Religion and fun don't always go hand-in-hand. But with the right activities, you can up the enjoyment level. If you are stumped for activities for Passover, explore several activities that can teach about the celebration of Passover and join the fun.
Fun Activities for Passover for Everyone
Regardless of your religion, you can take part in the eight-day celebration of Passover. The focus of Passover is freedom and liberation from slavery for the Israelites. This theme of freedom can be found from the foods of Passover to the stories. Now get your crafting fingers warmed up because it's time for some fun activities that kids of all ages can use to celebrate Passover.
Passover Frog Decoration
Frogs are fun! They are also the stars of the 2nd plague that God rained down on Egypt. Teach younger kids from 4 to 8 about this plague and have a little fun with a frog craft. This craft can be used as a table piece during the Passover meal or as a unique decoration to celebrate Passover.
Materials
Frogs don't just appear out of thin air. There are a few materials that you're going to need.
- Paper cups
- Green construction paper
- Green and black markers
- Crazy eye stickers
- Glue sticks
- Scissors
Making Your Frog
Green is the name of the game in your frog decoration. Follow these steps to get the perfect leaper.
- Unless green cups were purchased, color the entire cup green.
- Use the black marker to add a face.
- Use the stickers to add eyes.
- Cut arms and legs out of the green construction paper.
- Glue the arms and legs to the cup.
- Add any other decorations or embellishments that you want to the frog cup.
- Make several frogs to make it a plague of frogs and add them to your decor.
Paa..Paa Passover Lamb
A lamb is the sacrifice of Passover. Help children to learn about the sacrificial lamb through a lamb activity. Not only will kids 7-10 enjoy creating the lamb, but they will have fun coming up with a skit.
What You Need
Creating your lambs is simple. You'll need:
- Paper plates
- Sticker eyes
- Cotton balls
- White and black construction paper
- Scissors
- Glue sticks
- Black marker
Getting Your Activity Ready
Not only will kids have fun creating the lamb, but they will gain a deeper understanding of the sacrifice through a skit.
- Take the plate and black marker and add a lamb face.
- Use the stickers to make eyes.
- With the construction paper, cut out the four legs and glue them on the plate.
- Have kids use the cotton balls to make their lamb fluffy.
- Introduce the scripture of the lamb sacrifice.
- Discuss the importance of the lamb and what he was used for.
Have kids come up with a skit about their lamb and how important he was. Make sure they discuss why he was important and how he saved lives. They should also discuss why lamb is eaten during Passover. For example, kids might make a skit where their lamb is a superhero that gives his life to save others.
Avoid the Plague
Games are always a fun way to talk about Passover. Join in the fun by playing avoid the plague. This game can work for kids from 6 to 12 and is designed to help them to understand the calamities that happened to the Egyptians.
Supplies
You're going to need plagues in order to play. Get started with:
- Construction paper
- Markers
- Scissors
- Large room
Playing the Game
A little bit of creativity is needed here to make the plagues. To get this game rolling, you'll:
- Use the construction paper to make the plagues. For example, kids might make and cut out several frogs, beasts or locusts. The plague that they create is their choice.
- After making the plagues, you are ready to play.
- One person will stand at one end of a room.
- Another person will throw out the plagues on to the floor. If you've made all the plagues, you should have them throw them out in order (blood, frogs, lice, wild beasts, pestilence, boils, thunderstorm, locusts, darkness and death of first born).
- The kid standing on one end of the room needs to start moving toward the other end of the room.
- The goal is to make it safely from one end of the room to the other without stepping on a plague. If you step on one, you're out.
- You can use this as a fun game after you discuss the Passover plagues.
Freedom Collage
Passover is all about freedom and perseverance of a people. Using that theme, have kids 8-12 create a collage about what freedom means to them. This can help them to see how the freedom of the Jewish people relates to other forms of freedom and oppression. In addition to large piece of construction paper, you'll need to provide:
- Magazines
- Craft supplies
- Markers
Creating Freedom
Using the supplies, the kids should use creativity to discuss what freedom means through their collage. They might cut out pictures that represent freedom like the flag. They might also choose to draw pictures of the different events that happened in Passover to lead to freedom. Let them use their imaginations to demonstrate this theme on the paper. After making the collage, have them discuss why their collage represents freedom and how it relates to Passover.
Teaching Passover
Teaching about Passover to a group of culturally diverse kids can add more difficulty. If you remember that Passover is about freedom from slavery and perseverance of people, then it can become easier. Use a few tips for making Passover activities more digestible.
- Talk about the symbolism found behind each activity. For example, discuss the symbolism of the frog and how it might be similar to symbols found in other religions.
- Use the activities to talk about different aspects of Passover and why it is important. For example, the sacrifice of the lamb and how it related to the people and their freedom.
- Discuss how Passover traditions might relate to other traditions in other religions.
- You might also relate the plagues to other calamities found in other religions and point out the similarities and differences.
- The activities can also be related to historical events. For example, the freedom collage can be related to freedom from slavery by African Americans.
Making Passover Perfect
Passover can be a hard topic to discuss in your classroom or household, but activities can make it more fun. Use these activities to teach kids about what Passover is and why it's a Jewish Festival of Freedom.
