When Christian families embrace the celebration of Hanukkah as a tradition, we must remember that it’s our job to pass our faith on to our children. Hanukkah (or the Feast of Dedication) is a beautiful way to proclaim our God’s attribute of faithfulness and get the whole family involved! Check out my calendar for the dates of Hanukkah this year.
Lighting the Hanukkiah
Obviously, use your best judgment with the degree of participation of little ones, but this most common Hanukkah tradition is great for kids to see. Each night of Hanukkah, another candle is lit on the Hanukkiah (9-branched menorah for Hanukkah). On night 1, the Shamash (helper candle that lights the others) is lit and lights the first. On the second night, the Shamash lights candles 1 and 2, and so on.
Candle lighting is a time to talk to kids about why you’re celebrating Hanukkah and how it relates to our Messiah, Jesus. You can take advantage of the time you have their attention and read the story of Jesus on Hanukkah (see below).
Read Hanukkah Stories
We can read about Jesus during Hanukkah (the Feast of Dedication) in John 10:22-30) or even read the Hanukkah story in the Books of the Maccabees. Here’s a summary of the story, The Maccabees, The Jewish Freedom Fighters.
Battle for Torah is a poetic book for children written by Kim Kindall, a Believer in Jesus.
The Story of Hanukkah covers the miracles of Hanukkah and even has a latke recipe and instructions for the dreidel game!
My little ones LOVE sticker books! Here’s an adorable Hanukkah-themed sticker and activity book, Ella and Noah Celebrate Hanukkah. It’s sure to keep little hands busy or help them stay quiet during services.
Dreidel Game
Almost any age can participate in the dreidel game! It’s simple, yet it always turns out to be a good time. Using candy coins is our favorite way to play, but you could use whatever small candy or numerous items you have around the house as tokens.
A dreidel has four sides, with 4 Hebrew letters on them, nun (נ), gimmel (ג), hay (ה), and shin (שׁ). These letters stand for “Nes gadol hayah sham” or “A great miracle happened there.” This statement references the miracles from the Hanukkah story – the victory of the Maccabees and the miracle of the oil.
Here’s how to play:
Each player must start the game with an equal number of tokens.
To begin each round, each player puts one token into the pot (the middle). The first player spins the dreidel once and follows the directions, depending on which side of the dreidel is up when it stops spinning.
If nun (נ) is showing, the player gets nothing, and their turn is over.
Gimmel (ג) means the player gets the entire pot!
Hay (ה) entitles the player to half of the pot’s contents (if there’s an odd number, take half plus one).
If the shin (שׁ) side is up, the player must put one token in the pot.
If the pot has one or less during the game, each player puts one token in to keep the game going.
When a player runs out of tokens, they are “out.”
The winner is the one who gets all the tokens, ending that round of the game.
Hanukkah Crafts
Make your candles for your family’s Hanukkiah with this kit from Rite-Lite.
There are crafts and many other activities in the book A Family Guide to the Biblical Holidays. This book has educational activities for the other Biblical holidays as well.
Find a cute Paper Plate Menorah Craft at NutureStore. There’s a printable for the candles, so your little ones can color them and cut them out.
And while we’re on the subject of online printable crafts, here’s a printable dreidel for your kids to color, cut out, and glue to make a paper dreidel they can really use!
There’s also a Custom Dreidel Craft Kit for your little crafters. It comes with an unfinished wooden dreidel, paint, and a paintbrush. The design opportunities are endless!
Hanukkah Recipes
Traditionally, the foods eaten at Hanukkah are those fried in oil. While I’m all for kids helping in the kitchen, I recommend you leave them out of the frying process for safety reasons. You know your kids best – use your best judgment on how and where to include them.
Here’s a hint to all my fellow busy moms: I’ve used packaged and frozen shredded hash brown potatoes as a shortcut for this recipe, and they’ve turned out great! Here’s the recipe: Busy Mom’s Cheater Latke Recipe
This recipe is made with child participation in mind! It has which portions of the recipe kids can do marked as such, along with those better done by an adult.
You can use the above link to make them from scratch, but there’s also a shortcut. You can use flaky crescent roll dough, fill it with Nutella, and bake it according to the package instructions. Yum!
A bread that’s both attractive and festive, Challah is served on Shabbat (the Sabbath) and on other special days.
There are so many possibilities when it comes to sugar cookies, and kids are always willing to help with this one. You can use these Hanukkah Cookie Cutters and this frosting recipe to decorate or just add blue and white sprinkles.
I wish you and your family a very Happy Hanukkah!
