The dreidel, known in Hebrew as a sevivon, dates back to the time of the Greek-Syrian rule over the Holy Land—which set off the Maccabean revolt that culminated in the Hanukkah miracle.

Learning Torah was outlawed by the enemy, a “crime” punishable by death. The Jewish children resorted to hiding in caves in order to study.

If a Greek patrol would approach, the children would pull out their tops and pretend to be playing a game. By playing dreidel during Chanukah we are reminded of the courage of those brave children.

Research has shown that young children learn best through active, hands-on experiences.

In other words, children learn by doing. Play provides the foundation for academic learning.

To incorporate the menorah into our Hanukkah theme, we placed candles into real menorahs!

This activity accessed several developmental areas.

Each candle was color-coded to match a corresponding cavity on the menorah.

By discerning between an array of different colors, students exercised their matching and visual perceptual skills.

This experience also encouraged your little ones to investigate, discover, and learn new ideas related to a culture different from their own.

By collaborating with their classmates, they also fostered their decision-making skills, supporting their emerging social-emotional development, as they best problem-solved how to share supplies to meet a common goal.

We have been learning about the many words that begin with the letter D, because our word for the week is Dreidel! We began our week with the words dreidel, dirt, and dinosaur.

To help make this activity fun and memorable, our task was to place dinosaurs inside a large letter D. By doing this, your little one incorporated several developmental domains. They not only accessed their ability to evaluate space (How many blocks will fit?), but were given an opportunity to work with their peers.

Social development is an essential component to many of our activities. They build self-esteem, create community, and encourage conflict resolution, which is essential as your little ones continue to grow and flourish!

According to tradition as recorded in the Talmud; at the time of rededication, there was very little oil left that had not been defiled by the Greeks. Oil was needed for the menorah in the Temple, which was supposed to burn throughout the night, every night.

There was only enough oil to burn for one day, yet miraculously, it burned for eight days, the time needed to prepare a fresh supply of oil for the menorah.

An eight day festival was declared to commemorate this miracle.  To incorporate this into our week of our Hanukkah festivities, we conducted an oil experiment with oil, water, food coloring, molasses, and honey.

Doing so enabled your little one to acquire new language (words like density, heavy, viscous, cloudy water) as they applied their knowledge of science concepts such as observation, speculation, and implementation.