Har Sinai Hat (or Centerpiece)

When a party hat becomes Har Sinai!

When we walked into daycare to pick up the baby, a two year old was having a birthday party. All the kids were wearing party hats, which was adorable, and my big kids were more than happy to eat their sister’s cupcake. The party hats were solid green…which triggered an idea. What if we made the hats into mini Har Sinais? Our daycare provider chimed in, reminding me of the gemara which says that at the time Hashem gave us the Torah, He held the mountain over our heads and we had no choice but to accept the Torah. Wearing a Har Sinai hat would be a funny way to illustrate that.

I had envisioned these more as centerpieces and less as hats, but the kids found it hilarious to wear Har Sinai on their heads.

Looking for more Shavuot projects?
Shavuot Flowers

Har Sinai Hats

Time:
Active: 5-10 minutes
Drying: 15 minutes+ if using paint

Age: 2-7

Materials:
Solid green party hat or green paper rolled in a cone shape
Flower stickers
Toothpick
2 small pieces of thin cardboard (a cereal box works well)

Process:
Decorate your hat with flower stickers, or glue on flowers cut from paper.

To make the luchot, cut the shape out of two pieces of carboard. I stacked them on top of each other while cutting to get them even. Put the toothpick between the two pieces and tape together. Insert into the small hole at the top of the hat.

 

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Torah Bag

Store your things in a Torah bag this Simchat Torah!

We have been spending Yom Tov with my parents. The rabbi of their shul gives Torah cards to any kid who wishes him a good Shabbos or Yom Tov, which is the highlight of shul for many kids. My kids amassed quite a collection over all of the holidays. On Sunday morning of Chol HaMoed Sukkot, my daughter came up with a great idea of how to store them – make a “Torah bag.” She proceeded to direct my mom to give her specific supplies and put together an amazing bag!

Since they were working with limited supplies, I put together an upgraded version to share with you. I think these are adorable and have multiple potential uses if you do not have Torah cards. Bring them to shul on Simchat Torah to collect whatever the kids get there (candy overload is one of my pet peeves but that is for a different discussion). Use them as favor bags at an upsherin. Or, as my daugher helpfully suggested, just use them for storing Shopkins.

Time:
Active: 30 minutes
Drying: 15 minutes+ if using paint or glue

Age: 2-9

Materials:
Brown paper bag
Something with which to decorate the bag – paint, markers, crayons, stickers
2 paper towel rolls
Tinfoil
Scissors
Glue or tape

Process:
Trim off approximately 2.25″ from the top of the paper bag. The allows the paper towel tubes to stick out on the top and the bottom. Decorate your bag however you want. We had crown stickers, so I used one here, along with our favorite dot paint.

Cover the paper towel tubes with tinfoil. I didn’t find it necessary to use any glue or tape, just tuck the edges in at the ends.

Glue or tape the back of the bag to the paper towel rolls. Only attach the top 2/3 of the bag. Do not glue or tape the bottom part of the bag or it will not fold flat.

Allow to dry, fill and enjoy!

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Shavuot Flowers

Decorate Har Sinai or make a bouquet!

In our dining room, we have one wall that is saved for hanging up the kids’ projects. It rotates seasonally, and we have school projects and crafts we have done at home. It’s at the point where it can never be blank, or it just looks like something is missing. Kids love having their artwork displayed and this being a very prominent location gives them a lot a pride.

Well, the Pesach projects were still hanging as of today, so I knew we needed to move on. We took down the matza and seder plate (school projects were saved for now, paper we cut into shapes and taped up there was recycled while no one was looking). And now, what could we put up for Shavuot? My daughter wanted to put up a big Har Sinai. Har Sinai itself ended up being both green and brown, based on what colors were left in the package of construction paper. Then we decorated it with some flowers that used paper and my favorite art supply, the paper fastener! These were really easy and came out looking beautiful.

Time:
Active: 30 minutes, depending on how many you make
Drying: 15 minutes+ if using paint

Age: 2-7

Materials:
Paper or flower template
Something with which to decorate the paper – paint, markers, crayons, etc.
Scissors
Paper fasteners

Process:
Draw your flower outlines, or download and print ours. I sized them so we would have a three layered flower in the end, with each flower being slightly smaller than the next.

Decorate in any way you want. We used watercolors, which have been a favorite recently.

When they are dry, cut them out. This proved to be a bit tedious, but I stacked two sheets of paper together and cut them simultaneously. Stack the flowers with the largest one on the bottom and the smallest on top. Poke a hole with the paper fastener through the center of all 3 flowers.

If you don’t have a wall to hang them on, use a pipe cleaner instead of a paper fastener and make a bouquet! Decorate an empty bottle by pasting on squares of tissue paper and you have just made a lovely Shavuot centerpiece.

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