Hanukkah Activities, Games, and Crafts for Kids

With Christmas preparations taking the Internet by storm, one might struggle to find high-quality content and teaching resources for Hanukkah. To make this right, we’ve decided to create a comprehensive guide on how to commemorate Hanukkah with your kids or students by providing some fun and meaningful Hanukkah activities, games, and crafts for kids. 

The holiday lasts eight nights, which means there are a lot of opportunities for learning, bonding with the whole family, or simply having fun and playing games. Teachers can choose the activities that best suit the students’ grade-level and implement them in the classroom. On the other hand, parents can decide whether they want to use the activities for a full day of fun or celebrate each night by creating something new. Either way, we got you covered! 

Before we dive into the practical section of the article, we’ll start off by sharing some facts and insightful information about Hanukkah. This is especially important for teachers, as not all kids in the classroom will be familiar with the holiday. Let’s go! 

The Story of Hanukkah for Kids

Hanukkah, also known as the Festival of Lights, is a Jewish holiday that honors the rededication of the Second Temple in Jerusalem in the 2nd century BCE. This event happened after the Maccabean Revolt and marks the success of the Maccabees in achieving victory against the powerful Seleucid Empire. 

In Hebrew, the word Hanukkah means rededication. 

What kids need to know is that the Second Temple was extremely important for Jewish people, representing the holiest place for their religion and life. Taking it back from the Seleucid Empire is considered one of the most important historical events in Judaism. 

The holiday begins on the 25th day of Kislev – an autumn month in the Hebrew calendar. Kislev usually occurs around November and December in the Gregorian calendar. It’s also known as the month of dreams. The 25th day of Kislev changes every year, and this year (2021) falls on Sunday, the 28th of November. This means that the holiday will be observed until Monday, the 6th of December. 

The Hanukkah Miracle

There’s a very fascinating story about why Hanukkah is celebrated for eight nights, popularly known as the “Hanukkah Miracle,” which is documented in Talmud, one of Judaism’s most important texts. 

According to the Talmud, when the Maccabees walked into the Temple they found enough oil to light the menorah candles only for one day. However, the flames didn’t go out for eight nights, which is the inspiration behind the yearly celebration that lasts for eight nights.

Today, Jews light candles on the Hanukkah menorah (hanukkiyah) – a unique candle holder. Each night one new candle is being lit, always going from right to left.

You can learn a lot more about Hanukkah by simply visiting our website, or following the links to our facts and worksheet bundles on Hanukkah and Judaism. 

How to Celebrate Hanukkah?

Most families usually celebrate Hanukkah by exchanging gifts each night while the holiday lasts. That’s a lot of presents! We’re sure your child will enjoy this tradition, but there’s no reason not to engage in other exciting activities for kids. Playing games or making crafts is a fun way of creating unforgettable memories and positive feelings on this holiday. Best of all, kids will actually learn a lot of useful information about Hanukkah.

Hanukkah Activities, Games, and Crafts for Kids

Playing Dreidel

Dreidel is a very popular game that Jewish people play for Hanukkah. The dreidel is a four-sided spinning top. Each side of the top has a distinct Hebrew letter drawn on it. The four letters, also known as the fire letters, are “nun”, “gimel”, “hey,” and “shin”, and they mean “A great miracle happened there” (referring to the Hanukkah Miracle).

How to play the game?

This is a very fun game of luck, where players use candy, coins, or other stuff as tokens. Each player starts with the same amount of tokens (usually 10 or 15). First, every player adds one token in the middle of the table, and someone starts the game by spinning their dreidel. Every side of the dreidel (every letter) has a different meaning. 

If the player gets “נ (nun)” it means that they do nothing and their turn passes. If the player gets  “ג (gimel),” it means that they get all the tokens from the center. Getting “ה (hei)” means the player gets half of the tokens in the center, while “ש (shin)” means they have to add an additional token in the center. 

The game is played until one player takes all the tokens, or in shorter alternatives, the game is played for a certain amount of circles, and at the end, the player with the most tokens wins.  

Making Art with the Dreidel Spin

As you may have noticed, the dreidel is quite popular among kids and teens, which means there’s another way to use it in the classroom or at home. Making arts with the dreidel spin is a very creative way of allowing kids to express themselves and have a lot of fun. Best of all, the result would be a very interesting and abstract drawing, which means no one would feel like their drawing isn’t good enough. 

How to make art with the dreidel spin? 

You’ll need a big drawing paper, washable water or oil paints, a dreidel, and a box, such as a foil pan. The box is there to protect the colors from splashing on your kids’ clothes, or worse, your walls and carpets because the process is quite messy (but very enjoyable!).

Simply, place the drawing paper in the box, dip the dreidel in one color and spin it on the paper. The colors will splash all around the paper, creating beautiful lines and shapes.  

Making a DIY Menorah

Each night a new candle of the menorah is lit. Kids love to take part in this tradition, and what better way to do that than to have their own DIY menorah they need to tend to. This activity is a great way for kids to show they’re responsible and patient.

The fast way to do this is to simply head over to Amazon and buy a doughnut, football, or spaceship-themed menorah for kids. But, where’s the fun in that? 

An easy DIY menorah you and your child can make is one from colorful small candles that sit on a decorated wooden base. To do this, you’ll need a shoebox, oil paints, brushes, glue, small art pieces, such as glitter, mosaic tiles, or something similar (this is optional). You’ll also need something to hold the candles, such as hex nuts, the wooden base, and the candles. 

Glue the wooden piece on the shoebox and wait for it to dry. After, you and your child can decorate the base of the menorah together by painting it or adding glitter or other artistic materials. Again, wait for everything to dry before proceeding to the next step. Once the base of the menorah is done, glue the hex nuts in one row. You can also glue one hex nut over another to make the candle higher. Finally, place the candles in the hex nuts and place your kid’s menorah right next to the big one.  

Creating the Star of David

Making “Star of David” ornaments is another great Hanukkah activity for kids of all ages. Plus, it’s really simple and easy. All you’ll need are craft sticks, water or oil paints, glue, and a very thin rope for crafts. 

Instruct your kid to color and draw on the craft sticks, making them very unique. After this, show them how to glue the edges of the craft sticks in order to make a triangle. Make as many triangles as you like (they need to be in an even number). Finally, glue together two triangles to make the Star of David. 

If you like to decorate the house with these “Star of David” decorations, use the rope to make a string of them.

Making a DIY Advent Calendar for Hanukkah

There are many ways to make an advent calendar, and they can be very small to very big. For Hanukkah, we believe making a simple advent calendar with paper bags is a great way to celebrate the holiday and give gifts in a unique way. 

Simply, buy eight paper bags and draw on them together with your child. Each bag should represent one day of the eight day-celebration, so think about the meaning of each drawing. Mark the bags from one to eight and create a string by attaching the bags on a thin rope for crafts. The idea is to pin the string of paper bags on your kitchen wall or anywhere else in the house, and each passing day, the child gets to open one. Just don’t forget to put some delicious treats or small gifts inside them, as no one wants to open an empty bag of paper!

Making DIY Gift Sets for the Whole Family

Another way to make the whole family happy is for you and your child to create gift bags for each night of Hanukkah. You can make this activity very simple and inexpensive, or go all out, it’s totally up to you.

The simplest way to achieve this is to buy Hanukkah gift bags from Amazon and fill them with treats or DIY presents for each family member. Each bag contains gifts for all family members and should be opened when the whole family gathers for dinner during Hanukkah. This way, every family member gets eight presents. However, the presents themselves can be something very small or personal, such as a poem, a thank you letter, or the favorite candy.

Decorating the House with Luminaries

For Hanukkah, kids can also make decorations for the backyard or the front porch from paper bags and flame-less candles (we want to be on the safe side!). 

To do this, you’ll need eight white lunch bags, water or oil paints, and flame-less candles. 

Simply, ask your child to draw different things on each of the paper bags like the Star of David or a dreidel. Once the drawing has dried, simply open the bags and place one flame-less candle in each bag. 

Arrange the bags in your backyard and watch how they glow at night, illuminating the whole house. 

Learning About Hanukkah Through Books and Movies  

Finally, we can’t miss out on the opportunity for kids to learn something more during Hanukkah. There are two ways to do this and still make it a fun activity for kids. 

Read a Book and Play it Out

First, you can give your child a Hanukkah book or reading material that describes the history of this holiday. When the child reads the material, you can both discuss the events and organize a play where the child can act out the story in front of the whole family. 

Watch a Movie and Discuss

Another learning activity is to watch a historical movie or a documentary about Hanukkah. To make sure the child truly understands the meaning of the historical events and consolidates that knowledge, organize a family or a classroom discussion. 

Before You Leave

As you’re well aware by now, there are so many things to do during Hanukkah. We tried to include many diverse activities, crafts, and games that can suit the needs of kids of all ages and grades. After all, teaching Hanukkah for kids should be fun and memorable. 

If you want to learn even more about teaching Hanukkah for kids, we recommend following the links we included in this article, as there’s a lot of ground to cover. Also, you can check out our large collection of worksheet bundles, curriculums, and other teaching resources. We have a lot of resources that you simply don’t want to miss coming up this December!

Finally, our blog is another resource for teachers and parents where we regularly share insightful pieces of advice in the field of children’s education and development.