NEW YEAR INTENTION BRACELETS
As we journey through the months of Elul and Tishrei, we renew our commitment to being our best selves, to practicing Jewish values, and ultimately to bringing light and hope to anywhere there is darkness. A wonderful way to teach kiddos (and ourselves) to focus on these renewed commitments is to make New Year Intention Bracelets! Think of what you want to focus on the most in the new year and make bracelets with those words. For example: shalom (peace), chesed (kindness), and ahava (love). These bracelets will be beautiful reminders that Teshuvah, our primary focus on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, means “return” — a return to our true selves, our holy selves, our best selves.
SMILEY FELT APPLE
Rosh Hashanah is truly a joyful holiday, and what could bring more joy than a cute little Smiley Felt Apple?!!! It’s very simple (and incredibly fun) to sew felt, making it perfect for beginning sewers. You and your kiddos could make them as Rosh Hashanah decorations or give them to family and friends to sweeten their new year. You could even hot glue a little butterfly pin or brooch clasp to the back so that you could wear your apple with your special holiday outfit. This sweet little thing is sure to get your new year off to a happy start!
WOODEN PAINTED APPLES
Your Rosh Hashanah will be extra festive with some colorful Wooden Painted Apples! Back-to-school season is timed just right with Rosh Hashanah, and at this time of year, you’ll find lots of options of unfinished apples that are perfect to use as Rosh Hashanah decorations. Have your kiddos decorate them however they like, and give them the honor of decorating your home and table so that your family has a super sweet start to the new year!
SHANA TOVA TOKENS
Your kiddos will love wishing your family and friends peace, love, joy, and good health in the new year with these fun little tokens! Print out the free PDF and add your own unique designs to the front and/or back. Set one at each person’s spot at the Rosh Hashanah table as a little surprise, or put a bunch in a bowl, and have people grab one at random to find out what good things are coming their way in the new year. You could also send them through snail mail. There are endless ways to make Rosh Hashanah extra special with these sweet little tokens!
PAINTED APPLE CARDS
The best way to wish family and friends a happy Rosh Hashanah is to give them a homemade card — and there’s nothing sweeter than a Painted Apple Card! Your kiddos will love painting apples in whatever styles and colors they can imagine and then sending their “Shana Tova” wishes to dear ones near and far!
APPLE FLOWERS IN VASE
Make your Rosh Hashannah extra beautiful by creating an apple “flower” bouquet and putting them in a vase (a recycled bottle works great). You and your family will have an extra festive and sweet new year celebration with this unique and meaningful display! It makes a great table centerpiece, too!
SHOFAR COLLAGE WITH MAGAZINE CLIPPINGS
Did you know that the central mitzvah of Rosh Hashanah is to hear the shofar? The shofar is also blown every day (except Shabbat) during the month of Elul, which is the Jewish month that leads up to Rosh Hashanah, and at the end of Yom Kippur. Hearing the shofar wakes us up, connects us to God and to each other, and reminds us that we still have work to do to make the world a better place. This shofar collage is a great way to explore the unique shape of the shofar and to talk about how it’s used during the high holy days. If possible, have a real shofar for your kiddos to touch and look at (and practice blowing!) while they’re making their collages!
CORK-STAMPED APPLE CARDS
Looking for a creative and simple way for your kiddos to make homemade Rosh Hashanah cards? Look no further — these Cork-Stamped Apple Cards are so fun to make, and they look beautiful! Kids will love dipping the cork into paint and then stamping it onto a blank card to create an apple. They can create traditional apple colors — red, green, and yellow — and/or they can paint with other bright colors, too! Try pink, purple, blue, turquoise! Friends and family will surely be filled with joy when they receive your festive cards!
CHALLAH COVER FOR ROSH HASHANNAH
Make a special challah cover for your Rosh Hashannah challah! We make our challah round for Rosh Hashannah because it reminds us of the continuing full cycle of the Jewish year. Your beautiful challah needs a beautiful cover — decorate it with pictures of apples and honey, shofars, and anything else that reminds you of the Jewish New Year! L’Shana Tova!
MY JEWISH YEAR NECKLACE
Did you know that there’s a Jewish calendar that’s different from our secular calendar which starts with January and ends with December? The Jewish calendar starts with the month of Nissan and ends with the month Adar. Pretty cool! You’ll love wearing this fancy schmancy Jewish Year necklace that will help you remember all the Jewish months and be extra excited about the new year!
GREETING CARDS FOR ROSH HASHANNAH
Make Rosh Hashannah extra special for your family and friends by making and sending them Rosh Hashannah greeting cards! Everyone loves receiving a card in the mail, and when your family and friends see that you MADE them one, their new year will surely be off to an extra sweet start! You can use paint, markers, colored pencils, rubber stamps, stickers, or all of the above. Be creative, and be a blessing by sending some new year cheer!
COLLAGE OF CRAFT PUNCH PAPER APPLES
Your kiddos will love creating little paper apples with an apple craft punch and then making a beautiful collage that can be a Rosh Hashanah decoration — or they could do smaller versions on blank cards to create unique Rosh Hashanah cards for family and friends. The possibilities are endless and they’re all sweet, just like your Rosh Hashanah will be!
FABRIC SCRAPS PAPER PLATE APPLE COLLAGE
If you like making collages, you’ll love making this sweet apple decoration! It’s so fun to cut out little pieces of fabric and then glue them to a paper plate. Even more fun than that is making the squiggly “leaf” by wrapping a pipe cleaner around a pencil! When you’re done, you’ll have a fun Rosh Hashannah decoration that’s sure to start your new year on a happy note!
TEENY TINY ROSH HASHANAH CARDS
Won’t your family and friends be tickled pink when you make them a teeny tiny card for Rosh Hashannah? Their small size carries a lot of love! Decorate them however you like and then watch people’s faces light up when you hand deliver a sweet little card to them! You surely will be making Rosh Hashannah extra sweet this year!
MINI CARDBOARD APPLES
How cute are these mini cardboard apples?! Super cute! They’re so fun and easy to paint, too! Once you’ve made a few, you could put them in a bowl for a Rosh Hashannah centerpiece; you could sprinkle them on your Rosh Hashannah table to make it extra colorful and festive; or you could do anything imaginable with them to make your Rosh Hashannah special. I wonder how many you’ll paint and what you’ll do with them!
PAINTED ROCKS FOR ROSH HASHANAH
Oh my goodness! How much do you love these? A lot! I know! Won’t your Rosh Hashannah be extra special with some painted rocks with Rosh Hashannah symbols? You can paint a shofar, apples and honey, a Torah, a synagogue, a Star of David, and so much more! You can use them as a festive centerpiece or you can give them out to some extra special people. However you use them, they’re sure to make this Rosh Hashannah super sweet!