַלֵּילֹות
Mah neesh-tah-nah ha-lie-lah ha-zeh me-kohl ha-lay-lote
Why is this night different from all other nights?
שֶׁבְָּכל הַלֵּילֹות אָנּו אֹוְכִלין ָחֵמץּומַצָּה — הַלַּיְלָה הֶַזּה כֻּלֹּו מַצָּה
Sheh-beh-chole ha-lay-lote a-new oh-ch-lean cha-meh-eightz oo- mat-zah — ha-lie-lah ha-zeh koo-low mat-zah
On all other nights we eat leavened products and matzah, and on this night only matzah
שֶׁבְָּכל הַלֵּילֹות אָנּו אֹו ְכ ִלין שְׁ ָאר יְרָקֹות — הַלַּיְלָה הֶַזּה כֻּלֹּו ָמרֹור
Sheh-beh-chole ha-lay-lote a-new oh-ch-lean sheh-are yee-rah- coat — ha-lie-lah ha-zeh koo-low mah-roar
On all other nights we eat all vegetables, and on this night only bitter herbs
שֶׁבְָּכל הַלֵּילֹו אין אָנּו מַטְבִּי ִלין אֲפִילּו פַּעַם ֶ ָחת — הַלַּיְלָה הֶַזּה שְׁתֵּי פְעָמִים
Sheh-beh-chole ha-lay-lote ain a-new maht-pee-lean ah-fee-loo pa-am eh-chat — ha-lie-lah ha-zeh sheh-tay feh-ah-meme
On all other nights, we don’t dip our food even once, and on this night we dip twice
שֶׁבְָּכל הַלֵּילֹות אָנּו אֹו ְכ ִלין בֵּין יֹושְׁ ִבין ּובֵין מְסֻבִּין — הַלַּיְלָה הֶַזּה כֻּלָּנּו מְסֻבִּין
Sheh-beh-chole ha-lay-lote ah-new oh-ch-lean ben yosh-veen oo- veen meh-sue-bean — ha-lie-lah ha-zeh koo-lah-new meh-sue- bean
On all other nights we eat sitting or reclining, and on this night we only recline
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A long time ago, Pharaoh was the king of Egypt. Pharaoh was not kind to the Jewish people. He made them slaves, which meant that they had to work hard every day and had no choice of their own. The Jewish slaves made bricks and built tall buildings called pyramids. Because of all this hard work and no breaks, the Jewish people would sometimes cry, and salty tears would run down their faces. We sing a song about working hard like the Jewish people:
Bang Bang Bang hold your hammer low Bang bang bang give a heavy blow
For it's work work work every day and every night
For it's work work work when it's dark and when it's light
Dig dig dig dig your shovels deep
Dig dig dig there's no time to sleep
For it's work work work every day and every night
For it's work work work when it's dark and when it's light
One day a Jewish baby was born. The baby's mommy did not want the baby to work so hard and cry. She wanted her baby to be free. So she put her baby in a basket, and put the basket with the baby inside in the Nile river. The baby's sister, Miriam, watched over the baby as the baby floated down the Nile. A princess saw the baby while she was swimming, brought the baby out of the river and named the baby Moses. She raised Moses as her own son.
Where is baby Moses, Moses, Moses,
Where is baby Moses
In the river Nile
The princess she was swimming, swimming, swimming The princess she was swimming
In the river Nile
The princess she did find him, find him, find him, The princess she did find him
In the river Nile
He grew up in the palace, palace, palace,
He grew up in the palace
By the river Nile.
When Moses grew up, he saw how sad the Jewish people were as slaves. He did not like them working so hard, so he left Egypt.
While out walking one day, Moses saw a bush. The bush was on fire! Moses heard God's voice coming from the bush. God said to Moses: "I hear the tears of the Jewish people. I do not want them to be slaves anymore. Go to Pharaoh and tell him to let my people go!”
So Moses went to Pharaoh and said: "Let my people go!" But Pharaoh did not want to let the Jewish people go. So Pharaoh said: "No, no, no! I will not let them go!"
Oh listen, oh listen, oh listen King Pharaoh Oh listen, oh listen, please let me people go They want to go away, they work too hard all day
King Pharaoh, King Pharaoh, What do you say??
NO NO NO I will not let them go NO NO NO I will not let them go
God did not like that Pharaoh would not let the Jewish slaves go free. God sent ten plagues to the Pharaoh and the Egyptians, so Pharaoh would change his mind and let the Jewish people go free. One of the plagues was to cover the land in millions and millions of frogs!
One morning when Pharaoh awoke in his bed There were frogs on his bed
And frogs on his head
Frogs on his nose
And frogs on toes
Frogs here, frogs there
Frogs were jumping everywhere!
After the tenth plague, Pharaoh told Moses: "I am tired of plagues. The Jewish people are free. Leave Egypt right now!"
The Jewish people got ready very quickly. They were afraid Pharaoh would change his mind and make them slaves again. Some of the Jewish people were making bread when it was time to leave, but there was no time to let the bread rise and grow soft. Instead, it was flat and crunchy like a cracker. The Jewish people called this matzah and took it with them as they ran away.
After the Jewish people left Egypt, Pharaoh changed his mind. He wanted the slaves back so he sent his army to chase the Jewish people. The Jewish people ran away from Pharaoh's army until they reached the sea. But they could not cross the sea; they were stuck!
Moses raised his arms, and God split the sea in two, with a path in the middle for the Jewish people to walk on safely.
Once the Jewish people were on the other side of the sea, God brought the sea back together so the Egyptians could not chase them. The Jewish people were free! They thanked God by singing and dancing.
Ilu hotzi, hotzianu, Hotzianu miMitzrayim, MiMitzrayim hotzianu Dayenu
Dai Dayenu Dai Dayenu Dai Dayenu Dayenu Dayenu!
Ilu natan, natan lanu, Natan lanu et ha Torah Natan lanu et ha Torah Dayenu
Dai Dayenu Dai Dayenu Dai Dayenu Dayenu Dayenu!
