DIY: Hanukkah chef hats
Create special holiday memories by cooking (and crafting) with your children
Have you ever noticed just how many Jewish holiday traditions revolve around food - challah and chicken soup on Shabbat, hamantaschen cookies for Purim, and potato latkes and sufganiyot (jelly donuts) for Hanukkah (just to name a few). It’s no wonder that spending time in the kitchen and cooking with our children is a special way to create Jewish memories!
Hanukkah sufganiyot Photo credit: Anavi Photography
Cooking or baking with a parent or grandparent can be a very special experience for children and adding in a little imaginative play, like decorating Hanukkah chef hats, can make it even more memorable.
Here’s what you’ll need to make your own:
Colorful permanent markers or acrylic paint pens
Hanukkah themed foam stickers, little bits of fabric, rhinestones
Elmer’s glue or a hot glue gun (for only parents to use). Sometimes the foam stickers need a little extra help sticking onto the polyester material.
Lay out the items on a table, and let your child get creative! This is a process art activity, where the idea is for your child to have fun exploring and using the different art materials while making the chef’s hat.
When it’s done, you’ll be ready to welcome your own little baker into your kitchen to make latkes and sufganiyot for Hanukkah. A child-friendly sufganiyot recipe can be found here, and these little guys are gluten-free too!
You can keep your child’s chef hat in the kitchen and encourage them to help you throughout the year, or tuck it away to bring out at Hanukkah next year to make your favorite recipes. Sometimes it’s the little things that your children will remember about holidays that make them extra-special and even want to someday share with their own children. This is the Jewish value L’dor Vador (from generation to generation).
For more fun ideas with your children in the kitchen during Hanukkah, click here to make (gluten-free) sufganiyot and an edible cookie menorah! We also have a wonderful way to bake mini challah on Shabbat during Hanukkah, and if you’re feeling crafty, a smiley felt menorah and candle set, especially for little ones and dream dolls, wonderfully meaningful for the month of Kislev. All of our Hanukkah activities can be found on our Hanukkah Round-up!
We wish you happiness cooking and baking in the kitchen with your children. Go make some memories. ♥
~Jennifer
