Chanukah
Exploring Menorahs
Chanukah is a very exciting time of year here at The Gan Preschool. Blue and silver Chanukah banners hang in front of the windows, dreidels spin from little fingers and Chanukah music plays in the background as we count down the days to one of our favorite holidays.
Each year, the children at The Gan create their own unique Chanukah menorah to bring home and light with their families. This year, we created colorful mosaic menorahs.
We bought most of the materials needed for these masterpiece menorahs for less than twenty dollars by using spare tiles from the local Rebuilding Center, a non-profit organization that sells donated building supplies to help reduce waste and sponsor community building projects. The preschool children painted each of the tiles themselves using ceramic paint, then glued small and medium sized tiles to the larger tiles in a pattern of their choice. Nine metal bolts were glued in a straight line to hold the eight Chanukah candles and the shamash candle.
Each tile became a creative expression as the children chose from a dozen bright colors to paint the individual pieces to their menorah.
The preschoolers painted large ceramic tiles with tacky glue before carefully arranging their smaller painted tiles into lovely patterns.
Ta-da! After all the tiles and bolts have dried, the children were able to take home their mosaic menorahs to celebrate Chanukah at home!
Happy Chanukah from The Gan Preschool! To find out more about The Gan, visit our website:
