Explore our Shavuot programming for you and your little one!
About the Holiday
Seven weeks after Passover ends, it’s time to celebrate Shavuot. This holiday marks the biblical story of receiving the Ten Commandments and the Torah at Mt. Sinai. While many families don’t regularly celebrate Shavuot, it’s a holiday that’s totally made for kids –a perfect excuse for sleepovers, flower picking, ice cream socials, and lots of other fun activities.
Although Shavuot was originally a harvest holiday, today people celebrate the day by studying the Torah, staying up all night, crafting paper cut-outs, eating local foods, and of course, indulging in cheesecake and blintzes. The tie-in to the Torah and Ten Commandments also make Shavuot a perfect opportunity to reinforce so many of the values that parents are already imparting to their children: telling the truth, honoring others, and sharing.
Books
Ten Good Rules: A Ten Commandments Counting Book
by Susan Topek
Ages: 3 to 4 Years
Learn to count with the 10 Commandments!
No Rules for Michael
Written by Sylvia Rouss
Illustrated by Susan Simon
Ages: 3 to 4 Years
When the teacher gives Michael and his preschool class a day without rules, the children learn what it would be like if there were no rules to follow.
Sammy Spider’s First Shavuot
Written by Sylvia Rouss
Illustrated by Katherine Janus Kahn
Ages: 3 to 4 Years
Sammy Spider lowers himself down on a strand of webbing to get a closer look at the Shapiro family’s preparations for Shavuot, a holiday celebrating the time when God gave the Torah to Moses.
The Littlest Mountain
Written by Barb Rosenstock
Illustrated by Melanie Hall
Ages: 4 to 5 Years
When God decides to speak to people from a mountaintop and give them laws to follow, the mountains vie for the privilege. Which one will be chosen?