This seder plate is a play on a spray painted mirror I did once as a kid. It can be decorated to be any kind of serving dish and looks beautiful yet crafty when done.

You will need:

Silver/Gold plastic plate at desired size.
Tempera Paint
Mod Podge
Paintbrushes
contact paper
Scissors

The first thing you need to do is design the template of what you want on your contact paper. Then, cut out the template pieces and stick on the plate wherever and however you choose. Wherever you place the contact paper is where the gold or silver will show through once you're done.

Now, use the paints and brushes to paint the entire plate. I chose to paint 3 coats- one lavender, one lavender glitter paint by Martha Stewart, and then I used a great Martha Stewart striping brush that I won in a giveaway to paint blue stripes.

Once this dries, paint the entire plate with Mod Podge to seal it in. If you are an adult doing this project, you can buy permanent paints and skip the Mod Podge, though I love the shine it leaves.

Finally, very carefully peel off the contact paper to reveal your design!

Ta-Da!

One of my blog readers messaged me with this great tie-dye technique that's pretty child-friendly and fun! Here's the link to the original blog post which includes the instructions for the tie-dyeing. One note- using the rubber banded cup is not necessary, however, it does make the coring a lot easier!

What you'll need:

White cotton pre-shrunk fabric
Quart size ziploc
Sharpie Markers
Rubbing Alcohol
Rubber band
Plastic cup with rim
Dropper
Hole Punch
Lanyard for lacing
Tacky Glue
Glitter Glue

Cut the fabric to be double the length of the ziploc bag, with an extra inch of width at each side. Follow instructs on the link above to tie-dye. Squeeze a line of tacky glue across the top of both side of the ziploc bag, and fold the fabric over it, so that the opening is stuck to the opening of the bag. Hole punch the sides of your fabric- I did 5 holes on each side, and have the kids sew the sides together. Finally, use the litter glue to write "Afikomen". Give it 24 hours to dry, and enjoy!

Happy Pesach!!!

PS- An extra plea to PLEASE vote for me to win the Alex crafting supplies- I'm in the running to win about $500 worth of materials. My name is Nechama Levin

Thank you!!!

As some of you may have read in previous posts- I am in the running to win approximately $500 worth of Crafting supplies from Alex Toys. In order to win, I need people to like my son's photo by following this link. Round 2 ends tomorrow night at midnight, and provided that I make t through, there will be one final round before I win! (I hope)

I'm also in touch with Alex Toys regarding their sponsoring a giveaway for you- my wonderful blog followers.

Thank you for voting!

Dina (Nachama is my first name :) )

PS The photos are just a couple of the things I'll hopefully win

One of the many repetitive parts to the Pesach seder is washing one's hands. Therefore, as we prepare our Haggadah, we need up with a number of hand prints and hand tracings. This week, after some of the kids watched me guide hand tracings, they headed over to do some free art. A few minutes later, when I came by to check out what everyone was doing, I discovered most of them tracing their hands!  So I asked them what else they could trace? E looked around the room, and noticed a stack of plastic cups- "Cups!" he exclaimed gleefully! And so we took out some cups, and had some more fun!

Here's a short craft and a favor to ask....

The craft is Elijah's Cup for the seder night.

You will need:

2 Plastic cups
Mod Podge
Paintbrush
Tissue paper squares, tin foil squares, etc

Give each child one cup, and set the second one aside. Have the kids generously coat the outside of the cup with Mod Podge. Then have them place their squares of paper onto the Mod Podge, and then apply a second coat. If you'd like, you can add a paper that states Elijah's Cup. Finally, place the cup into the second cup and allow it to dry for a couple hours.

Place on your table and enjoy.

Now for the favor- I'm in a 3 stage contest at Alex Toys the requires my acquiring votes to win a $500 (approximately) prize package. You need to have a Facebook account to vote and the instructions are pretty clear. Just follow this link.
Round one ends at Midnight. After this round, the 4 contestants with the most votes will move on to round 2.

Thank you for voting!

Oh- and as motivation, Alex Toys is working on sending something our way to do a giveaway here!!  :)

Have a great weekend and Shabbat Shalom!!

The universal Pesach food that we all wait for is the Matzah! This bag can have 1or 3 compartments, or none at all, and will look beautiful gracing your seder table!

You will need:

Full sheets of felt
Glitter glue
Sequins, Rhinestones, and other bling  :)
Fabric/tacky glue
needle and thread/sewing machine
4 12" square sheets of woven fabric

First, give the kids the felt and glitter glues, and have them decorate the felt as they wish. Then, give them the bling to add on to spots of the glitter glue. Allow it to dry overnight.

A competent sewer should stack the 4 sheets of fabric and sew the edges of 3/4 sides together. You can either use an interlock machine or just a zigzag stitch to prevent the fabric from fraying. Turn the bag inside out so that the seams are inside. If you'd like, and for a polished look, you can iron the seams flat.

Back at school, have the kids spread the fabric/tacky glue around the underside of the felt sheet and then press firmly onto the bag. Allow up to 24 hours to dry.

Happy Matzah Munching!

This giveaway is now closed. Congratulations to our winners April Dawn Lister has won the Classroom Pack, and Maryashi won the Crafter Pack! Thank you to everyone who entered! Stay tuned for more giveaways in the future!
Here it is! The review and giveaway you've all been waiting for!

I first discovered Mabel's Labels back in 2009 in- wouldn't you know? my preschool classroom! I still remember  noticing the bag tag on one of my student's lunch bags, and thinking "i'm so getting those when I have kids!" Well, little did I know, I didn't really need to wait to have kids- the labels are great for everyone!

Mabel's Labels sent me 2 great sets of labels to review, and they'll be sending two lucky winners a set of labels too!

The first set they sent me is the Crafter Pack. It comes with 48 labels, half red, and half blue that list just about any crafting item that you may use, and then a couple that you wish you did. What I love about the labels is that the text is such a vivid and easy-to-read white font, and the surrounding white border really draws your eye so that you can easily find what you're looking for. As you can see in the photos below, the stickers work well on metal, wood, and plastic. The stickers stick fast and well, but are removable for the most part if you need to reposition them. That being said, they're meant to be permanent. What I love most about them is their versatility for me as a preschool teacher and crafter- these labels work in both the classroom, and at home!

The second set that was sent to me is the Classroom pack. This pack would really work in any classroom, preschool or elementary school. The quality matches the crafter pack's, and the label size is the same. But though the font is still easy-to-read, it's a bit more cutesy/fun, and each label has a smiley face next to it! The labels include labels for seasonal items like a Thanksgiving label, as well as everyday items like erasers. There are also great labels for some of the various typical preschool centers such as blocks and books. And just in case you're missing some critical labels- can't really imagine which- but just in case, there are some custom label packs as well, so that you can enter whatever text you need on the labels.

Finally, when I ordered labels for the second time for my son, I thought- "What about me?" And so I ordered some labels for my personal preschool supplies- it's impossible to be a preschool teacher and not bring your own stuff in at least sometimes! I label my books, toys, and supplies, and nothing ever gets lost!

Now you can win some labels too! One lucky winner will win a Crafter Pack, and a second winner will win a Classroom Pack courtesy of Mabel's Labels!

Here's how:

1. Like Playful Preschool on Facebook

2. Comment with your favorite of my previous blog posts.

3. Like Mabels Labels on Facebook

4. Follow Mabels Labels on Twitter

5. Comment telling me what your favorite Mabels Labels product is

6. Subscribe to the Playful Preschool RSS feed.

7. Vote for me (Nechama Levin) in the March Madness tournament on Facebook.

Unless you don't have Facebook, step 1 is required. Each step is a separate entry, and requires a separate comment below letting me know what entry you completed. For Facebook and Twitter related entries, please post your profile name so that verification is possible if necessary.

This giveaway is open to residents of the United States and Canada only.

Giveaway ends March 31 at 10pm.

In conjunction with the Pesach story, we took out 300 plastic cups for the kids in lieu of blocks, and demonstrated a simple 2-1 pyramid, and then let the kids take off on their own. The kids had such a great time, at first tentatively using as many as 15 cups, and then one boy piped up with the idea to make a GIANT pyramid. We carefully lined up a looooong base, and slowly built it up screaming every time there was a breeze. Eventually as we were around 6 rows from the top, the whole pyramid came tubing down whispering as it fell! The sheer delight on the kids' faces as it fell was priceless!

The only supplies you need are lots and lots of cups!

Have fun! Happy Building!!

Last year, I was brainstorming ways to get the families of my students involved in our Pesach preparations, and came up with this idea. I received tremendous positive feedback, and so I look forward to repeating the process again.

I sent out an email to all parents asking the they please send me a recipe, story or family tradition related to Pesach. I then compiled these into a small book. I had ordered 4x4 cardboard books for something else that hadn't worked out, so I used those. But you can print them onto card stock, or bind them- whatever you prefer to do. I added a photo of each child on his/her family's page as a finishing touch.

You can see photos below.

Please note that all faces and names are blocked out to protect the privacy of my students.

Woah! Pesach is only 3 weeks away, so most of you teachers are probably steamrolling ahead with your crafts. This is a Haggadah that I did a few years ago. I can't provide the templates or printed text, but if you have an questions about reproducing, please either comment or email me and I'll be more than happy to guide you through any confusing steps. This is the only Haggadah I'll be posting this year, as the one I created for the past couple years is taking a sabbatical :). If you are looking for other ideas, I recommend checking out www.Chinuch.org.

Good luck and happy cleaning!