Yay! Did you realize that Purim is only one month away?!?

For Purim crafts, I'm not going in any particular order of ideas, so if there's something specific that you'd like to see, please ask on my Facebook page.

1, Firstly, for some ceiling decor. These hanging Hamantaschen are fun, colorful, and skillful!

You will need:

Cream colored paper
Contact Paper
Tissue paper in Jelly colors- purple, red, orange
Scissors
Single hole punch
String

Cut a rounded triangle from the cream paper. Cover one side with contact paper cut to size. Cut the tissue paper into small squares. ave the kids crunch each piece of tissue paper before placing it on the contact paper, holding it in place. Once the contact paper is full, punch a hole at the top of the triangle and tie  a piece of string. Hang from the ceiling!

2. Purim Puppet Theater

In our classroom last year we had a toy grocery store by Melissa and Doug. If you have something similar great, if not, improvise! Simply drape fabric over it to form a puppet theater. Have baskets nearby, or use the grocery bins of this set to place the various Purim related puppets in reach! If you live in New York, Amazing Savings has a great Cowgirl on a horse puppet for $3.99 that I converted into Mordechai on the horse. The kids loved it!

Have fun and Happy Purim!

Here we begin a unit on health, hygiene, and nutrition.

What you'll need:

Purple/green construction paper
Clear contact paper
Scissors
Purple, green and red tissue paper squares

First, cut out a grapes pattern from the construction paper, and cover the empty frame with contact paper. Next, have the kids place tissue paper squares onto the contact paper. Finally, cover the remaining side with a second sheet of contact paper.

Ta-da!

We all make those same Menorahs that hold colorful wax candles- each with hour own unique twist of course, and now, here's a way to prevent the table from getting some gorgeous colorful wax stains on it!

What you'll need:
One sheet of construction paper per child
Scissors
Contact paper
1" x 1" pictures of menorahs
1" x 1" pictures of the kids preparing for Chanukah
a single 2" x 2" picture of each child

Fold a sheet of paper in half and draw half a menorah so that when you cut it out and unfold it you have a full menorah. Half the menorah would be 4 branches and a half of the shamash. cut out the menorah, making sure that you now have a complete menorah frame, and the actual paper menorah. Following the preparations for stained glass, cover one side of the menorah frame with contact paper. Set the menorah cut out aside for later. Then, give each child his/her larger photo to place face down in the center of the menorah. Once every child has his/her photo down, show the kids to stick on the various menorah pictures as well as the pictures of themselves getting ready for Chanukah. Once they've filled the menorah, cover it with a second sheet of contact paper. Now you have a fantastic menorah mat that's sure to be saved and cherished of years to come!

As a separate craft, you can take the menorah cut out and have the kids decorate it either by painting, doting, coloring, etc. Then, provide the kids with the Brachos (Blessings) printed in Hebrew and transliterated/translated depending on the community you are catering to. Laminate these with contact paper too!

My favorite Fall fruit is apples because of their versatility. There are so many fun things to do with apples, here are some ideas:

Apple Graphing- Many of you probably do some sort of apple taste test for Rosh Hashanah, but if you didn't, you can now! Prepare a chart with each child's name followed by 3+ blank columns, depending on how many apples you'd like to taste. The classics are of course, Granny Smith (green), Golden Delicious (Yellow), and Red Delicious (Red). If your kids are older, you may want to include Gala or Fuji and point out it's many colors, for fuji you can also point out its crispiness. Prepare slices of each apple for each kid to taste, and pass them out one at a time. Remind kids that we all have different tastes. You may want to give the kids 2 at a time, and ask which was their favorite, documenting on the chart. When you've tasted all apples, describe and show the results to the kids.

 Apple Stamping- Slice apples in half horizontally so that the flower of seeds is visible, and remove the seeds. Use these apple halves as stamps to either dip in ink or paint and create beautiful prints!

Applesauce- Cook apples on stovetop (if you teach older kids you can do this in your classroom with a hot plate) and place them in a bowl. Provide the kids with forks to mash the apples, and season with some cinnamon and sugar- delicious! You can even send some home in small plastic containers!

Fruit Leather- You can either make applesauce or use prepared applesauce for this. You'll need a well oiled baking sheet, and simply spread the applesauce about 1/4 inch thick and bake for 6-8 hours on lo (200-250). When it's done, it will simply peel straight off the pan. I like to give the kids some to taste and then bag the rest and send it home to share with the families.

Apple Mat- Follow the instructions to make Stained Glass except, cut out Apples from red, green or yellow construction paper, and fill in with appropriate colored tissue paper. You can also make the stained glass papers smaller, and add a small hole at the top to create a car hanger, door hanger, etc. (see the picture below).

Apple Cork Stamps- I don't remember where I saw the blog post with this idea, but it's too fabulous not to share! Cut 2 nicks opposite each other in the same end of a cork. This will be your stamp. You can dip into apple colored paints and press onto paper. Once it's dried, you can give the kids brown markers to draw stems.

Stained glass is a fun craft that can be applied to any unit by simply changing the shape and color!

You will need:
Fall colored Construction paper- one per child
2 sheets of contact paper per child
Scissors
Tissue paper squares 
Fall leaves that the children picked on a  nature walk

First draw a large leaf on each sheet of construction paper. Then, cut it out so that you are left with the complete frame- feel free to butcher the actual leaf, or save it for an additional Fall project! Next, carefully stick one sheet of contact paper onto each page, covering the sticky window with the nonstick part of the contact paper to protect it. When the kids are ready to do the project, simply remove the non stick paper, and set out either tissue paper squares in Fall colors, or actual Fall leaves that they collected. Once the sticky leaf is covered, cover that side with the second sheet of contact paper, and hang against a sunny window for a stained glass effect!