What do vitamin C, fish oil, and calcium have to do with Purim? No, Esther wasn’t a health nut and Ahasuerus definitely favored wine and merrymaking over multi-vitamins! In Kitah Gimel, my students enjoyed making raashanim (groggers/noisemakers) out of plastic vitamin and nutritional supplement bottles.Here’s how:Materials – empty plastic vitamin and supplement bottles; construction paper in assorted colors; cellophane tape; markers; scissors; gift-wrapping ribbon; stickers; 6 pennies per student 1. Cover the cylindrical part of the bottle with a half sheet of construction paper. Tape closed along the vertical seam. Tuck the excess paper around the bottom of the bottle and tape in place. (To save time, I did this step before class.) 2. Instruct students to draw designs, write Purim words in Hebrew or English, and place stickers on the paper covered bottles. 3. When students have completed decorating their bottles, they cut five 6″ pieces of gift-wrapping ribbon from a multi-colored selection of spools of ribbon. 4. Students unscrew the tops of their bottles and put 6 pennies inside the bottles. They place the five pieces of ribbon over the open tops of the bottles and hold the ribbons in place while screwing the tops back on. (I helped with this step.) Using the edge of the scissors, students curl the ribbons which are hanging over the sides of the bottles. 5. Students shake their vitamin bottle raashanim during a class or congregational reading of the Megillah. Not only do the rattling pennies drown out Haman’s name, the coins are also a reminder of the Purim mitzvah of giving to those in need (matanot l’evyonim). Note: This project may be used as a make-and-take activity at a Purim Carnival. Since it may take time to collect the bottles for this project, start collecting well in advance of Purim. Extensions:Next fall, the bottles could become mini-time capsules. Instead of pennies, the bottles might contain slips of paper telling of a student’s Rosh HaShana resolutions; learning expectations for the school year; or wishes for positive change in the world (Tikkun Olam). They might decorate the bottles using materials similar to those used for Purim raashanim. Store the time capsule bottles in the classroom and open them on the last day of Hebrew school/religious school. For Hebrew language, use the bottles for sorting Hebrew vocabulary words written on small strips cut from index cards. Cover the bottles with paper and label them according to sorting categories such as “number of syllables,” “common root,” or other language elements.
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