It’s hard to imagine Lag B’Omer without public gatherings, local bonfires or celebrations or big parades. Nonetheless, the greatest celebration of Lag B’Omer is that of Jewish unity and Ahavas Yisroel! While it looks different this year than on others, we are perhaps even more connected to one another, albeit through alternative means. It might feel a little unusual to make a celebration at home with just immediate family, but it can still be fun and meaningful. Here are some craft and activity ideas to enhance your day using materials you have easy access to in these difficult times.
Every year, my children look forward to bonfires, and “camp ins” (playing about camping at home or in our backyard. Public bonfires aren’t happening this year and not everyone lives in a location that is conducive to having one. Some families may not even have access to outdoor spaces or yards right now and that can be really challenging. So let’s get creative together and make a Family Lag b’Omer Camp-In at home!
Pitch Your Tent: Whether you have an actual tent, build a fort with chairs and couch cushions and blankets or just set some cozy blankets out on the floor, setting up camp is a great activity for kids of all ages. If you do have a yard and the weather permits, you might do this outdoors.
It is just as fun and cozy indoors, too!
Setting Up Camp:
Let’s Go Fishing! To create a camp like atmosphere, you might want to include some fun camping activities. If you have the ingredients, perhaps you’ll make some s’mores in the oven or microwave. Maybe you have the ability to grill at home or prepare some favorite BBQ foods indoors. You might set up a little fishing game indoors with some paper or felt fish shapes and add a paperclip “mouth.” Use a refrigerator magnet, string and some tape to attach it to a stick, dowel, or long cardboard tube to make a fishing pole and you can go fishing right from your living room!
If you’re in the mood to add some waterplay to the mix, you can go fishing in a big bin or bowl of water. You can use what you have on hand. We had a fishing game party favor one year that we used but another year I just set out some bath toys, a colander and some sandbox toys to fish with! If you want to cool off with some ice play, you can make ice cube “fish” in an ice cube tray using colored water. Toss in a couple of googly eyes if you have them, but no need if you don’t. When your water is frozen, pop them out and add them to a bin of water. We did this with waterbeads one year, but those are not a requirement to make this enjoyable. If you have salad tongs, they make great “ice fishing poles,” but a ladle or slotted spoon would also work well!
Remember--children have inherently great imaginations! They can stretch them as wide as need be--just about anything can be a fish and just about anything can be used to catch it.
Build a Bonfire! While a real bonfire may not be feasible in your space, a pretend one can be great fun to think up and build. Perhaps you’ll go outdoors to gather real sticks or perhaps you’ll work from indoors and use blocks or recycled cardboard tubes. Your flames can be made from scarves/tichels, fire colored clothing and linens, crumpled tissue or construction paper. When it comes to project planning these days, it can be helpful to put your kids in the driver’s seat. Let them navigate what materials to use and how to set them up!
Gather Together and CELEBRATE: Next it’s time to cozy up together and celebrate by the “fire.” Sing or listen to some favorite songs. Dance in your living room! Parade around your house or if safely possible, around your neighborhood. Does anyone in your house play an instrument? If you don’t have “real” instruments” at home, maybe you’d like to make some of your own. If my kids have taught me anything, it’s that everything can be a drum! Share some favorite stories together or share some favorite things about each other. Ahavas Yisroel starts at home and this year, we can really celebrate that!
Feeling Crafty?
If you want to get crafty this year, here are some ideas. Use what you have handy! This year we plan to do a family mural using large paper and art supplies. This is a great way to work together with one another (an important theme of Lag B’Omer) and create something beautiful. We will hang it in our front window to bring joy to our neighbors passing by. You can do this with smaller paper as well. Family members can work together or create individual pieces of art to contribute to your window museum. You might add a message of kindness and encouragement.
For some theme related art, you might want to build a tiny bonfire craft. One year we did this with an overturned plastic cup, squares of colored paper, a paper plate and construction paper “sticks.” I used an LED light inside the cup, but this is not a requirement to make it fun! You can even make a marshmallow roasting stick prop using an actual stick, popsicle stick or wooden dowel and gluing a cotton ball marshmallow to one end.
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You can also gather twigs outdoors and glue them onto a paper plate or piece of paper and add some crumpled tissue paper or construction paper flames. If you’d like a moveable miniature bonfire rather than a permanent craft, you can use the same materials but leave out the glue! This can be a great addition to a dollhouse or block building for little toys and figurines to celebrate together.
Marshmallows are fun for eating if you have them. They are also fun for painting with. You can use vanilla pudding or yogurt colored red, yellow and/or orange with food coloring to make edible paint. You can also do this with real paint (but make sure your littlest ones won’t eat it!) or substitute in a cotton ball for the “marshmallow.”
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This year is different but we can still make Lag B’Omer feel special! It just may be the perfect recipe for a meaningful and memorable experience.
It can be challenging enough to come up with ideas to get everyone through a sunny day close to home, but what about a rainy day? Here’s a collection of ideas to get you outside anyway and some to do indoors as well!
Rainy Day Play Outdoors: With proper gear, you can still get outside even in the rain (barring extreme temperatures or weather conditions). We love rain suits with rubber boots for this purpose, but you can also use ponchos/jackets or in a pinch, a large plastic trash bag--or in a real pinch, just change into dry clothes when you come inside!
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Set up a rain gauge. You can purchase a rain gauge quite inexpensively, but you can also make one at home with a recycled plastic bottle. Cut the top off your bottle ¾ of the way up and turn it upside down, inserting the mouth into the bottle like a funnel. You can use a ruler and permanent marker to label measurements on the outside of the bottle. You can add a few drops of food coloring to the bottom if you want to be able to see your rain collection a bit better.
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Puddle sink or float science: If you have a good puddle or even a plastic bin filled with rainwater, you can test out some sink or float science. Use a collection of toys or household objects from inside or find some nature-made test objects outside like leaves, cones, seed pods, acorns, sticks…
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Umbrella walk: One of our favorite activities on a rainy day is to grab our umbrellas and head out for a walk. Something about popping open a colorful umbrella outside just puts everyone in a cheerful mood! You might even slip on a pair of rubber boots for puddle jumping along the way. Maybe grab a basket and go on a nature treasure hunt!
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Waterway Science: If you happen to have access to pieces of pipes, guttering, PVC connectors or other types of tubes (even hard cardboard), you can test out making waterways outdoors. Can you change the direction of the water? Can you get something to sail down a tube and float on the water?
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Just Add Water Art: Grab a watercolor palette, brush and some watercolor paper and use the rainwater to make your painting. You can also try watercolor pencils. Alternatively, use washable markers inside to draw some colorful art and set it outside in the rain to see how the colors bleed. Even bleeding tissue paper can be a fun rainy day outdoor takealong. With a good rainstorm, you can set up an easel with a basic watercolor palette at the top and let the weather paint for you! Crepe paper and recycled newspaper can also be used, scrunched up and stamped onto wet paper in the rain.
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Rainy Day “Tea” Party: Gather up some plastic toy dishes or old upcycled dishes from indoors and bring them outdoors for some waterplay. If you’re really brave, you might even include some mud in the action.
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Make mud paints: Using dirt and rainwater and a recycled container or whatever you have on hand, mix up some mud paints. You can paint with actual brushes or brushes made from nature (like leaves, needles, sticks) or even your hands! You can paint on the sidewalk or bring some watercolor paper out. To extend the activity, find some wildflowers and weeds to grind up into paints. Dandelions are a great candidate for this and in high abundance this time of year!
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Build me a Bridge and Get Over It! Find a small puddle or provide a small basin to collect rainwater. What loose parts from indoors or outside can you use to build a bridge over the water?
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Rainy Day Chalk Art: Sidewalk chalk takes on a new and exciting life when it rains. It’s a whole different experience to draw on wet ground. You can also grind up sidewalk chalk into powder “paint” and use shakers to sprinkle it on the ground or onto paper or even just your hands or a paintbrush. Watch as the raindrops make colorful artwork and patterns!
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Toy Car Wash! Grab a can of shaving cream foam or just a bucket with some dish soap and added water (if there’s not enough rain collection) and open a Toy Car Wash. Just gather some toy vehicles from indoors, some sponges, rags or scrub brushes. You can wash small toys in a bin or basin or you can wash larger toys, bikes and riding equipment on the ground. You can do this same activity using toy animals or plastic baby dolls or even dishes, pots and pans from your mud kitchen/tea party play.
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Window washers: If you have access from outside to your windows, grab some sponges, a squeegee and a few buckets with soapy water and let your little ones take on the role of window washers.
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Observing Tire Marks: Dismantle a box or grab some other large pieces of cardboard to create a bike path. Ride bikes through some puddles, through grass, through mud and then over your bike path to observe your tire tracks. You can do the same thing with your own two feet and observe footprints! Don’t they look better out here than inside on your kitchen floor??
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Raindrops on Mirrors: grab a hand mirror from inside and lay it gently on the ground to observe raindrops reflected as they land on top. What else do you see?
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Build a Rain Shelter: My favorite (most cost effective way) to do this is to grab some cheap (dollar store) plastic shower curtains, or tarps, clothes pins, rubber bands and bungee cords. Using trees, fence posts or even garden stakes (whatever you have), create rain shelters, dens, burrows, tents/teepees… What else can you use? What types of homes do animals create to shelter from the weather? Alternatively, if you have a pop up tent or play tunnel inside, this can be brought outside for a temporary rain shelter.
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Color Mixing: Use a collection of recycled containers or cups and a few drops of food coloring. Test out mixing colors! You can add in some pretty wildflowers and leaves and your toy dishes and have a fairy potion tea party or real kitchen tools and loose parts for mud/sand kitchen play.
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Cascading Tower Waterfalls: Using whatever outdoor toys you have or indoor materials that can be brought out in the rain, build a tall tower. Recyclables work great for this. Then using some recycled bottles or jugs with water, pour the water over your towers. Can you get the water to cascade down like a waterfall without the tower falling over?
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“Paint” the Fence: all you need for this activity is a bucket for water (you can fill with water if there’s not enough rain) and some large paint brushes (like those used for house painting), foam brushes and/or rollers. Paint the sidewalk, paint the house, paint the fence…
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Rainy Day Treasure Hunt: If you need a little more motivation to get outside in the rain, try a rainy day treasure hunt. Stash some little toy animals or dinosaurs or plastic coins or even collected treasures from nature like rocks, pine cones, nuts and acorns and give each treasure hunter a collection basket. On your marks, get set, HUNT!
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Rain Drums: You can experience the music of the rain by making your own rain drum set. You’ll need some recycled containers or plastic tupperware and some balloons. Cut the open end of the balloon off and stretch a balloon over each container. Listen as the raindrops fall. Do they sound the same? Do they sound different? Alternatively, take a set of glass vases, cups or bowls and collect rainwater or add water. Using a metal spoon, gently tap the side of the water filled glasses and observe how different shapes of container and different heights of water collection produce a different pitch.
Meanwhile Indoors…
If you’re not able to get outside in the rain, there are still plenty of fun indoor activities to do on a rainy day. Here’s a small collection of ideas--you might even come up with your own Rainy Day Play list so you have a set stash to choose from when you really need it.
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Bake together!
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Have a living room (or dining room or bedroom) dance party!
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Try a yoga class on YouTube--we especially like the collection from Cosmic Kids Yoga.
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Make a play dough recipe. There are tons of these on websites like Pinterest. You can make slime, playdough, salt dough, and numerous other play concoctions. You can use playdough tools or whatever you have on hand--or even just your hands. My favorite, tried and true playdough recipe is this simple stovetop one:
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1 cup flour
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¼ cup salt
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2 TBSP cream of tartar
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1 TBSP oil
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1 cup water
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Food coloring, scent, glitter, dried flower petals, cinnamon--all optional add ins!
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Directions: combine your first 5 ingredients (all but the optionals ones, although if you are adding color you can add this now) into a saucepan over medium heat. Stir continuously until a thick blob of dough forms in the center of the pan. Turn off and remove from heat. Once it is cool enough to handle, knead in any remaining lumps. Make sure your dough is completely cooled before giving it to little hands for play. This can be stored in an airtight container or ziplock bag between play.
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Put on a Shadow Puppet Show: We love using our hands and feet and bodies for this. We also have a great set of shadow stick puppets. You can even make your own shadow stick puppets by cutting out shapes from black construction paper and taping a wooden craft stick or straw on the back. Find a wall space that gets the right light (or use a lamp) and put on a shadow puppet show.
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Solo Cups Make the Best New Toy: Need a new “toy” on a rainy day? Grab a pack of plastic solo cups. You can create amazing towers, pyramids, castles and more. You can also turn them upside down like “bowling pins” and use a rolled up sock or a tinfoil ball to go bowling in your hallway. You can create your own mini golf course using solo cups turned onto their side and creating unique obstacles to work around. Then either using a yard or meter stick or something of the appropriate length or even your own foot, try to hit a hole in one. It’s harder than you’d think!
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Don’t Throw Away That Box! If you’re getting a lot of Amazon deliveries these days, chances are you have a box or maybe even a few. Make a rocket ship, a car, a boat, a train, a city, a house, a birds nest--what will you do with your boxes?
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Indoor Forts can be built with couch cushions, pillows, furniture, blankets and whatever you have on hand. If you can, you might even leave this set up for a few days and watch as things are added on and shifted to suit the day’s needs!
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Camp In: If you can’t camp out, why not camp in. Use your fort from above or pitch a tent in our living room. Cook up some smores in the oven or microwave, tell scary or silly stories, and have a family camp in.
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Board Games: these can be fun for the whole family. It’s also a wonderful tool for a variety of learning and developmental needs. Grab some games and play!
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Paper Plate Ice Skates: Turn your floor into a skating rink with paper plate ice skates. Just place a plate under each foot and glide along!
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Drive in Theater: Movie nights (or mornings or afternoons) are just right for those times you can’t get outside or need something relaxing and cozy inside. But instead of watching on the couch, set up a drive-in theater. Your “car” can be a laundry basket, a box, a riding toy…
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Laundry Basket Boat Rides: Got a bigger sibling? Got a younger one? Got an empty laundry basket and some string or rope? Take your little brother/sister for a boat ride across the carpet inside a laundry basket boat. You can even come up with a creative way to add a sail using household items or toys.
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Arts & Crafts: This is a great time to take out your favorite art and craft supplies. If you’re in need of more ideas, visit Part 2 of the Quarantine Survival Kit!
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Just Add Water: If waterplay outside is not your cup of tea, consider ways to use water inside to make some fun. Have a tea party with real tea and tea sandwiches or your favorite snacks and treats. You might even dress up for the occasion and put on some music in the background! Alternatively, run the bath and have some waterplay indoors! You can turn out the lights and add some glow sticks. You can have a bathtub “tea” party with toy dishes. You can add bubbles or colors or favorite bath toys. You can use plastic containers from the recycling bin or even tinfoil to create a boat and test it out. Grab a can of shaving cream and have some foamy fun. You can even gather up some water-safe objects from around the house and see what sinks or floats. Added bonus--you’ll come out clean!
Rainy days can certainly be a little harder under these circumstances, but with a little creativity and some preparedness, you can still have fun and stay sane, too!