Let Your Children Help at Passover!
It’s bashert (meant to be) that celebrating Passover requires you to “tell it to your children” (a line in the haggadah — “the telling”) and is also designed to make it easy to do so! With sensory experiences, symbolic foods, and a handy guidebook in the haggadah, the whole holiday is meant to help children build memories to remember our past and carry it forward to the future.
To create meaningful Passover memories with your family, I encourage you to get your children involved in the planning, preparation, and execution of the seder (the ritual meal), even if you’re not hosting it in your home. Here are some ideas:
Cook Together — chopping apples for charoset can be done with plastic knives when they’re little, and the nuts (if you’re adding them) can be pounded inside a Ziploc bag. Children can help mix, measure, peel, cook, and more, just build in for more time when they’re younger and give them more responsibility as they get older.
Make Decorations — your children can design a tablescape or centerpieces, decorate place cards, or create a welcome sign for your guests, and perhaps another for Elijah, the prophet who is said to visit Jewish homes during Passover. Learn more by reading The Passover Guest by Susan Kusel.
Practice the Four Questions — it’s the job of the youngest child to ask these questions at the seder, but all children can be tasked with thinking up additional questions as we tell the story of the Exodus from Egypt.
Rehearse the Maggid (the telling of the story) — using a version from the Haggadah, a PJ Library book, or a script, having your children play the characters will liven up your seder and get everyone involved. (Hint: your toddler who loves to say “NO!” will make an excellent Pharaoh.)
Lead Songs — if there’s a Passover song they learned in school or a parody they heard on YouTube, encourage your children to share it at the seder. Bonus points if you print out the lyrics for all to sing along!
Set the Table — enlist your child’s help with setting the table, checking that the seder plate is complete (here’s a handy checklist), and more.
Go on the Hunt — before Passover, children can help clean up, donate, or use up the chametz (leavened foods such as bread that can’t be eaten during Passover) during a ritual called Bedikat Chametz. This is good practice for the part of the seder when they must find the Afikomen (the broken piece of the middle matzah that’s hidden and must be found to conclude the seder)!
Have other ideas on how to get children involved? I’d love to hear about it! Need more ideas for this holiday? Check out the PJ Library Passover Holiday Hub.
Passover begins Wednesday, April 5th at sundown.
Chag Pesach Sameach (Happy Passover Holiday),
Sarah
Additional Resources
- PJ Library Passover Hub
-
The Pre-Seder Checklist Every Parent Needs (PJ Library)
- Bringing Intention to Your Passover Planning (Here’s the Story blog | PJ Library in Greater Washington)
-
At a Passover and Easter Impasse? Ideas for Interfaith Families (Here’s the Story blog | PJ Library in Greater Washington)
-
Ways to Celebrate Passover Throughout the Week While Safe at Home (Here’s the Story blog | PJ Library in Greater Washington)
- Teaching Kids to Say the Four Questions (PJ Library)
- Passover Tips for Interfaith Families (PJ Library)
- Passover Resources for Interfaith Families (18Doors)
- What Happens at a Seder guide (PJ Library)