DIY: Bird houses
Celebrate the birds tweet songs on Shabbat Shira
Today is my favorite Shabbat of the year - Shabbat Shira (Shabbat of Song). On this special Shabbat, we honor birds and celebrate their songs.
There is the sweetest Ashkenazi tradition to feed birds on Shabbat Shira! One explanation for this custom comes from a story of when the waters of the Red Sea parted, the nearby trees not only blossomed with fruit, but the birds nesting in their branches began to happily chirp and tweet. Their songs lifted the spirits of the Israelites as they crossed through on their way to freedom.
If you want to feed the birds tonight or tomorrow (or anytime), you can crumble up some bread or challah, and go on a bird hunt! Another way we love to honor birds is by making them a special home - a Shabbat Shira birdhouse.
We bought small birdhouses in different shapes and put out all kinds of crafty materials to decorate. This is a process art activity - there’s no right or wrong way to decorate - just lots of different options for children to create in whatever way that makes them happy!
Here’s a few materials that our kids loved the most:
Permanent markers
Dot washable paint markers
Cloth flowers
Small pieces of fabric
Pom-poms
Glue
A special activity for grandparents to share with grandchildren too!
Some of the children attached a fruit cereal bird feeder to the birdhouse too! This is made with a pipe cleaner looped closed on one end, and stacked with cheerios. The other end is looped closed onto the birdhouse. Stacking cheerios is wonderful for fine motor skills too!
A DIY fruit cereal bird feeder!
Feeding birds and making them a cozy home is the Jewish value Tza’ar Ba’alei Chayim (kindness to animals). We love that on Shabbat Shia, we can be especially nice to birds. They might even repay our kindness by tweeting a special song!
We celebrate Shabbat Shira on the Friday before Tu B’Shevat, The Birthday of the Trees. There are so many family activities to do together on this Jewish holiday. Click here for DIY Edible Almond Trees, DIY Beanie Baby Necklaces, Birthday of the Trees Nature Walk, DIY Recyclable Party Hats, Plant a Tree Seedling, Visit a Strawberry Farm and make a Tu B’Shevat Fruit Salad, and Planting Early Spring Peas for Passover.
Let us know if you feed the birds on this Shabbat, and if you make them a cozy home too!
Shabbat Shalom and Happy Tu B’Shevat!
~Jennifer
To make a recyclable party hat, click here!
