Easy Hanukkah Crafts for Children

There are many fun kids' Hanukkah crafts online. Here are a few fun kids' Hanukkah crafts for you to make with your children. For more great kids' Hanukkah crafts, follow the many links in this article.

The Dreidel: Hanukkah is a favorite time for the Dreidel, a gambling game associated with the Jewish holiday. With a nice terracotta clay or polymer clay like sculpey or fimo, you can sculpt a nice dreidel for Hanukkah use, but the craft may prove tricky as a little kids' Hanukkah craft. There are many companies who sell lovely wooden Dreidels kids can paint. Jewishtoys.net offers a traditional wooden Dreidel without the symbols painted on. Younger children may prefer to add stickers showing the symbols like these from the craft shop online.

Yarn Craft Stick Star of David: A lovely symbol of Hanukkah and an excellent kids' Hanukkah craft is this Star of David. Made with craft sticks and yarn, the star can be assembled by children as the story of the star can be red aloud by an adult. Refer to our easy slideshow for details on how to make this craft. Simply glue the star and either paint or wrap with yarn. Personalize with the names of family, or by using your favorite colors of yarn or paint. For a star with bling, add sparkly glitter to the finished project.

Menorah candles: Making your own candles for the Menorah will make a child feel especially involved this Hanukkah and it's a kids' Hanukkah craft that also makes a great gift. To make candles, use a double boiler to melt the wax, and either pour or dip candles. Dipping candles is easy and makes an entire house smell wonderful. You can find a tutorial on dipping candles at mycraftbook.com. We typically save candle scraps and purchase a chunk of wax from the craft store to make our candles. To make dipped candles, begin by filling the bottom of the double boiler with water and put on medium. Place the wax and candles in the top pot and allow to melt. Be very careful; wax is highly flammable. With prepared wick material, dip the line into the wax, being careful to coat the entire string. You can either tie wicks to a wooden dowel or hold an uncut wick between a pair of candles. Then, allow the wax to dry. When the wax is dried, dip your candle again. Once you have a few coats, straighten your candle between dipping. This craft is best if used by older children. Younger children can decorate white purchased candles with a piece of paper taped around the width of the candle and using paints or Hanukkah stickers. Be sure to remove the paper prior to burning.

Mezuzah Case: Though Mezuzah cases are often handed down from family to family, having your child make a Mezuzah case to give as a gift is a wonderful Hanukkah craft to keep your child busy during the season. The Mezuzah is a small ornament used to mark the door jambs of the Jewish faithful. The Mezuzah verse for the parchment can be found online for easy printing . Craft boxes to paint and decorate can be purchased at almost any craft shop. Choose one that is small and easily painted. Another option is to use clay. Oytoys actually has a kit for a Mezuzah case. Clay Mezuzah instructions can be found at Chadiscrafts website.

Menorah: BHG.com has great instructions for a Menorah made out of spools. Younger children will be delighted by making their own miniature menorah. You will need soda straws, yellow pipe cleaners, yellow pony beads, and ball made of craft Styrofoam cut into ¼ spheres. Begin by painting the Styrofoam ¼ sphere with either spray paint or acrylic. To make each candle, carefully cut the straws so you have eight 1.5" pieces and one 2" piece. Take the yellow pipe cleaners and make a small flame - teardrop shape at the top. Feed the pipe cleaner through one pony bead and then the straw. Carefully cut so that the pipe cleaner sticks out about 1 cm past the bottom of the straw. Glue this tail to the straw. Don't worry; when you poke the "candle" down into the craft foam, it won't show. Finish by making small holes in the ¼ sphere for the "candles" and adding a drop of glue. Fit the candles onto the sphere in the proper order. Coat with a thin layer of craft glitter spray.

Have fun with these kids' Hanukkah crafts and have a happy holiday.