Making the Passover Seder fun for Kids

Passover Pesach – involving the kids:

Passover is a festival really aimed at telling the story of the Children of Israel to children. The hagadah is aimed and directed at children. There is ample interest for children, however, this also demands that parents and grownups familiarize themselves with the text and stories to make it interesting.

The section before the meal is longer and has longer texts, and the section after the meal has more songs  - with the aim of keeping it lively and fun when kids are more tired.

The objective is to keep children asking questions – “ what is this all about? Why do we eat matzah why do we have salt  water or bitter herbs or Charoset.

Some people assign roles (Pharaoh, Moshe, etc.) and let kids act out the Exodus with simple costumes, props, or puppets.

Barbara Shaw has a Pesach Question Box with all sorts of questions pertaining to Passover that can be asked. Which keeps people involved.

It’s important that people and children around the table read the hagadah in Hebrew or their own language. So it’s not a one man show

Some people prepare small bags with toy representations of the 10 plagues (e.g., rubber frogs, red food coloring for blood, plastic locusts, etc.). Let kids "bring out" each one as you tell the story.

The Afikoman Search should be a major event, it should be fun, and yes presents for all the children is a must for everyone that finds the afikoman or not.

Children can be involved in setting the table and making items of food. Involvement is the key. Its not a one person show.

Some teachers and parents help children draw their own Haggadah, before the seder. Kids can color or assemble their own Haggadah pages with stickers and drawings.

Keep it musical, either learn the songs or play the songs in what every way. Judaism should be associated with joy and fun.

 I feel there’s no need to “water down” the hagadah and make it too simple. The Hagadah has been read and survived for centuries, it is our joy and duty to keep our traditions alive and relevant.

Pesach Sameach ve Kasher!