Bringing Chanukah to Your Child’s Classroom

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As December approaches, we find ourselves in a season of celebration. For many families, it’s also a time to think about ways to share our unique traditions and perspectives with the broader community. December is an excellent opportunity to bring the richness of Chanukah into your child’s classroom, fostering understanding and appreciation for Jewish culture.

This guide provides practical and creative ways to introduce Chanukah to kids. With activities and ideas tailored for different age groups, you can help enrich your child’s learning environment while sharing the joy and traditions of Judaism.

This year, Chanukah begins on the evening of December 25, 2024.

Section One: Asking the Teacher

The first thing you will need to do is contact your child’s teacher. Here is a template you can use:

Dear [Teacher Name],

I hope this message finds you well! As the holiday season approaches, I wanted to reach out and express my interest in sharing a special Chanukah activity with [Child’s Name]’s class. Our family is Jewish, and I thought it might be a wonderful opportunity to share some of our cultural traditions with the students.

I would love to [briefly describe the activity]. The activity can be tailored to fit the students’ schedule and interests and will take approximately [time estimate]. Please let me know if this would be possible and if there are any guidelines or restrictions I should keep in mind to ensure this fits seamlessly with your classroom plans. I’m happy to coordinate with you on timing and details to make this a smooth and enjoyable experience for everyone.

Thank you for considering this request! I look forward to hearing from you and hopefully bringing a bit of Chanukah joy to the classroom.

Best wishes,

[Your name], [ Student Name]’s Parent

Section Two: Activity Recommendations by Age

Preschool (2 Years – 4 Years)

With this age group, keep activities short, simple, and engaging. More in-depth activities might be appropriate if you are given a significant amount of time (45+ minutes).

Read a short Chanukah story
Listen to and sing a Chanukah song for kids like “Dreidel, Dreidel, Dreidel”
Taste foods related to Chanukah
See and touch a menorah and dreidel (playing dreidel may be too advanced for this group)

Kindergarten through Fourth Grade (5 Years – 9 Years)

Older students will be able to engage more deeply than their younger counterparts.

Read and discuss a Chanukah story
Connect a craft or additional activity to the story if you have more time
Sing/listen to Chanukah songs (this can come from a larger selection than the ones for younger students)
Taste and/or make foods related to Chanukah
See/touch a menorah
Learn to play dreidel

Fifth Grade through Middle School (10 Years – 14 Years)

Getting and keeping the attention of tween/teen students can be a challenge. Make sure their level of maturity is reflected in your planning.

Share the Chanukah story through a presentation, video, or book (being read a story might be considered juvenile depending on the group)
Make and/or eat Chanukah foods
Learn to play dreidel and play a tournament (while listening to Chanukah music if you’d like)

High School

Partner with your student and one of their teachers to plan an activity that your child can lead for their classmates. There may also be a Jewish Student Club that could lead activities or have an information table for the whole campus. As the parent, your primary role should be to support your student’s plans while ensuring they use reliable and unbiased resources for their preparation and presentation.

Section Three: Chanukah Overview

Chanukah, which means “dedication,” commemorates the rededication of the Second Temple in Jerusalem in the year 165 BCE, metaphorically celebrates faith, freedom, and perseverance, emphasizing the importance of cultural identity and religious liberty.

In Jerusalem over 2,000 years ago, a group of Jewish fighters (called the Maccabees) stood up against a powerful king and his army. The king, Antiochus, wanted the Jewish people to stop practicing their religion and follow his Greek customs instead. He even took over their holy Temple and used it for things the Jewish people didn’t believe in.

The Maccabees fought hard and, even though they were a small group, they won. After their victory, they cleansed and repaired the Temple so they could worship there again. But when they wanted to light the menorah (a special lamp that was supposed to stay lit all the time), they could only find enough pure oil to keep it burning for one day. It would take eight days to make more oil.

Then something amazing happened. That small amount of oil lasted for eight whole days. This was considered a miracle, and is one of the reasons why Chanukah is eight days long.

To remember this event, Jewish families light a special menorah called a chanukiah during Chanukah. Each night, they light one more candle until all eight candles are glowing on the last night. They also celebrate by eating foods cooked in oil, like potato pancakes (latkes) and jelly doughnuts (sufganiyot). Other festivities include songs, games and playing with a spinning top called a dreidel.

Chanukah is a time to remember standing up for what you believe in, being brave, and celebrating miracles!

Section Four: Lesson Plan Outline

Introduce yourself and your student
- Briefly describe your reason for visiting: To share some of your culture with the class
Provide a brief background on Judaism and your family
- This could include where your family comes from, where you go to synagogue, languages spoken at home and more!
- Show a map or other visual aids
Explain what Chanukah is and why it is meaningful to your family in particular, and to other Jewish people on a larger scale
- Make it engaging with photos, videos, and more!
- This is a great spot for reading a story book for younger children. Book recommendations can be found below
Do a hands-on activity that will engage the students in students in the cultural topic
- Teach a simple song or dance
- Learn and play dreidel
- Have students learn to say or write phrases related to the topic in your home language (Hebrew, Russian, German, Yiddish, Ladino, and more)
- Allow students to explore artifacts from Judaism (menorah/chanukiah, dreidels, latke, sufganiyot, gelt, and more)
- Make and/or taste traditional foods (if allowed and feasible)
- Do a thematic art or writing project
Close out your visit with some final thoughts
- Share a treat with the class and, while they eat, have students share something they learned
- Leave time for final questions and answers
- Thank the students and teachers for having you as a visitor

Section Five: Teaching Dreidel- For Parents

Supplies

One dreidel per group of students
Items to use as playing chips/tokens like beans, gelt (chocolate coins), math manipulatives, loose crayons or other classroom supplies. Usually 15-20 per student
One “How to Play Dreidel” (below) page per group or posted on the whiteboard/projector

Setup

Divide the class into groups of three to six people. Groups can be slightly larger if needed
Provide each student with an equal number of tokens with which to play the game.
Give each group one dreidel and directions

Directions

Preview the history and Jewish cultural significance of dreidel (see page 2 of this document)
Preview the game meaning for each Hebrew letter on the dreidel
Read the directions as a class/to the class
Lead the class in watching one group play a “test game” where you walk the group and class through each turn until the round is over (someone got a Gimmel and the pot/kitty is emptied)
Instruct the groups to begin playing and circle the room to support

How to Play Dreidel

Letters on the Dreidel: The symbols on the sides of a dreidel are Hebrew letters. Each letter corresponds to an action in the game
- Shin (ש): Put one token into the pot/kitty
- Nun (נ): Take none of the tokens. Lose none of your tokens
- Hay (ה): Take half the tokens in the pot/kitty
- Gimmel (ג): Winner! Take all of the tokens in the pot/kitty
Get into groups of three or more. Make sure each person has tokens or game pieces. A popular choice is Chanukah gelt (chocolate coins)
To decide who gets to play first, each person should spin the dreidel. The person with the highest spin gets to start the game. Shin is the lowest, then Nun, Hay, and finally Gimmel is the highest
Before the first round can begin, each player must put one of their tokens into the “pot.” People will add to and draw from the pot throughout the game
The player who is starting the game spins the dreidel. The dreidel will fall and land with one of four letters facing up
- If Gimmel (ג) is facing up, the player wins the round and takes all the tokens from the pot as their winnings and the game play begins again with everyone putting in a token
- Hay (ה) is facing up, the player gets half of the tokens in the pot. If there is an odd number of tokens in the pot, round down. The dreidel is then given to the next person to spin
- If Shin (ש) is facing up, the player must take one of their own tokens and add it to the pot. The dreidel is then given to the next person
- If Nun (נ)is facing up the player does nothing, and the dreidel is given to the next person
The round is over when someone gets Gimmel or there is only one token left in the pot. At this point the group begins again with putting one token into the pot to start the next round
Once someone is out of tokens, they can continue to spin until they get Shin and cannot put one in or they cannot put in the starting token—after that they are “out.” If they are able to win tokens before getting out they can continue to play as normal