10 makos projects ideas

Seraph ↓

Wed, Mar 25 2009, 2:00 am

With my 2 year olds, I taught them a little about mitzrayim and the makos.
I am trying to do a project with something for each of the 10 makos- 10 circles of different "things" representing the makos.
So far, we did the following:
Glued red stuff in a disposable cup- for dam
Put sticker speckles on little paper frogs.
Glued a bunch of pepper to a paper for kinim. (Looks the same.)
We put red sticker "booboo"s on faces for shchin.
We painted a paper black for makas choshech.

You have ideas of what I can do for:
Arov?
Dever?
Barad?
Arbeh?
Makas Bechoros?

TIA!
I know you ladies have great ideas!

↑ amother ↓

Wed, Mar 25 2009, 3:40 am

amother wrote:

For that age? I'd focus on a heck of a lot before the makot!!

Agreed. I think you should do something else for that age. Make a seder plate with them. It's easier and more fun for them.

↑ Seraph ↓

Wed, Mar 25 2009, 1:01 pm

Uhm. Who said it has to be either or? I have another week of gan left still till pesach vacation, plenty of time to do lots of things.
And I know the kids I watch. I personally think its much more interesting and entertaining for them to hear the story of yetzias mitzrayim- its much more dramatic than learning about a seder plate. Rolling Eyes

And yes, they were old enough to chap what I taught them. Today, after this thread, I asked the kids about the story, and they were able to tell me most of it by heart, without prompting, just from what they remember from when I told them. So they're not too young.

And you amothers, if you have nothing nice to say, at least say it under your screen name. writing as amother to put me and what I'm doing down is a violation of the board rules.

Well, thanks for nothing. (Thank you HooRYou for the idea.) I went to the art supply store and got stuff for projects....

cherry

Wed, Mar 25 2009, 4:26 pm

Hi!
The 2 yr. olds in my school made a makos project recently, I'll try to find it to tell you more about it. The teacher color copied makos pictures and the kids stuck different materials on it.
Hatzlacha rabba!

↑ amother ↓

Thu, Mar 26 2009, 12:58 am

Except I have a kid 2 yrs older and both she and almost all of the kids in her classdon't catch onto these specifics. And even so do you really think this is a key part of the pesach story to know all the details of the makot? You dont think it's weird to ask abt a project to teach kids about wild animals, wild animals that died, locusts, death of a first born sun? If you do still 5 more projects (for the 5 remaining ones you need to do) that could easily take up all the time until Pesach. You don't see any more value in doing something with matzah/afikoman covers, kiddush cups, seder plate etc, rather than plagues with 2 year olds (many younger)?

↑ amother ↓

Thu, Mar 26 2009, 1:25 am

Seraph wrote:

I personally think its much more interesting and entertaining for them to hear the story of yetzias mitzrayim- its much more dramatic than learning about a seder plate. Rolling Eyes

No one was putting you down, just giving advice. With the kids I watched last year we did a seder plate, and please don't roll your eyes at that. They looooved it. It's about presentation. If you act like it's boring, it will be boring. The makos... I dunno. One mother asked me not to go into them so much in fact. How does a 2 year old understand makos bechoros exactly? Kinim is about the only one a 2 year old might be able to relate to. Sorry but it might be dramatic to show kids dead animals, but there are more appropriate things to do.

↑ Seraph ↓

Thu, Mar 26 2009, 2:00 am

ok, to each his own. yes, I glossed over some makos and focused more on others. They definitely understoond makas dam, tfardea, kinim, arov (scary wild animals came, like lions... etc. they definitely chapped that), shchin, choshech, etc. Barad, dever, makas bechoros I glossed over more because I knew they wouldnt really chap that, but I still told them in breif when telling the story.

How do you teach about the seder plate if you dont first teach yetzias mitzrayim? Doing a project of a seder plate is fun, but teaching about it? not so...

↑ Seraph

Thu, Mar 26 2009, 2:03 am

Oh, and some of the kids in my group are really closer to three, older than 2.5, and are very advanced. (Which 2 year olds know almost their whole ABC's- are able to recognize letters and numbers, etc... Thats about 3 of the kids in my group.)
So knowing this group, I knew they'd enjoy the story of yetzias mitzrayim, including the makos.

cubbie ↓

Thu, Mar 26 2009, 2:43 am

I don't know what dd has done as she hasn't brought her pesach projects home yet and I don't remember from last year, but I know what she told me about some of them - maybe this will give you some inspiration.
She said that Paroh wanted to ride his horse but he couldn't because it was sick.
She said that the Egyptions were scared because there were big animals everywhere like crocodiles and lions that weren't just in the zoo.
She said that the Egyptions were hungry as they couldn't eat their corn and wheat because there were too many flies.
She said that the Egyptions mommies were sad because the boy babies had to go away.

↑ amother

Thu, Mar 26 2009, 3:12 am

Seraph wrote:

Of course you teach some level of the story. Why is explaining each of the makot necessary in explaining sipur yetziat mitzrayim? You can just say to 2 yr olds that Hashem Punished Paroah and the Egyptians? It will be more meaningful if you explain each of the 10 plagues? They gotta be a real bright bunch of 2 yr olds if they got anything out of it.

↑ cubbie ↓

Thu, Mar 26 2009, 3:33 am

Not a project that they can take home, but how about making some ice cubes and put them in a closed clear container and let them have turns shaking the container and telling them that instead of rain there were big pieces of ice falling from the sky.

↑ cubbie

Thu, Mar 26 2009, 3:37 am

And for the amothers - I don't agree with you, my dd who just turned 2 this week is facinated by the stories that her older sister is telling her about the plagues - even if she doesn't get the story of yetziat mitzraim, she understands the concepts of not being able to drink the water because it became icky, frogs jumping everywhere, animals not feeling well, everything being dark etc. Like everything else it's not what you teach it's teaching it so it's relevent for the age concerned.