Preschool Pesach Haggadah

Mazal, my friend and co-playgroup mother, loves crafts. Here is a Passover haggadah she made with our 4-year-old daughters.

Mazal got the idea when she found found some “matzah paper” in a store. I found a store where you can order it online, but of course you can improvise or use another type of cover.  She cut and folded the thin cardboard, decorated with a matzah pattern, to make the front and back cover of the “haggadah.” On the front she wrote, “Happy and Kosher Pesach.”

She then helped the little girls make and paste different symbols according to the sections of the haggadah. Our 5 and 6-year-old sons were at her house that day. They helped by writing the Hebrew “text” in crayon.

The first page contains a foil cup, to illustrate the kiddush (sanctification) on the wine:

To illustrate hand-washing, the girls made hand-prints with finger paint. The karpas is green-painted paper, dipped in a shiny half-circle meant to represent salt-water:
For maggid, the story of the Exodus that is the centerpiece of the seder, they pasted in a paper, representing a book, and wrote “Haggadah shel Pesach.”
For rachtzah, the second hand-washing of the seder, we have another hand-print. A second piece of matzah paper stands in for the mitzvah of matzah.

Maror (bitter herbs) is more painted paper. Mazal combined the matzah and maror paper for the korech “sandwich” of matzah and maror. My son did not want me to post this picture, because his friend misspelled korech by writing it with a koof instead of a kaf. I promised him that I would let you all know the correct spelling (kaf, vav, resh, kaf sofit).
Time for dinner! Here’s the shulchan orech, with the table set for eating the festive meal. Notice the fork and spoon, all drawn with crayon. We also have the tzafun (hidden matzah).

BWe also have the tzafun (hidden matzah). Lift up the paper to view the afikoman, the matzah hidden earlier and now eaten for dessert.
Now we have another cup to symbolize the wine after Birkat Hamazon (blessing after the meal) and letters cut out from the girls’ painted paper that spell out Hallel (songs of praise). My daughter says her cup was red, so we had to compare her hand to the prints to make sure we brought home the right haggadah. We had.

The last section of the haggadah, nirtzah, includes the blessing, “Next Year in Jerusalem.” Mazal had the girls paint over a stencil of Jerusalem, which she happened to have lying around. Doesn’t everyone?

Mazal made the pages separately (on the clean side of leftover printed pages, of course) and then stapled them back to back, in order, inside the cover. This Haggadah opens from right to left. You can also set up the haggadah so that the pages can be flipped over at the top, like a calendar. That way, if you have more than one child, they can take turns turning over the pages during the seder. It could stand on the table or hang on a hanger.

Thank you for visiting! Have a wonderful holiday and enjoy your children.

Multicultural Kids Blog Series

More posts on Passover and children:

Keeping Kids Interested in the Seder

Getting Your Kids to Help with Pesach Cleaning

Preparing for a Pesach Baby

Inexpensive Family Trips in Israel

Passover Recipes and Cooking Tips