High Holidays
JH Kids is here to support you and your family. We have put together a collection of resources to help you celebrate the High Holidays during these unprecedented times.
Rosh Hashanah
Yom Kippur
Shmini Atzret | Simchat Torah
Click here to learn more about Shmini Atzret and Simchat Torah
Fun Activities for Kids
Run out of ideas for the High Holidays? Don’t worry, at JH Kids we have you covered. Check out these activities that you can do alone or as a family during this High Holiday season and enjoy!
Have fun with the games and activities in preparation for each festival and finish up before candle lighting of each festival so you can admire your crafts during Rosh Hashana, Yom Kippur, Sukkot and Simchat Torah.
High Holiday Activities
ViewStory and Activity Time for Kids
Engineer Ari and the Rosh Hashana Ride
Join us as we read "Engineer Ari and the Rosh Hashana Ride". Written by Deborah Bodin and illustrated by Shahar Kober.
Engineer Ari has the honour of riding the very first train from Jaffa to Jerusalem. He says some things that hurt his friends feelings and realises this throughout his journey. Join us to find out what he does about it.
Oops! I'm sorry by Sara Blau
Join us as we read "Oops! I'm Sorry". Written by Sara Blau and illustrated by Erin Taylor.
This is a special story for Yom Kippur, a time where we think about our behaviours and apologise when we have made mistakes.
The Very Best Place for a Penny by Dina Herman Rosenfeld
JJoin us as we read 'The Very Best Place for a Penny'. Written by Dina Herman Rosenfeld and Illustrated by Leonid Pinchevsky and Eliyahu Meshchaninov.
Activity 1: Make your own Tzedakka/Charity box.
Activity 2: Origami Dove.
Activity 3: Yom Kippur entertainment box.
Sukkot by David Sokoloff and other Sukkot Activities
Join us as we read "Sukkot". Written by David Sokoloff.
Activity 1: Craft Sukka.
Activity 2: Do lemons and lime float or sink science experiment?
Activity 3: Sensory food challenge.
Let's Celebrate Rosh hashana by David Sokoloff and other Rosh Hashana Craft
Join us as we read "Let’s Celebrate Rosh Hashana". Written by David Sokoloff.
Activity 1: DIY Shofar.
Activity 2: Pompom apples.
Activity 3: Apple Volcanoes.
Insights for Parents
Let's Rejoice with EVERY ESSENCE OF OUR BEING - Sukkot with JH Kids
Have you ever felt joy or happiness and suddenly this foreboding feeling comes to zap that joy away? The feeling that says, "this isn't going to last", "something bad is going to happen to take it all away". This feeling tries to prepare us for the worst, when we are feeling our best- and that is not helpful.
So how can we combat it? Watch further to find out.
Sukkot is a time for rejoicing- in hebrew- zman simchateinu. Let's allow ourselves to experience that joy FULLY, with all of our senses, with every essence of our being.
Have you ever wondered why you have a hard time with self-improvement? Maybe you're like me and find it challenging to change behaviours or thought patterns. Well, today we discuss an idea that was truly mind-blowing for me and credit goes to Lynn Lyons who has authored "The Anxiety Audit" that goes through these ideas in more detail.
Lynn shares that there is only one way to combat unhealthy thinking patterns, and that is by taking baby steps. Baby steps are still steps forward and are SO significant!
Yom Kippur is around the corner, a time when we consider our interactions with ourselves and others and look to improve on them.
This year lets make significant strides forward by taking teeny tiny baby steps.
Can Guilt be a Good Thing?
Yom Kippur is in just over a day. It is a time for introspection and reflection and that can bring up feelings of GUILT or SHAME. Guilt and shame are not the same. When appropriate, guilt encourages healthy realignment of behaviours with values. Shame does not do the same.
When we feel shame, we want to run away or disappear. It doesn't encourage change- instead we get caught up in a destructive cycle that feels unending. Do you know the differences between guilt and shame? Can you recognise them in your self-talk, or your children's? This is just a snippet of a much larger discussion. Get in touch to chat more.
What's My Family Motto?
Rosh Hashana- the beginning of a new year. We all want to have a sweet new year and we can take steps to make that happen.
A family motto or mission statement is a reflection of your family's values. Sometimes our behaviours represent our values beautifully, and sometimes they don't. We want our values to be reflected in our day to day interactions with ourselves and others. The values that we instil in our children from a young age, stay with them through to adulthood. Whether we like it or not, our family has a motto.
What is your family's motto? Try sitting down as a family and writing two lists- what we think our family motto is, and what we would like our family motto to be. If the two lists are the same, send me some notes :). But if there are discrepancies then this is the year to face them head on and make those tweaks in our behaviours so that they line up with our values.
This year, let our family motto be one that we choose for ourselves.
Make the Most of your High Holidays
Check out this video for some creative tips on how to make the most of your High Holidays this year, as we reflect on the challenges we are overcoming with Covid-19. If you have the energy for creativity- go for it and if you don't, take a breather and know that these ideas are not going to make or break your High Holiday experience.
1. Leave post it notes with connecting messages around the home. Encourage your children to do the same.
2. Turn your home into a Synagogue and get creative with the role play.
3. Write yourselves a new year letter filled with reflections and hopes. Check back on these letters again when your children turn 18.
4. Rose, Bud and Thorn discussion.
Wishing you and your family a Shana Tova- Happy New Year.
a Rosh Hashana Message
Dip the Apple in the Honey- Yes, we know about the apple and honey- we dip it each year, but what can we learn from it? The apple can represent the different aspects of us, or our moods and those of our children- happy, sad, sour, angry.
Apples go bad pretty quickly if they are left out- they aren't permanent. The feelings and moods and even behaviours come and go.
What is permanent? The Honey- the goodness that exists within all of us, our desire to do good, the fact that we, and our children are doing our best.
You're having a yucky moment, but you're not a bad apple! So go and coat the apple in the honey as a reminder of the sweet truth about each one of us.
Take a Break from Working on Yourself-
A Yom Kippur message
Take a break from all that growing Ludacris? I know! Life is busy. Life is tough. Sit in the tough for a bit. Sit in the good for a bit. Are things really all that bad that they need fixing? Is it possible that it is good enough? It is important to work on yourself, being growth oriented is a goal in and of itself, but sometimes we forget to get off the treadmill of working on ourselves, and being the best version of ourselves that we don't even realise what we have right here and now is good enough.
If you're anything like me, then when you've had a bad day, you think how you can make things better so that the next day is easier. Tough times are uncomfortable, and we want to take away that discomfort- sometimes focusing on how you can fix it, or make things better is another way of distracting you from just sitting in the difficult space. Because sometimes, it is just a bad day, and if you can step back, you will see that the bigger picture is not as bleak as you think.
It’s been a tough year all round. Good enough IS good enough.
