Jewish Holiday Craft Book,The
It would be a pity if the title of this well-designed, useful book restricted its sale to Jewish families. Aside from the value of using fun activities to impart to non-Jewish kids a little knowledge about Jewish culture, these fun, easy-to-assemble crafts would be engaging for any child in the 3-to-12 range. The text, though addressed to children, has the supervising hand of an adult in mind. Over 50 projects are grouped under the different Jewish holidays, and they range in difficulty from a Challah cover (basically, two pieces of colored paper with some slits cut in them) to a Moses and the Ten Commandments figurine forShavuot(Feast of the Weeks, celebrating the harvest season in Israel) that requires over a dozen items for assembly. Other possibilities include a fearsome paper-bag Haman Shaker ("Give Haman a good shaking this Purim--he deserves it!") and an amusing Jonah and the Whale bath toy made from nothing but a plastic soda bottle and a piece of plastic grocery bag. Artful, colorful illustrations by Melinda Levine enliven this creative, accessible guide to Jewish holiday crafts. (Ages 3 and older)--Richard Farr