Young Families: All About Passover
Parents,
What happens at home is the best way for children to learn. Involve them in the experience. Have them help prepare for Passover according to their abilities. They can clean up their toys. Help set the table. Color a placemat. Roll some matzah balls. Taste the Charoset. Learn some songs – and they can ask THE most important question: WHY?
- During the Seder, when it is time for the Cup of Elijah and Miriam’s Cup, speak with your children about their heroes. Who do they admire? Help them articulate why.
- Teach your child the Four Questions – and learn them yourself! Even the youngest child can ask that most important question: WHY?
- Looking for new ways to discuss the themes of Passover with your little one? Try the Passover Challenge from ShirLaLa (one of our favorite sites!)
Learn Passover melodies and prayers by watching the Step-by-Step Seder Playlist from ShirLaLa and PJ Library
- Don’t forget about the AFIKOMEN, which is a word that refers to the end of the meal. In order to conclude the Seder, the leader needs the middle matzah, which was hidden earlier – and found by a happy child. It is traditional for the child to receive something small and symbolic in return. A book makes the perfect Afikomen gift! Consider one of these.
- Hide the Afikomen in a Homemade Matzah Cover, using colored paper, a hole punch and yarn!
- Looking for more children’s books about Passover? Click here to browse our digital library through Axis 360.
- Try a delicious new Passover recipe from The Nosher!
- Click here for even more fun Seder activities from our friends at PJ Library!
Our friends at PJ Library have partnered with the Jewish Braille Institute (JBI) to publish a braille edition of the Haggadah. In Every Generation: A PJ Library Family Haggadah is a guide to the Passover Seder featuring traditional prayers and readings that has been shipped to more than 100,000 families over the past five years, and it comes with interactive videos and family-friendly explanations of the holiday. The new braille edition, as well as a large-print edition of In Every Generation, which is in English, are now available.
Families may also download the Haggadah from PJ Library at the link below. Those who do not subscribe to PJ Library can purchase the Haggadah from the PJ Library Amazon store.
Additional PJ Library books available in braille include The Peddler and the Baker by Yael Molchadsky, illustrated by Liora Grossman; Hanukkah at Monica’s by Varda Livney; Until the Blueberries Grow by Jennifer Kam, illustrated by Sally Walker; and Jeremy’s Dreidel by Ellie Gellman and illustrator Judith Friedman. Each book has a braille transparency overlaying each text page.
Passover Children’s Book Recommendations from the Stettenheim Library
Click here to browse the online catalogue.
Afikomen Mambo by Rabbi Joe Black, Illustrated by Linda Prater
Dayenu! A Favorite Passover Song Illustrated by Miriam Latimer
Grover and Big Bird’s Passover Celebration by Tilda Balsley and Ellen Fischer, Illustrated by Tom Leigh
Izzy the Whiz and Passover McClean by Yael Mermelstein, Illustrated by Carrie Hartman
The Little Red Hen and the Passover Matzah by Leslie Kimmelman, Illustrated by Paul Meisel
The Longest Night: A Passover Story by Laurel Snyder, Illustrated by Catia Chien
Max Makes a Cake by Michelle Edwards, Illustrated by Charles Santoso
The Matzo Ball Boy by Lisa Shulman, Illustrated by Rosanne Litzinger
My First Passover Board Book by Clare Lister
The Passover Lamb by Linda Elovitz Marshall, Illustrated by Tatjana Mai-Wyss
Penina Levine is a Hard-Boiled Egg by Rebecca O’Connell, Illustrated by Majella Lue Sue
Rebecca and the Movies by Jacqueline Dembar Greene, Illustrations by Robert Hunt and Vignettes by Susan McAliley
A Sweet Passover by Lesléa Newman, Illustrated by David Slonim
A Tale of Two Seders by Mindy Avra Portnoy, Illustrated by Valeria Cis
