Learning Doesn't Have to Stop Just Because It's Summer

Social Studies for Kids

Find lots of Jewish facts on many different topics that you and your child can learn together. These include the following and more.


The first monotheistic (one God) religion, Judaism traces its roots back thousands of years. Find out more about this ancient religion, which is still thriving today.

Major Jewish Holidays
Find out more about the major holidays of this religion, including Hanukkah, Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Passover, Shavuot, and Purim.

The Jewish Calendar
The Jewish Calendar is based on the movements of Earth's Moon. Find out more about this ancient and long-running calendar.

The Dead Sea Scrolls
One of modern Judaism's most precious possessions is the Dead Sea Scrolls, a collection of more than 30,000 fragments that together make up nearly 1,000 documents written by Jewish people nearly 2,000 years ago.

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Must-Try Weather Activities for Kids

From Playdough to Plato
Now that summer is here, you may be looking for some activities to do with the kids.  Particularly on rainy days when you might be indoors a little longer than usual.

These must-try weather activities for kids are fun, hands-on ways to teach about temperatures, clouds, rain… even tornadoes!! Whether you’re in need of a quick kids’ science project or are looking for something more crafty, we’ve got you covered.

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For more crafts, check out our    page.

10 Ways Busy Parents Can Share Judaism With Their Kids

By Rabbi Erin Polansky for ReformJudaism.org

We all lead busy lives, running here and there and everywhere. It can be difficult to find time for ourselves, let alone to nurture a spiritual or religious life. But there are many ways to feel Jewish and to impart Jewish feelings, customs, and knowledge to our children without investing much more time into our already-busy schedules.

Play Jewish music in the car

Driving from school to soccer, baseball, dance, art class, Hebrew school… for many parents, time spent in the car seems never-ending. What if that time could also be Jewish time? Instead of “Mom, are we almost there?” your family could be rocking out to Rick Recht’s “Free to Be the Jew in Me,” or Julie Silver’s “Halleluyah.”

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5 Hebrew Baby Names Inspired by Music

Joanna Valente, Editorial Assistant, Kveller
Choosing what to name your new bundle of joy is a difficult decision that is definitely not to be made quickly. When it comes to choosing a name, you may be basing the name largely on meaning, which is why we rounded up five of our favorite names that are inspired by music–because who doesn’t like music?

Here’s our list below:

1. Yaron. Yaron is a boy’s name in Hebrew meaning “to sing.” Definitely a good song for your budding musician.

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Why You Should Bless Your Kids…Even When They Don’t Want It

Rabbi Rebecca Rosenthal    for Kveller

Every Friday night of my childhood, my sisters and I would line up in front of my father as he placed his hands on our heads and recited the priestly blessing. This is a tradition that continues to this day, even as my sisters and I are adults with children of our own. In my mind, my sisters and I were fairly well behaved during our blessing. I remember some pushing and shoving around whose turn it was to be in the middle (without a hand directly on your head) but otherwise, I remember us standing still to receive our blessing—although my parents might dispute that.

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Get with the Giving

A New Shaboom!

The Plonys are feeling selfish. The kids fight over their toys, and Papa and Mama can’t seem to take the community charity drive seriously - Papa wants to donate his leftover beans and tuna! ”SHABOOM!” The Sparks magically help the Plonys donate everything they own, from the shirts on their back to all the furniture in the house. Ay yi yi! In the process, the Plonys learn about generosity: giving doesn’t just make us feel good; it’s tzedakah and it’s our important job.

Dish Soap Silly Putty

by Debbie Chapman, One Little Project

This is quite possibly the EASIEST silly putty recipe ever! And you probably have all of the ingredients in your kitchen already, which is a huge bonus! After we made shaving cream play dough last week, we were curious what other liquids you can mix with corn starch to get a fun dough-like consistency. So after a little Pinterest searching, I found out that you can make dish soap silly putty, and we were all set for another fun experiment.

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Learning Gratitude - Hakarat Hatov

From bimbam

When magical “sparks” Gabi and Rafael discover the Plony family doing something silly, they slide down the rainbow to help out. Watch what happens when they try to use magic (Shaboom!) to make things right in this exciting new Jewish kids show complete with silly songs, new Hebrew words and great ideas for the family.

15 Delicious Passover Recipes For Tots

by Rebecca Gruber for Popsugar
 
Passover may be all about doing without, but convincing little ones to forgo their favorite standby meals won't fly in most households. After Friday's first seder, removing leavened bread from a tot's diet doesn't have to be a recipe for disaster. We've rounded up some kid-friendly recipes that remove the holiday's forbidden ingredients but will still bring kids to the table at mealtime.

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For more Passover news, check out our    page.

Check out our Passover Holiday Spotlight Kit 

Passover Seder for Young Children (4-5 years)

ReformJudaism.org

Passover is the perfect holiday to explore with 4-and 5-year-olds. They are busy pursuing and absorbing new experiences. They have developed a longer attention span and greater language skills. They are curious and eager to take on increasingly complex intellectual challenges. They are very social and love practicing roles and routines. The seder with its story telling, number significance, role playing and repetition is right up their alley. Enjoy together the interactive, interpersonal experience of retelling our story.

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For more Passover news, check out our    page.

Passover is just about here, check out our Passover Holiday Spotlight Kit

Interactive Ideas For A Passover Seder

From MatanKids

Interactive Ideas For A Passover Seder

1. Before the Seder, put a small piece of paper under each child’s plate. The papers will say one of four things: Question, Song, Story, Idea. At any point during the Seder, each guest will turn in their piece of paper and offer a question, song, story or idea. Think about which word will be under the children’s plate. If you know that Passover songs are their strength, be sure to give them “Song”; if they are great at asking questions, give them “Question”; and so on.

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For more Passover news, check out our    page.

Passover is just about here, check out our Passover Holiday Spotlight Kit

Shaboom!

Coming April 6th, from the folks who bring you G-dcast, is a new  animated series for Jewish kids and the people who love them.  Learn about fixing the world with two magical “sparks” named Gabi and Rafael who live in a playhouse in the clouds and help out a regular family that makes a lot of (as your grandma might have said) meshuga mistakes.

Each 10 minute episode focuses on an everyday value like gratitude, saying I’m sorry, or helping others, plus teaches Hebrew vocabulary words with silly songs and goofy chants.

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Dear Helicopter Moms, You’re Ruining It For Everyone Else

by Elizabeth Broadbent for Playground Professionals

She’s standing there under my 3-year-old, arms aloft like she’s at church waiting for God to drop a truth bomb on her. Baby Bear monkey-shimmies 6-foot metal ladder.

“Do you know whose he is?” she asks me, almost breathless with terror.

“He’s mine,” I say. “And he’s been climbing that ladder since he was 2.”

She gawks at me. And then I know I’m doomed: She’s a hoverer. And unless I hover over my kids, she’ll do it for me, not-so-silently judging me all the time. Thanks for ruining my mama playdate, lady.

Because there are two kinds of parents at the park.

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I Don’t Let My Daughter Near Any Screens. This is Why

B.J. Epstein for Kveller

We don’t own a TV. There, I said it.

Shocked? Most people are when they find out. My students, who are in a university literature department, often talk about TV shows and movies in class, and when they hear that I haven’t seen any of the things they’re talking about, their mouths fall open. “But what do you do with your time?” they ask (yes, even literature students ask me what I do if I don’t watch TV).

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Day camp drama: Why can’t I find a Jewish program for my kids?

By Lisa Keys for JTA
I live in New York, one of the most Jewish cities in the world, and yet I reside in a pocket that has few options for Jewish life.

I love my western Queens neighborhood, where my husband and I have lived for more than a decade. The community is great — it’s the kind of place where we babysit each other’s kids — and it’s an easy commute to Manhattan.

But one thing I’ve despaired: the limited Jewish infrastructure. And never do I feel the pain of this more acutely than this time of year, when summer plans are being made. It’s my dream to send my kids, ages 5 and 8, to a Jewish summer camp. But this always seemed impossible, due to a combination of high cost and inconvenience.

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The Jewish Reason Why I Read Dr. Seuss to My Sons

Lela Casey for Kveller
The first time I read “Green Eggs and Ham” to my oldest son, he was 3 years old. I was trying to convince him to eat a cheese stick and getting nowhere. Finally, at my wits end over his impossible eating habits, I remembered the book that he’d recently received as a gift.

For the next 10 minutes he smiled and giggled at Sam I Am and his persistent sales pitch. When the book was over, I handed him the cheese stick one last time and smiled hopefully. He didn’t eat it… Not in his chair, not with his bear, not in the bed, not on his head. But, he did fall in love with Dr. Seuss.

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Purim is Coming & We’re Here to Help

Molly Tolsky for Kveller    
   
At last, the wackiest, craziest Jewish holiday of the year has arrived! Purim begins tomorrow night at sundown and goes until sundown on Sunday night, which means 24 hours of costumes, hamantaschen, noisemakers and more.

But Purim ain’t all cookies and costumes–it’s about beauty pageants, drinking, and evil plots, too! Refresh yourself on the Purim story, and then if you need some last minute ideas to make this year’s Purim extra fun, we’ve got you covered.           

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For more Purim news, check out our    page.

Awesome Purim Crafts

Amy Deutsch for Kveller

Purim is one of those Jewish holidays that lends itself so easily to crafting. From making mishloach manot (goody bags) to groggers (noisemakers) to costumes, there’s just so much to do. We’ve collected some of our favorite crafts for you to check out below–enjoy, and get crackin!

Here at Kveller, we have an environmentally-friendly grogger (repurposed from your recycle bin) as well as some great Purim cards, no-sew costumes, and mishloach manot ideas. And did we mention our adorable miniature Purim dolls from Meredith Jacobs?

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For more Purim news, check out our    page.

10 Reasons Why Handheld Devices Should Be Banned for Children Under the Age of 12

Cris Rowan for the HuffPost Blog

The American Academy of Pediatrics and the Canadian Society of Pediatrics state infants aged 0-2 years should not have any exposure to technology, 3-5 years be restricted to one hour per day, and 6-18 years restricted to 2 hours per day (AAP 2001/13, CPS 2010). Children and youth use 4-5 times the recommended amount of technology, with serious and often life threatening consequences (Kaiser Foundation 2010, Active Healthy Kids Canada 2012). Handheld devices (cell phones, tablets, electronic games) have dramatically increased the accessibility and usage of technology, especially by very young children (Common Sense Media, 2013). As a pediatric occupational therapist, I'm calling on parents, teachers and governments to ban the use of all handheld devices for children under the age of 12 years. Following are 10 research-based reasons for this ban. Please visit zonein.ca to view the Zone'in Fact Sheet for referenced research.

1. Rapid brain growth

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LEGO Releases First Minifigure with a Wheelchair

Joanna Valente (Editorial Assistant) for Kveller

Recently, we reported that American Girl launched a line of dolls with a diabetes care kit and British toymaker Makies released a line of dolls with disabilities. Both of these toy lines were inspired by the social media campaign, Toys Like Me, which is a campaign encourages parents and kids with disabilities to customize their toys, and then post them online.

Toys Like Me did it again, calling for LEGO to start featuring more characters and toys that reflect real life, and actually include characters with disabilities. All kids should feel included–and it’s hard to feel included if all of your toys represent some limited one dimensional version of what kids are “supposed” to look like.

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Worst Day Ever!

Blog: jewishhomeschool

My 5 year old daughter is very emotional and sensitive.

Recently I have noticed that when she gets upset or frustrated about something, she makes a very dramatic comment like, 'this is the worst day of my life!' or 'I am having the worst day ever!' which is often followed by a river of tears.

In her little world, things need to go according to plan. Things need to look a certain way and be a certain way. And when they don't, it really is, to her, the worst day ever.

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Mayim Bialik: 5 Things I Didn’t Expect About Raising Older Boys

Mayim Bialik for Kveller

My boys are 7 and 10, and so many of the troubles of being a mom of two young kids are finally over now, thank goodness! No more needing to find a potty in the middle of every major department store, or having a constant barrage of Cheerio-type products underneath every carseat all the time. No more irrational (or so it seemed at the time) tantrums and very few meltdowns, because I won’t provide another lollipop or another toy after we have just consumed lollipops and bought many toys.

But as they say, small kids small problems, big kids big problems.

Here are the top five astounding things I didn’t realize older kids would end up doing:

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My 2 year old is still waking up at night – advice from a Pediatrician

 By Becky (Your Modern Family)

A few years ago, when our child was still waking up at night (he was two at the time), I went into our Doctor’s office with this complaint…  “My 2 year old is still waking up at night .”  Her advice changed our nights!

I wanted to share this with you, because our son was the BEST sleeper.
He came home from the hospital and slept through the night.  

Once we started watching his patterns more often, we realized that it was around the same time every night.  He was going to bed around 7:00 every night (6:00 if he didn’t nap at all) and waking up in the morning around 7:00 or 8:00.  If he goes to bed at 6:00, he wakes up between 6:50 & 7:30 – he always gets at least 12 hours, sometimes 13, which is about what he needs.

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Yiddish-Speaking Tigers and Klezmer-Playing Bears for Poland’s Jewish Kids

By Penny Schwartz for Jewniverse

Playful poems of a wise owl, a menacing tiger and a klezmer-playing bear that once delighted Yiddish-speaking Polish children are making an unlikely comeback in a soon-to-be-released children’s book for a new generation of Poland’s Jewish children.

Once nearly lost to history, the delightful read-aloud poems are among others in Yiddish Zoo, featuring poems written by prominent Yiddish writers of the interwar years with new translations in Polish and English.

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For more on Jewish books for children, check out our    page.

Show & Tell: 7-Year-Old Yalta and Her Multiplying Dolls

Zivar Amrami for Kveller

This is the eleventh post in our portrait series, Show & Tell, which features children ages 4-12 photographed with their favorite object.  Who: Yalta, age 7 What: DDs (Real name is Dina) Why: She received DD from her grandparents when she was a baby. Yalta is very attached to her doll, so she was sad when her mom thought she lost it. Her mom panicked and went online, where she was able to find two more.

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