Let's Get Busy

Some Shavuot-Oriented Activities / Peulot for School or Home

• Please see our other sections for background, material and vocabulary that you can use in the below (or to create other lessons and activities out of).
• Many of these activities can be used at home as well as in school or a youth group.
• Most of the below can be adjusted for older or younger, made harder or easier, etc.  Where there's a more likely age range, this is specified.

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Grab that cheese! / chatfu et ha-gvina!

Suitability:  Very young through middle grades.

Well, it's a chag where we eat dairy / chalavi  after all :) .

For your "gvina / cheese" - take a yellow sock, stuff it with a few other socks and tie it shut.  Or take something like a board eraser and place it inside a yellowish sock.

Given that we receive the Ten Commandments at this time, it's good to learn and/or review counting the misparim / numbers up to ten or so in Hebrew.

Create two teams.

Each kvutza / team stands in a long line, the two lines parallel to each other with the "gvina" in the middle. (We are playing the "kosher" version of an unmentionable but well-known mischak / game, you see).

Each team member will get a mispar / number in Hebrew, and the same for the other team.

When you call out a given number, the team member from each side with that number tries to be first to grab the cheese / ha-gvina. As he runs back to his safety line, the other tries to tag him (keep score as you please in this game).

If you have an uneven number of kids, you either give 2 numbers to one child on the shorter team, or - if you've a student who knows her numbers better, have her be the caller/teacher for this game.  If you have a smaller group, you can change the numbers after playing some rounds. Shake it up sometimes by calling two numbers at once.

Variations: Learning Torah starts with learning letters, so you can substitute assigning letters from the alef-bet to call out. For those studying Shavuot vocabulary, this may alternatively be used as well (see our handy list in "Good to Know in Hebrew").

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I Have a Secret / yesh li sod

Suitability:  Older primary grades through high school or older. (Of course it's also fun to play a smaller variation around the dinner table and during car rides, etc…)

This may be played in an English or Hebrew version. Create two kvutzot / teams. Each round requires one clue-giver from each team. Write out two copies of a Shavuot word or concept (use our other materials in this packet). For but a few examples – chita / wheat, "don't steal", Har Sinai / Mt. Sinai…. Give one copy to each clue-giver. Each turn they give a remez / clue to their kvutza / team - no more than three words long. If you wish to make it harder, you can reduce that limit to a one or two word clue. (Yes this is sort of like the old Password game of Betty White fame for those of us old enough to remember).

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Make a Floral Head-wreath / zer prachim

melechet yad / arts & crafts

Suitability:  Preschool through younger grades.

In Israel, younger children, especially the tot-to-"kinder" set, will often now create and wear a zer / head-wreath :) .

There are a few ways you might do this:

Send a letter to parents requesting that the child bring greens and flowers (we Israeli parents are used to this, and also make fancier fresh-flower versions of these on birthdays with floral-wire weaving and the whole big deal). In this case it's best if you bring extra greenery etc. for those that forget.

Or…
If you've a nice public park-like area nearby or around your synagogue and sufficient time with your class or youth group, make it a nature outing to go gather greens and wildflowers for the purpose (remember to take scissors and some shopping bags).

Or…
Use construction paper, stickers, etc. to create prachim / flowers to put on your headband.

Prepare longer strips in advance out of a slightly stronger but still flexible paper (or plastic craft sheet). This will become the headband that you affix things to. 24"/60cm.-long should be more than sufficient with plenty of overlap when you size it to the child (you can snip off excess length once sized- just put the child's name on the inside immediately, to avoid any potential mix-ups). The width of the strip should be about 2 to 2.5"/5-6 cm. (Don't use construction paper for this strip.  It tends to rip too easily and we do not need last-minute tears as part of this peula, right?). No matter what you are attaching, staples usually work best, though we've also done paper flowers etc., with white glue or tape with mixed success.  When you staple, do it in reverse, so that the flat, non-catch side is what will rest against the head.

If you do the construction paper version:

• Older and handier kids can make and cut out their own flowers to attach.
• To help with youngest ones or those with motor challenges, you can prepare cardboard stencils for kids to share to trace real simple leaf and flower shapes to cut out.  Sometimes an in-between skill aid is simply to provide circles (e.g. cups) for them to trace.  It is sometimes enough of a guideline help for them to draw a flower within that kind of space, and easier to cut out, or in stages. Or they can create the flowers on the colorful circle with stick-on-dots.
• For an added touch, bring some cheap perfume and shpritz a bit on each child's creation. (It's certainly in keeping with the fragrant greenery custom!).

 

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Quick and Easy Tissue-paper Flowers / prachim

melechet yad / arts & crafts

Suitability:  Younger grades through youth. (You may have to help some of the younger ones with parts of this, but they tend to really enjoy making these nonetheless).

You need: Varied colored tissue paper cut into 10"/25cm. square sheets (smaller or larger are fine too), pipe cleaners, ruler, pencil, scissors.

You will need a four-sheet thickness per flower. Take this and fold in half. Accordion fold that up, about 1/2"/1cm. width or slightly less per fold. To the middle of this pleated up business you will wrap around (and close) one end of a pipe cleaner- your stem. Snip as close to edge as possible the side with the folded end (when you folded the sheets in half). Or use your scissors to cut a rounded edge (like that of a petal) on each end.  Gently open and separate the layers of the accordion to make your flower.  You can shpritz these with a bit of perfume too.

There is another rather creative version using the leftover ends from where you pull off the supermarket plastic bags (!) if you are game, which you can find at this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=St_nzTfMWeQ

Don't let the Hebrew put you off, since the demonstration is pretty self-explanatory. She says you do the cutting part and making the hole and the little kids do the rest- it's a good fine motor task for them scrunching up the petals, for example. The little ball of material she puts last on the stick is playdough (plastalina in Hebrew).

Additionally:  You can take this a level further by making a vase. Any kind of container will do, but a simple-shaped bottle or tall juice-concentrate container works best. You need either thick twine, the 1/4"/1/2cm. thick kind of decorative yarn, or "T-shirt yarn". You make this by taking old T-shirts you were about to dump and cutting each one down into a long continuous strip (this is possible by cutting it at a bit of an angle instead of straight across) - make your strip about 2"/5 cm. wide. Then stretch it out successively throughout the length so that it rolls in on itself, thus creating chunky yarn (btw, you can also knit or crochet scarves and such with this stuff and it's real handy for a host of other crafty and household purposes!). Roll up into a ball and it's ready to use for many projects. As to the vase - brush or squirt white glue on a short section. Start attaching twine or yarn from base and go round and around your container, stop and add another section of glue, wind up more yarn on that, etc.

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Spread the Torah Light

melechet yad / arts & crafts

Suitability:  Preschool through middle school

You need:  Pencil, marker, water color paints and brushes, plus old toothbrushes, sponge bits and/or salt are also nice variations to add, tissues/toilet paper,  a sheet to paint on, push-tacks (the kind with enough of a top part for you to grasp well between finger and thumb to make holes with), carton under-boards to work on, rulers and/or shapes of a large cardboard rectangle to serve as a stencil for the body of your Torah,  smaller longish ones for drawing handles and a triangle to make a Jewish star with- the kids with some difficulties can use these instead of freeform drawing or a more problematic ruler, you see. 

Cutting a bunch of these stencil shapes out of some empty cereal or other food boxes works great.

The under-board (to protect your table) - get some large boxes and just break them down. Use the carton to make work boards with a box-cutter. (Save them for future projects- they can last a while).

First you are making "art paper", freeform. You just want it to be nice, pastel-colorful paper.  So keep the paint preferably light and watered down. This can be painted straight by brush, or shpritzed on with a toothbrush (messier but nice effect and its fun) or a combination. Sprinkling salt on wet water color and letting it dry (then brush off) makes a nice effect. Or apply daubs of varying watery colors with a bit of sponge. If one goes too dark, paint on some water and blot up some color with a wadded-up tissue.

It helps if you quickly demonstrate these things before the children begin. 

Let dry.

Now demonstrate the second part:

In light pencil, the kids will draw on their fancy paper a very simple Torah Scroll, maybe with a Jewish star / Magen David on it if one likes. When they are satisfied, they can go over the light lines with a marker. Then place the carton board under the sheet and make a dotted line of pushpin holes all along the simple outline. Hang up on windows so the light can come through the holes during the day, yet one can also see the outline when darker outside with the nice painted background (thus the marker lines).

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About Those Ten Commandments… / asseret hadibrot

Suitability:  Mid-primary grades through high school and up. How much of the following you use depends somewhat on the age.

First, it's good to know how to count in Hebrew. And why not use our handy multimedia aid? http://www.learnhebrewpod.com/vocabulary.asp?id=112

Prepare a sheet with this list, but in a jumbled order, with no numbers on them, and with space between each commandment so that they can be cut into separate strips:

1. I am the Lord Your G-d, who brought you out of Egypt.  
2. Worship no other gods / no idolatry. 
3. Do not take the name of G-d in vain. 
4. Remember and keep the Shabbat. 
5. Honor your parents. 
6. Do not murder. 
7. Do not commit adultery. 
8. Do not steal. 
9. Do not bear false witness. 
10. Do not covet.

Xerox the sheet and distribute a copy to each student or small group.

Ask them to try to put them in the correct order. Tell them it's not the end of the world if they get this wrong. Because you are then going to help them learn to analyze them, which does help in ordering them as well.

Ask them to find the ones that have to do with our relationship with G-d, and those that have to do with our relationship with one another. See how they progress with that.

Note that there are basically two or three subdivisions in concepts and directives here.  The first four commandments concern identity of and relationship with G-d.  The last six concern how we deal with people.  The fourth and fifth commandments also can be said to reflect a link between those two other subdivisions, falling more in the intimate realm of home and family.  You can alternatively not tell them all of the above, and first ask them to figure out categories and/or figure out the two bridge-like commandments.

Once you have worked out the correct order, recreate them in two columns (or on the board) to create pairs thusly:

1                     6
2                     7
3                     8
4                     9
5                     10

Our sages have said that each pair is connected, and those links are actually pretty interesting. Allow the class to "be the rabbis" and first propose their own ideas on creative linkages. Then tell them what a midrash had suggested on the topic:

• 1-6: We are created in G-d's image, so to murder is to profane that image and to reject G-d that created us.
• 2-7: Worshipping other gods/idols is cheating on our relationship with G-d, just as adultery is being unfaithful to one's spouse and that relationship.
• 3-8: When you break an oath/promise, it’s also a kind of theft.
• 4-9: Shabbat is the day of rest after 6 days of heavy-duty creating.  It is in effect acting as witness to G-d's creations. To ignore Shabbat is to deny being a witness to  and respecting those very creations and their creator.
• 5- You dishonor your parents when you desire someone else's possessions, family, etc.

What do they think about how each commandment sits in priority by its number in each category, by the way?

Another version of analysis looks at each commandment as being guided by hand, head, or heart (some of these could go either way). Which commandments would one attribute to which?

 *Do be sure to mention that how we divide and come up with ten commandments is not exactly the same as in some faiths' versions.

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The Eleventh Commandment…

Suitability: Mid-primary through high school and up.

1. We actually have been given 613 mitzvot.  Aseret Hadibrot was just starting from a first-things-first more universalist, prioritized-basics perspective. Times and people, while still remaining essentially the same, do evolve, thus perhaps adding in questions and challenges that ancestors did not have to confront.  To make the point, consider that no one back then (or even too recently!) was discussing the possibility that environmental disregard could conceivably reach a point of endangering  life or even dooming an entire planet's worth of G-d's creations. Or the advent of artificial intelligence, drones, food additives, instant communication (we already live, after all, in the age of "Future Shock"), bullying, weapons of mass destruction, universal human rights, medical and scientific advances of all kinds…. These and more issues may mean something different now than then in type, scope or degree, even though they are born of similar mentalities and emotions.
   
   Let us posit for a moment that if we are created in G-d's image, he maybe had some expectations here.  He gave revelation but then it's up to us to rise to the challenge, to grow and use the free will, brain, heart and Torah grounding provided to bring some tikun olam (fixing the world) and olam haba (alternatively, either a better world or era of the messiah, etc., depending on one's personal interpretation). 

If that's so, then …

• What most overwhelming, toughest challenges do we face in this contemporary world that did not yet exist for our ancestors?
• If we had a pressing need to add an eleventh (or 12^th, 13^th…) commandment because of this, what would it be?

1. With Shavuot, we commit or re-commit to the precious gift of Torah. We reaffirm ourselves as Jews, a people with a tendency to place more emphasis on actions. 

Here is an interesting example of practice:  In some kibbutzim grew the custom of a group bar/bat mitzvah for that age group. There would be an entire year of Bar Mitzva, connected to various objectives, including starting to join in doing some partial work in the kibbutz, and also choosing a good deed project of some type as a group. Whatever the age group, discussing a "project mitzvah" to carry out starting in the fall for a year is an option to consider if your class or youth group will be staying together, and a good way to "confirm" and reaffirm. Even if not, if everyone could discuss and choose one mitzvah to take on, that is also an excellent thing and very fitting to this time.

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Word as Art

Suitability: All ages in some form.

Hebrew calligraphy as an active art form has certainly made a comeback.  But the calligraphy of the Torah is very special and exact.  It is done by a סופר סת"ם / sofer stam.  A sofer is a scribe, and stam is an acronym created from Sefer (which literally means book but in this case, specifically the Torah), tefillin and mezuzah.  The  sofer stam is the professional go-to guy. 

Some ideas:

• Ask the rabbi or cantor for a tour for your class of the sanctuary and its parts, culminating with the children seeing the Torah and how that writing looks up close and personal. The study books for Bar Mitzvah with regular print side by side with the Torah version are also great to show your students.  Make sure they notice what letter gets what exact special extra on it (these too follow rules).  And this kind of 'tour' can feel more personalized at this level and it's cool when you get to ask the rabbi or cantor real questions.
• Go on a calligraphy hunt. Look at examples, like from the library, the gift shop and the sanctuary of how many ways Hebrew gets artistically rendered. There are a plethora of styles out there these days! Notice how many ways there are to play with a letter (like the tail of a tav or the top of a lamed, etc.). Letters and words can also be reshaped to fit within a certain shape or to create a picture (like the word etz /  עץ  for tree is an easy one to "reshape"). If you can find examples of that for your students in this synagogue hunt, even better.  Some children are more visual learners, and this is an added way to familiarize them with Hebrew. When you start noticing the cool individual features of a letter (it looks like such-and-such animal, that looks like a tail, this looks like a little hand, a spoon, etc.), it can help internalize it better, as well as adding interest and whimsy to the study. Letters started as pictograms after all.
  
  Explain what illumination is and show examples from manuscript pictures or other fancy texts. Perhaps this will inspire even a future calligrapher in your charge, or a calligraphy chug (interest group) in your school or congregation next year.
• Depending on level of skill and age, have your students do some illuminating (fancying up) of a letter or word, to create a gallery of beautiful Hebrew.  This can range from choosing any letter of the alef-bet, or one's name or initial, or a word that one likes particularly in Hebrew, like Torah תורה , shalom שלום , Shabbat שבת , ahava אהבה  (love), simcha  שמחה (happiness), bracha  ברכה  (blessing), etc.
• *Added educator note (useful for special needs and younger children but also generally speaking):  It's often worth it to beef up the Hebrew letter "tools" for class activities of all kinds (not just art projects but games too).  Like buying a few alef-bet stencil sheets (that 1" or so letter size). Also creating some sturdy stencils out of heavy poster-board with a good art blade (a decent box-cutter blade will also do pretty well). A separate one for each Hebrew letter, about 3"-4" tall (perhaps in a few more sizes too). They last through loads of years and tons of varied activities, games and students (even the most heavy-handed), so are truly worth that one investment of time. It's also worthwhile to create many "stencils" aka simple shapes that the kids can then use and/or combine to create simple pictures and decorations. All sorts of "junk" also turn into great stencils. And even circles off of a spice lid repeated in organized lines (you can quickly draw light pencil guide lines on the child's sheet) to 'build' a giant letter ends up creating something terrific and original.

More tips 

• You can use the font functions on the computer to blow letters up in size and have them only include the outline of the letter. Then print and use these for the children to decorate.
• Lo-tech:   1. If you meet when it's still daylight, tape whatever your student wants to trace on a bright sunny window and his sheet over that.  Bingo - instant solution akin to a "light table". (There are toy versions of these sold these days. If your students have them….).  2. Two big cardboard boxes, a sheet of clear plexi-glass (like even from a discarded poster frame) on top of those "legs", and a small desk lamp placed underneath also makes a workable instant "light table". There is no shame in tracing something and it builds fine motor skills. Outlines traced from high contrast photos (like of a flower or other simple desired thing), by the way, can also create some interesting results. Keep some handy photos, coloring book sheets, shape sheets, etc. around for the purpose if you want to go this route.

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A Tasty Final Test or First Introduction

Ages:  Preschool through adult (no kidding). And you can sure do this one at home and with friends too.

In some yeshivot, a child's first introduction to the alef-bet would be with sweets or by placing a dab of honey on a letter, and sometimes Shavuot was a first occasion to come for one's new school experience.

Unfortunately, honey can get awfully messy with a terrific tendency to multiply in its stickiness far and beyond and all around, and even worse- you can't write in it :( .  So we decided to get very messy with better results.  The author has used this sometimes as an introduction to letters and even more often as the "class test" the kids had to earn! (She has many of these "tests"). In the case of a "test", each child had to prove to the teacher that she'd mastered writing her letters well enough to take the test. But since the whole class had to get to this point, if everyone hadn't then a ready student would help a student that still needed more practice – e.g. with markers, crayons, pencils, pens, tracing letters done in highlight marker, on magna doodles, you name it. There's a way to help every kid one way or another. And they're well-motivated- they really do long for the day of "earning the test" as a class.

And why, you may ask?

Because (after washing their hands well)………. you will hand out plates and spoons. Then you go around doling out a glop of creamy cake icing onto each kid's plate (they get to choose flavor, usually 2-3 will cover everyone's preference). As to plates, anything will do as long as its big enough in flat surface area to act as a writing board, but this is one time you may want to use the dreaded plastic instead of paper kind as they hold up better, longer and are easier for the kid to use for this.

(Do warn the parents about test day, that their children may be a bit sugar-buzzed, and be sure there are no diabetics, etc. We've also used creamy peanut butter- but for that you need to get permission slips to make doubly sure about allergies, ok? The so-so back-up on that one was apple butter- tastes great but harder to work with).

A few common sense rules up front:

• NO SPOONING OF ICING INTO MOUTH ALLOWED OR THEY WILL BE DENIED THE TEST AND HAVE THEIR PLATE REMOVED (experience added this one quickly).
• If you do too much unnecessary eating so that you don't have enough left to continue the test, you are out. No early refills. Where this looks like it will be a likely problem in your class, divvy them up to make it a team sport, with points given to the team per correct plate. Team members help keep each other in line, because if they lose members along the way, they'd make less points overall. Remember - they all know this stuff pretty well now or they wouldn't have been allowed the test, and a goodly part of their motivation is also pride in a mastered skill they want to show off :) .
• You might want to have water on the side to drink. So much sweet can be thirsty work.

Okay, here's how it goes:

Kid spreads out and smooths icing with spoon to create a thinner, flat cover to the plate. This will be the writing surface. You name a letter, they have to each write it in block print with their index finger as pen and then let the teacher know when they are done. You can get away also with a very short word if you prefer, or the letter written in script, if you happen to be working on that. They then of course have to lick the pen ;) , smooth things again with their spoon and on to the next letter. Considering all the serious work that went into earning this test, it's worth the icing budget (store-bought). And in case you haven't noticed in our packets, we come from the school that believes that playing with your food is sometimes good for your spirit and often quite educational besides.

This works well as an introduction to the letters too (but do the teams approach). You draw what you want them to copy on the board. They can have some shots to get it at all close, since it's new. The lovely thing with this is that some children work much better at learning letters and fine motor skills with a sensory/touch approach, and this certainly satisfies that and starts them off with a 'sweet taste for study'. Our Torah is made of beautiful Hebrew letters and language, literature and art, so this is where it all begins. Give it an unforgettable start or reminder.

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"This Just In – Developing Story…"

Suitability: Older primary grades through high school and up.

Go watch TV tonight. Check out the news channels to give yourself a framework and feel for this (it will likely give you ideas just as soon as you flip the set on and notice a few details).  In fact, tell your students to do the same for "research homework" for the next lesson.  Really.

If the events at Sinai happened when some form of CNN or FOX, etc. were around (take your news outlet pick), where could they go with that one? And where can you go with it…

• How would they report it?
  
  Here's a first step:
  What headlines would be on the ticker tape at the bottom of the screen?  
  Note: They usually have added tags like News Alert, Breaking News, Developing Story, New Developments…, or a side box - like "What We Know So Far:…"
  Examples:
• Searching to learn who's the ringleader
• New position of High Priest + swift appointment
• Mysterious goings-on at Sinai
• Moses signs ghostwriter deal with new heavy-hitter called "G-d"
• Israelites agree to sweeping exclusivity contract
• Hottest #1 on the bestseller list in ages

• How about if they brought on eye-witnesses?
• …or got snaps online ("are these things real or photoshopped?!")
• How about an "expert" panel ? This could even cover stone etching preferences, that golden calf scandal, we heard you overslept on that most important day, an imposition of laws and individual freedom rights vs. functional society and survival, a specialist's take on sudden changes in a people's lifestyle and environment….
• …or guest commentators from different political and economic viewpoints , like…
  - "That revolutionary people we last heard about raising such an awful ruckus with the Egyptian economy are at it again in the desert now, embracing something wildly new."
  - "Folks,  they call this new-fangled thing a Torah, and get the first 10 rules we got this scoop on…what is the world coming to?!" (At which point the commentators could debate the rules, discuss security concerns, try to get a booking with Moses or his siblings to interview….)
• …weather reports of odd and rapid changes around Mt. Sinai, winds, clouds in crazy colors, tornado warnings…
• Include call-in questions and email from the viewing audience…
• Why not add some pertinent ads? (she writes while listening to CNN at this very moment in fact…)
• What about the fashion spot, the culture spot, the latest scientific breakthrough of the time, the cook-scroll plug for "1000 things to do with manna- enough recipes to last you 40 years!"…

Got the picture?  Go role play < : ) .

P.S. – Here is an interesting short video (1:24 min. total) called "Shavuot – The Day That Shook The World". Produced by Aish, it runs like a trailer for a blockbuster movie or book campaign, kind of that same pizazzy atmosphere one finds in news broadcasts these days.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKi3dhT7FUY

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I've Got Your Back

Suitability:  Adjustable for all ages from preschool through high school…

Each student gets a sheet pinned to his back. He will have to find his match up. (To do this, all children have to help each other, since they can't see their own backs, right? So we already have a very simple symbolic example of interdependence, mutual aid and support in a micro-society.  Just like a little interdependent peoplehood.)

You can use this activity / peula to teach one of the following (in either Hebrew and/or English depending on age,  your needs and curriculum):

• Hebrew vocabulary words and their translations.
• Print and script match-ups.
• Shavuot alternative names and/or concepts (i.e. where one person gets the question part on her sheet and the other person is wearing the answer part).
• Calendar review, since it's near the end of the school year (e.g. one get a chag name and another gets a symbol word, character or concept attached to that holiday, etc.)
• Even if you are doing more in-depth curriculum, giving each part of a pair part of a word to match up with the rest of the syllables, or a partial prayer line, quote or bit of text being studied, part of a higher concept, etc. also works for this. It’s a nice little break to everyone sitting around too much, no?
• For preschoolers and pre-readers: you can use pictures (even quick simple doodles will do) of chag and/or other symbols that match up, like wine and a Kiddush cup, candle and a chanukia / menora, lulav and etrog, Torah and yad/pointer or keter/crown, hamentash and mask, etc. 
• For the real youngest, print out photos of ritual objects. Just cut them in half for creating a pair-up.

Each pair presents their match-up afterwards to the class.

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"Shidduch"

Ages: Preschool through lower primary grades.

Another kind of match-up game more specifically suited to the younger set. This is a terrifically repetitive reinforcement game while also fun. (Shidduch has Yiddish roots- like referring to an arranged match-up, like for marriage; in Hebrew, it also is colloquially used to refer more generally to networking or pairing).

Gather in a large circle. Select two children per round who will be blindfolded. The circle children link hands or help redirect them to keep them from wandering too far away. Each time use a different match-up for each child to say. Everyone should be very quiet, since via repetitively saying and hearing half of a work or phrase, they have to find each other to the point of joining hands.  Once you've done 2 kids for a number of rounds, you might try three if they are game. In which case explain that they should try to link up their hand holds in correct order ;-) .

Examples of halves you can use (see more in our Hebrew list and other materials in this packet)

• chag + same-ach
• sha + vu-ot  (or for 3, sha + vu + ot)
• Megillat + Rut
• To + rah
• Aha + ron  (or A + ha + ron)
• Chag + Habikurim
• pra + chim

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Expect the Unexpected

Ages: You really can do some form of this with all ages from preschool up to adult.

Play word association (first think that pops into your head) by giving Shavuot words, short concepts or terms (like a commandment), characters and other material from the other sections of this packet.

Variations:

• Can be played with one student answering to each word, or a few per word.
• Present the words, etc. and have each student write a one word answer which you will then all share together.
• Especially with younger children (but interesting for older participants as well) is to answer with the first feeling that comes to mind, or the first color that comes to mind, etc.  Which they can then explain a bit if they like.

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Multimedia Aids

Check out some of our free multimedia reviews and games for more vocabulary, plus other materials you may find helpful for using in your lessons and activities now and throughout the year:
http://www.learnhebrewpod.com/explore/free-collection?Id=990