Jewish families are celebrating the Sukkot holiday. This "festival of tabernacles" goes until sundown Wednesday. In Jewish tradition, children are involved in religious activities. Here are resources for parents, home-school families and educators to explore Sukkot with children. These materials help children understand the traditional significance behind the building of the sukkah.
Children's literature selections
Literature activities are a great place to start. Numerous fiction and nonfiction books have been written about Sukkot.
* "Tikvah Means Hope": Patricia Polacco's tale, set in Oakland, Calif., explores religious diversity in the context of the 1991 firestorm that devastated the community. A gentile child learns about his neighbors' faith and experiences their sukkah, which survives the ravages of fire.
* "Sammy Spider's First Sukkot" and "Sammy Spider's First Simchat Torah": Children relate to animals. Sylvia Rouss weaves Jewish truths into gentle stories involving an endearing spider. There are 17 Sammy Spider books, each focusing on a different holiday or aspect of Jewish life. The author's website provides curriculum ideas to accompany the stories.
* Judaism offers a listing of Sukkot legends, history, spiritual exploration and cultural perspectives for children. Books are geared to a variety of ages.
* Chabad has a collection of short Sukkot tales that can be printed and read aloud. Children might color pictures, found at AISH, Torah Tots or Chagim, or illustrate from their imagination as they listen to the stories.
Sukkot activities for children
* Chabad has a children's activity guide with dozens of links for printable games, puzzles, word searches, decorations and crafts. There are kid-friendly recipes, animated video clips and holiday observance helps for parents.
* Torah Tots is an interactive, child-centered website for Jewish children. The Sukkot page offers online games, crafts, lessons, weekly Torah readings, activities and printables.
* Akhlah provides online and printable Sukkot activities to help children understand the holiday. Akhlah explains the four species associated with sukkah: lemon, date palm, myrtle and willow in a kid-friendly way. Akhlah has prayers, devotional and study guides for parents also.
* A Kid's Heart offers Hebrew to English translators for kids, crafts, jigsaw puzzles, greeting cards and activities geared toward non-Jewish families who want to learn more about Hebrew holidays.
Marilisa Kinney Sachteleben writes about parenting from 23 years raising four children and 25 years teaching K-8, special needs, adult education and home-school.
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