Challah Cover Continuation

Last Wednesday and today, I continued working with the students in Kol Ami’s Early Childhood Program helping them to create challah covers to take home for Shabbat.  It was fun to watch the progression as I moved from working with the 3-year-olds to the 4’s and 5’s.  Last week started with the last class of 3’s and, just as the previous classes, they chose the colors that reminded them of Shabbat to create a sketch first.  Using the colors in those sketches, they then created their challah covers with pre-cut shapes.

The resulting challah covers were covered with colorful shapes.

When the 4’s came in, I was blown away by the changes that happen in one year.  The sketches became representational and the challah covers had distinct themes.  When I spoke with the first group of 4’s about Shabbat and the designs for their challah covers, they all agreed that the covers should show pictures of themselves celebrating Shabbat with their families.  Their sketches and finished pieces depicted this theme.

The second group of 4’s felt that challah covers should depict the elements of Shabbat: challah, grape juice, and candles.

Today, I met with the final group of 4’s and this class was a group of individuals. Some decided to create images of Shabbat, others of celebrating families, and others created their own special Shabbat designs.

The last group of the day was the 5’s and once again the sophistication level jumped with a year of experience drawing and cutting.  This class really took their time designing and creating their challah covers, making sure everything was just right before deciding they were worthy of the Shabbat tables.