Preparation
As some of the holiest days in the Jewish religion, Passover is an important time to gather with family and friends and observe a number of religious traditions. And while we love any excuse to eat Matzo ball soup, the customs surrounding the holiday date back thousands of years and delve deeper than the tasty dish. The most important aspect of the holiday is the Seder, which tells the story of the Jewish people’s enslavement by the Egyptians and how they escaped. The 10 plagues are a pivotal part of the Seder and include blood, frogs, lice, wild beasts, cattle disease, boils, hail, locusts, darkness, and the slaying of the firstborn.
For a creative way to teach children about the celebrations and customs, contributor Erica King assembled a “goodie bag” full of items to represent each plague for the kids to play with while the adults perform the Seder rituals.
King recommends using kosher for Passover dark-chocolate-covered cherries to represent blood, plastic toy frogs or frog trinkets to depict the amphibians, and sparkling confetti for lice. Meanwhile plastic lions and tigers represent the wild beasts and plastic cows serve as cattle disease. Continue with the symbolic route and have the kids blow bubbles to represent boils; use kosher for Passover chiclet gum as hail. Plastic bugs can be used as locusts, sunglasses as darkness, and Halloween skeleton stickers as a lighter interpretation of the slaying of the firstborn.
To make the bags, gather the “plagues” and place them in decorative wax paper bags. Then, using our template, make a card identifying each plague and attach it to the bag. Incorporate the bags into your place settings, giving one to each kid at the table.
