In Shalom Chaverim this week, we are busy exploring the sights and symbols of Hanukkah. We are counting the candles (in English and Hebrew!) as we fit them into real hanukkiyot, in the kitchen area and inside a sensory table, buried in rice.
We are touching and manipulating (and sometimes even tasting!) the candles ourselves as we fit candles into play dough to make our own versions of a hanukkiyah.
We are singing Hanukkah songs together, counting to 8 again and again (and one more for a shamash!) as we form a hanukkiyah with puppets, with our fingers, with paper, with blocks. We even set to work creating our own real hanukkiyot, to light with our families when Hanukkah arrives. 
There were hanukkiyah shapes for painting, coloring and decorating in our own way. We counted the candles here too, of course!
We are examining dreidels as well, attempting to spin them (a challenge for our fine motor strength!) and noticing the Hebrew letters on the sides– just like the ones in our names.
In the block area, we are building hanukkiyot as well, experimenting with how many candles we can fit on our blocks, building a tall tower for our shamash.
