By Beth Blenz-Clucas
This year Hanukkah begins at sundown on December 18th. If you’re looking for fun family-friendly ideas to celebrate the 8 days of light, check out the PJ Library for all things Hanukkah.
Find kid-friendly information about the holiday, interfaith celebration ideas, 10 easy kid-approved Hanukkah recipes, and free printables (menorah, dreidel and other activity ideas) on their Hanukkah Hub.
Struggling to find some festive Hanukkah gift ideas? The PJ Library has a whole Amazon store where you shop for meaningful children’s gifts including a Jewish perpetual calendar, PJ Library aprons, and carefully curated holiday books.
Bedtime stories are the perfect way to explain holiday traditions, allowing little ones the chance to explore real world culture in fun and imaginative ways.
Check out the newly published picture book Hanukkah at Monica’s—a 32 page colorful book ideal for preschoolers. No one loves Hanukkah more than Monica. And celebrating the Festival of Lights — lighting candles, singing blessings, eating delicious fried foods and playing dreidel — is even more fun with friends. Luckily, Monica has lots of friends, including a robot, a pirate, even a jellyfish! Who’s going to arrive at her party next?
For other great holiday book suggestions, check out PJ Library’s Ultimate Children’s Book List. (These are books mailed for free to subscribers; some are available for purchase elsewhere.)
The PJ Library also has podcast episodes for kids, providing a screen-free ways for young children to engage in learning about Hanukkah. Check out PJ Library Presents featuring “Kiddo Lights the Hanukkah Candles.” Kiddo isn’t sure how to light the candles or where each one goes in the menorah. Miraculous Mimi to the rescue! And, for the first time ever, the Yoto App includes Jewish stories for children.
Each month, PJ Library and PJ Our way mails out nearly 670,000 books to families who are raising Jewish children worldwide. To find out more or sign up kids age 0-12 for free subscriptions, visit www.pjlibrary.org.
Additionally, download recipes from the PJ Library Hanukkah Hub, including this recipe for “Bimuelos” — an easy doughnut-like treat for kids!
