Another project my preschoolers did for Sukkot, besides this Sukkah picture frame, was a paper Sukkah craft. It was a great way to celebrate the holiday, plus strengthen their fine motor skills.
Materials:
-Construction paper 12X18
-Colored paper
-Scissors
-Hole puncher
-Crayons/markers
-Pipe Cleaners/sticks
-Tape
Instructions:
First, gather and prep all your materials. The Santa Ana winds payed us a visit right before we did this sukkah craft. There were tons of dead branches on our playground that were the perfect size for this activity. So I had all the children collect sticks and bring them to the classroom. Funny though, after all that hard work that they did, most of them chose to use the pipe cleaners. For this craft, I cut the pipe cleaners in half beforehand. I also cut strips of colored paper.
I started the project by folding the 12 X 18 construction paper in half.
Fold the construction paper in half again.
For this next part, you will create the walls of the sukkah. Fold the length of the paper in half and then in half one more time, so that you have 4 creases in the paper.
Before taping the walls together, have the children decorate their sukkah with drawings.
Next, take some clear tape to connect the two sides together to form a square.
Next, create 5 hole punches on one side of the sukkah, and 5 hole punches across from the other hole punches. Make sure they are line up as close as possible so that a stick or a pipe cleaner can go through the two sides straight. You could use a marker and place dots on where the hole punches need to be done and let the child punch the holes themselves, however because of the thickness of the folded paper, many of my preschool children didn’t have the strength needed to punch through the paper.
Once the holes are completed, have the child add either the stick or the pipe cleaner through the holes. (fine motor skill)
For the pipe cleaners, I folded the ends of the edge (creating sort of a hook).
I then had the children weave paper through the pipe cleaner/sticks, telling them to go under, over, under over. (another great fine motor skill)
I only had them weave about 4-5 papers (depending on thickness). When people are inside a sukkah, it is important they are able to see the stars through the roof.
Traditionally, sukkahs only have 3 walls, so if some of the children would like, they can cut a door on one side of their sukkah.
