But I do enjoy planning activities and crafts and lessons for them, even if it is a little chaotic in our classroom. Today's lesson was about Esther. So I jumped back to my days of teaching Junior High Bible and used some of the same activities. I figured the attention span of two year olds and seventh graders probably isn't all that different! =)
Purim is a Jewish holiday that celebrates the story of Esther. Today, we made masks to tell the story of Esther. We also made groggers (noisemakers) to shake every time the name of Haman was mentioned. And we ate hamantashen for our snack.
I had attempted to make hamantashen for my 7th grade classes five years ago, and it was a disaster! So, why in the world did I think it would be a good idea to make hamantashen again? For 2 and 3 year olds even, who could care less about it and aren't going to remember it at all? Because I'm a crazy person, that's why.
Fortunately, this recipe was much better (and I think my cooking skills have improved over the past 5 years too). This hamantashen turned out perfectly with no screaming/stress involved. Just perfect little three cornered pastries with a strawberry filling. So pretty! And they tasted good too!
Now, the true test was the kids reaction to the hamantashen. I know my two year old, and she can be picky when it comes to eating new foods. The result with these kids: they loved it! All except one girl, who wouldn't touch it. The rest of them gobbled it up, and many of them even had two. This is Elliot after he shoved the entire thing in his mouth!
Here are a few of them acting out the story with our masks. This part of the lesson went surprisingly well. Any time I ask for audience participation with these kids, I always brace myself for the worst (hitting, kicking, crying, tantrums, running around the room like a crazy person, etc.). But they really, really liked holding the masks on their faces, and therefore were fairly cooperative through the whole storytelling time.
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