Hanukkah (also sometimes spelled Chanukah) is also known as the Festival of Lights. It is a holiday commemorating a time when the Maccabees held a temple rededication ceremony and even though the lamps had only enough oil for one day, they still lasted eight days (long enough for new oil to be processed). This has become a beloved time of remembrance and is often celebrated instead of Christmas among Jewish and Messianic people.
Families that choose to celebrate Hanukkah can use hands-on arts, crafts, and activities to teach their children the story and the celebration. The crafts below all include symbols of the holiday, and some also include celebration aspects.
Create chunky candles using empty cardboard rolls. To make them smaller in girth, cut rolls in half lengthwise and reattach the cut side to make two. These can be decorated as desired and made into a menorah.
Beads can be used to create a keychain dreidel.
Use wooden craft sticks and glue to create a star of David.
Poke six holes, spaced evenly around the inner circle of a paper plate, then use yarn to string through the holes to create a star of David. This can be hung as a decoration.
Washi tape can be used to create a menorah and its candles on a sheet of thick paper or cardboard.
Double handprints (with the thumb overlapped) makes a fun menorah image for young children to decorate.
Create an edible dreidel by attaching a large marshmallow to a pretzel stick and adding a Hershey’s kiss to the end away from the pretzel. Dip the marshmallow into chocolate either before or after assembly, and use white icing to paint on the symbols.
Sand Art Kit
This pack contains four individually wrapped kits, each of which includes six colors of sand and a picture card. Children can make Hanukkah-inspired designs on the card with the sand.
Foam Chanukah House Kit
The foam pieces in these kits allow children to decorate a house for the holiday. Foam decorations include a menorah and a dreidel, as well as children, snow, and the letters for “Happy Chanukah” to attach to the house background.
Shrink Art Kit
Each kit includes a poster and five colored pencils. Children color the poster and cut on the indicated lines, then bake. The resulting trinkets can be strung on a necklace or bracelet, if a hole is punched before shrinking.
Silly Dreidels Kit
Three dreidel backgrounds can be decorated with silly stickers to made amusing faces on them. They are a fun way to keep children occupied at a holiday party or other gathering.
Assorted Art Kits
Children are all different, and so are the art kits in this multipack. 13 different kits come together in this assortment, so each child can have a craft that appeals to him or her and all can learn something about Hanukkah in the process.
Velvet Art Kit
Each kit contains a velvet art sheet and five miniature markers with which to color it. Children can use their imaginations to fill in the spaces with colors or patterns to their own liking.
Dreidel Scratch Art
24 blue-coated paper dreidels come with 12 tools for scratching off the coating to reveal the bright colors underneath. Children can write the symbol from one side of the dreidel or their name or whatever decoration is preferred.
Canvas Painting Kit
Each kit contains a picture, a brush, six paints, 2 bags of sequins, and five bags of glitter to allow children to create a mixed media masterpiece with a Hanukkah theme.
Candle Making Kit
Since Hanukkah is the Festival of Lights, there can be no more appropriate craft than making candles. This kit includes beeswax sheets, wicks, and instructions to make 45 candles (enough for five children to have a full menorah).
Fuse Beads 3D Dreidel
Each pack has instructions and beads to make a usable 3D dreidel. These beads fuse with water rather than heat, making it a safe, simple activity for children.
Foil Art Kit
This kit includes a background and enough foil to make a beautiful picture of a menorah with “lit” candles. Four colors of foil brighten the 8” x 6” image.
Mosaic Art Kit
Each kit contains an 8” x 6” card and a variety of foam squares to attach mosaic-style to decorate a picture representing Hanukkah.
Wood Art Painting Kit
Five kits each have a different style. These wooden cutouts each represent a facet of Chanukah and are ready to be painted or decorated.
Hanukkah Ornament Kits
These adorable 3.75” ornaments feature animals along with menorahs and dreidels. 12 ornament backgrounds are ready to be decorated with foam stickers and hung from included satin cords. Instructions are included, if needed.
Foam Hanukkah Stickers
Create your own Hanukkah craft with over 300 foam stickers in shapes geared for the holiday. Shapes include candles, menorahs, dreidels, and more.
Chanukah Gingerbread House
Made Kosher, this kit includes everything needed to put together a Hanukkah House, including pre-baked gingerbread house walls and roof, icing, jewels of candy, chocolate gelt, plastic dreidels, and a tray to build it on.
Hanukkah Stencil
This stencil includes a variety of Hanukkah symbols which can be used to create designs on paper, or to etch glass. Etching is permanent and dishwasher safe. The stencil has a tacky back to aid in etching without the stencil slipping.
Chanukah Foam Mosaic Kit
This mosaic kit uses foam squares to create an entire picture of a dreidel or a menorah. The background has marked squares so children can easily fill in the pattern.
Hanukkah Cookie Decorating Kit
Children can decorate dreidel cookies with included red icing, or star cookies with included blue icing. Each kit comes with two cookies and the icing. Cookies are vanilla, kosher, and made in a facility free of peanut or tree nuts.
Play and Bake Stained Glass Kit
One dreidel and one menorah are included in this package. Each includes tiny plastic beads and a form. Fill the form with the beads and bake according to instructions for beautiful stained glass ornaments to hang in a bright window.
Sponge Shapes
Use these shaped sponges to create paintings to celebrate Hanukkah. Easy to dip and stamp, the shapes included in these sponges are candlestick, dreidel, kiddish cup, menorah, star of David, and Torah scroll.
Rubber Stamps
Use these sets to allow children to make their own creations. Each set of six includes four dreidels – one for each side – a star of David, and coins.