Celebrate Hanukkah with these colorful Dreidel Suncatchers. Like the Hanukkah game, these dreidel suncatchers also include the Hebrew letters.
Chilly weather means that winter holidays are right around the corner. The celebration of Hanukkah, or the Festival of Lights, is celebrated at different times each year, but usually between the end of November to to late December.
A familiar symbol of Hanukkah is the dreidel, a term from the Yiddish word dreyel, which means to turn or spin. So, What is a Dreidel? The dreidel is a spinning top consisting of four sides. The Hebrew letters are inscribed on each of the four sides are Nun, Gimmel, Hey and Shin. There are often variations in both the shape of the letter and spelling of these words. These four letters refer to the phrase: Nes gadol hayah sham, “a great miracle happened there.”
What You Will Need
- Dreidel Suncatcher outline printout and letters printout
- Blue printer paper, white printer paper
- Transparent plastic binder sheets – I purchased a pack of 8 from the Dollar Tree. *Correction: in the video I referred to these as clear binder sheets. I’ve also found an affordable multi-color pack of Plastic Dividers at Amazon.
- Scissors
- Permanent black makers
- Glue pen
Putting the Dreidel Suncatchers Together
Start by printing the Dreidel Suncatcher outline printout on either blue printer paper, or blue construction paper. Use white printer paper for the letters printout.
Cut out the blue dreidels. Carefully, partially fold the shape vertically so that the inside portion can be cut out (see video).
Next, use the transparent binder sheets to trace the inside portion for the dreidel. I used the colors of red, green, blue and orange. For the words, it is best to use a thin tip black permanent marker. For the larger areas of the symbols/letters a thicker tip marker can also be used.
Use a thin line of glue along the front edge of the plastic sheet and attach the blue dreidel. Once the glue has dried, the Dreidel Suncatchers will make a festive window decoration. Enjoy!
Skill level is for a 3-4th grader since cutting out shapes and tracing words and symbols are part of the steps.
Here you can find more Hanukkah Crafts and Activities for Kids.