the Four Questions junior edition - Yiddish and English

Here is the "Four Questions" song I made up some years ago for my then-two-year-old. The tune is "For He's A Jolly Good Fellow," first part of the tune only. Any kid who can already talk can learn to complete each line. (Except 'vegetables' - a mental block for my son!)

 

First the Yiddish, the way we sing it:

 

א גאנץ יאר עסט מען חמץ

פסח עסט מען מצה

vegetables א גאנץ יאר עסט מען

פסח עסט מען מרור

 

א גאנץ יאר טינקט מען נישט איין

(waggle finger or shake head)

פסח טינקט מען צוויי מאל

(hold up two fingers)

א גאנץ יאר זיצט מען גלייך

(soldier-straight)

פסח זיצט מען אנגעליינט

(tip over dangerously toward one side)

 

And the English, which I just made up now, but it seems to work fine with the tune:

 

All year round we eat Chametz --

Pesach, only Matzah.

All year round we eat vegetables --

Pesach night, it's Maror.

 

All year round, we never dip --

(waggle finger or shake head)

Pesach we dip TWO times.

(hold up two fingers)

All year round, we sit up straight --

(soldier-straight)

Pesach we recline.

(tip over dangerously toward one side)

 

That's it! I find even the bigger kids like this easy song better than the longer chant they memorize in school.

 

Once your child knows the song, you can add the traditional sing-song introduction, "Mah nishtanah, why is Pesach night so different?" "?מה נשתנה, פארוואס איז די נאכט פון פסח אנדעריש פון א גאנץ יאר" or your preferred wording.

daisy-chain bracelet tutorial

 

Study the picture; it's a lot simpler than the directions sound!
 
My (quite patient) first graders were able to get the hang of it after the first flower or two. If your child finds it too complicated and needs tons of help, keep in mind that you can tweak the project to make a simpler bracelet, with only one flower in the middle. (I have some vague plans of doing exactly that, maybe on wire, for Shavuos napkin rings.)
 
1. String two green (spacer) beads.

2. String four pink (petal) beads, then one yellow (center) bead. (Or whatever colors you like!)

3. Go back through the first pink bead. (I said go BACK because you need to go through it from the opposite direction this time. The string should make a raindrop shape, not a circle shape.)

4. String two more pink beads.

5. Go back through the fourth pink bead (from step 2), again making a raindrop shape.

6. Pull the string tight and admire your flower! (The string going through the flower should be the shape of the letter S, no tangles. If you don't have a flower yet, you probably have either a tangle, or a circle instead of a raindrop shape! Check and correct. Your second flower will go faster, I promise.)

7. String two more green beads. Now decide if you want to do flowers all around, or just finish beading your bracelet the ordinary way!

 

Note: we used pony beads, kiddie style. More experienced and dextrous crafters can use tiny seed beads -- how gorgeous would that be! Either way, I hope you will send me a picture of your masterpiece.

Picture Pie - fancy mama bird and babies

This is Picture Pie done with 6" paper plates. I used an ordinary hole puncher to punch a pattern around a couple of plates, first a circle of evenly spaced holes and then another circle of nibbles along the edge. Very easy, and I really like the way it makes the paper plates match better with the delicate watercolor sky.

the cutest little Tightwad Gazette king

I couldn't find the costume I made several years ago in honor of our then-present and future curly-haired toddlers. (You may see it by googling "site:coolest-homemade-costume.com popcorn chavi" only without the quotations.) I was quite disappointed, especially since it was already Purim eve when this became apparent and I did not have time to start making a costume.

Oh well. I went about my business, packing mishloach manos plates (post to come soon), while thinking about my princeling and his perfectly popcorn-like curls. I remembered how perfect he looked at my brother's wedding, wearing a black velvet outfit, and every curl carefully in place. I thought of the King Achashverosh costume in my mother's stash, which she'd made to fit a long-ago fourth grader.

Then I thought of the purple flash I'd hardly registered while rummaging through my craft supplies bin earlier in the day. It was the skin of a purple umbrella. I'd saved it because the Tightwad Gazette once mentioned you could make a child's poncho from a dead and boneless umbrella.

At 2 am, my plates all wrapped and stacked, I dug out the crumpled purple umbrella skin, plus a sheet of almost-pristine gold cardboard I'd saved from another year's unfinished Succos school project. Then I dug out the iron. (That part was hard LOL.) I pressed the purple flat; it was a perfect circle, regally shimmering. I dug out my son's black velvet outfit (received from a friend whose child had outgrown it, wouldn't you know) and safety-pinned the cape to the shoulders of his shirt.

Then I sketched a zigzag line across the cardboard and cut out two crown halves, and taped them together. I tried the crown on his sleeping head.

It was 2:20 and we had a costume. I love it!!

Purim costume princess crown

I made this crown (2 of them actually) when the Purim store had nothing good for the right price. I had copper wire left over from a light fixture we'd had installed. I have a stockpile of beads. Starting in the middle of the wire, I put a bead on and then twisted the wire below the bead, then added anotehr bead and another twist. About 4-5 inches away, I did the same thing all over again: bead, twist, bead, twist. Did it twice more, smoothed the curves between the peaks, then twisted it onto an elastic headband. It was not at all hard to make, and was very durable and incredibly comfortable.