Written by Chana Kanzen
1. Create a family Haggadah
Challenge your family to create a family haggadah this year. There are many sites to do this with but my two favourites are haggadot.com (best for ages 10+) and Ji Studio (best for ages 5-10)
Both are free, and contain haggadah templates that can be printed or used online. If you are really creative you can add in family photos, using the Ji Studio tool to add in backgrounds of the pyramids or Pesach scenes from the 100’s of graphics and backgrounds in the site.
2. Create a Pesach Game
There are 1000’s of Pesach backgrounds and images on Jigzi where you can design and create your own games and quizzes to play, with no coding skills needed. All that is required is a login and the ‘Create’ section is free for up to 5 games.
3. Create a Pesach zoom background
If you will be zooming your family over the Pesach holiday you can make it more engaging by using these Pesach zoom backgrounds! There are 100’s of Pesach backgrounds and graphics on Jigzi that can be used or checkout these ready-made ones from everydayjewishmom.com.
4. Make your zoom more interactive
- Dress up on screen and using the zoom spotlight function, spotlight a character for each part of the story, or each zoom participant has to be ready to read or speak when spotlighted by the host.
- Using the annotate tools to ask children to draw around objects on the screen or highlight an item on a seder plate.
- Use the inbuilt zoom poll button to create a Pesach quiz for the family.
- Singing some favourite Pesach songs whilst zooming loved ones and recording them on gallery view, using the zoom record feature, is a great way to bring joy to people this Pesach. You can easily create a Maccabeats-style fun video that can then be shared on family WhatsApp groups before the holiday or during the week.
5. Learn Seder songs with a grandparent
Using the share screen function on zoom, Jigzi has over 50 Pesach games and over 15,000 Jewish and Hebrew games the family can interact with and play. Many grandparents are using the combination of the Jigzi platform and zoom to have fun, learning sessions with their grandchildren – look at the Pesach Songs course to brush up on that Mah Nishtanah!
6. Parent free digital learning
During the pre-Pesach madness, parents have been looking for guilt-free screen time while they can get some time out. Ji Bytes (bytes.jikids.org) has been specifically designed by expert teachers for an hour-long session for children aged 4-10 with online and offline activities and crafts to do for Pesach, needing minimum adult participation. There are 12 sessions to choose from including cooking, arts and crafts and digital creation activities, and the best thing about it is it’s all free! (Best used on a desktop or laptop)
7. Online cookathons
There are many chefs offering zoom cooking sessions and you can book a session for some kids as a great Pesach activity. Or do your own with a friend and share a charoset recipe together over facetime. Inspire kids to cook by taking photos at each stage of the process, and then afterwards use an iMovie template to simply select your photos and instantly create a professional looking video of the experience, for them to share. It adds a whole new dimension to the experience and becomes a memory to treasure and to look back on next year, when hopefully we will all be at a seder together truly celebrating our freedom!
Chana Kanzen B.Ed(hons) QTS. Dip.Ed is ex-CEO of Jewish Interactive. In 2013 she set up Jewish Interactive in the UK. She has helped to write and develop integrated curricula, established community programmes and regularly lectures to parents and teachers on a variety of educational topics. She has spoken at Google HQ in London and Tel Aviv, Apple HQ London and NYC and at Oxford University’s Department for Education. Before joining Jewish Interactive, Chana was a teacher mentor at the Jewish Curriculum Partnership, Head of Jewish studies at Morasha Jewish Primary school in London, England. Chana is passionate about innovative kodesh teaching and enjoys nothing more than watching children’s faces light up as they experience Judaism through Ji.
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