Edible Hanukkah Crafts For Kids

It's the first night of Hanukkah, and you've been preparing all day for your traditional feast. The rugelach smells incredible, the latkes are perfectly crisp, and your jelly doughnuts are almost ready when you realize that the kids are bored. They've grown tired of playing dreidel, and now don't have anything to do to get them in the Hanukkah spirit. These edible Hanukkah treats are the perfect crafts to distract your children while you're preparing the delectable holiday meal.

Have each child spread a slice of bread with nut butter. Stick nine carrots or celery sticks in a straight line down the center, each stick representing one of the nine candles on a menorah. Place a raisin on top of each "candle" using a dab of nut butter to represent the flames. Admire, photograph, and then eat for a tasty and nutritious treat.

Have your kids use challah dough to shape an edible menorah. Everyone will marvel at how incredible your golden brown menorah looks when it emerges from the oven. Place this on the table as a beautiful Hanukkah centerpiece.  

Have your children group their cupcakes together to look like the base and add one larger line of cupcakes in the middle to create a menorah. Light the candles and take a photo of the kids standing behind their masterpiece before they blow out the candles and devour their creations.

Making sugar cookies isn't just for Christmas. Buy some dreidel cut-outs, and make sugar cookie dough from scratch. Have your kids drizzle these dreidels in blue and white vanilla frosting. Teach them about the Jewish alphabet by having them draw the letters onto the cookies with icing.

Have your kids create edible Torahs by wrapping two pretzel sticks, representing the atzei chaim, with a Fruit Roll-Up used to represent the mantel. Use silver balls to represent the crown of the Torah by placing them on top of the two pretzel sticks. Place one on each person's plate for Hanukkah dinner as an adorable pre-dinner treat.

Create a gingerbread house with blue-and-white frosting to make a Hanukkah-inspired treat. You could also create one that looks like a synagogue. Celebrate your Jewish heritage by teaching your kids about the story of Hanukkah as they make their gingerbread masterpieces.

Make an activity out of cooking homemade applesauce by teaching your children about the significance of the fruit in Jewish culture. Simply break the apples down in a pot, and have your children mash the soft flesh into a smooth sauce.

Why bother with purchasing the store-bought, foil-wrapped variety when you can create your own gelt at home? There are a plenty of ingredients to choose from and chocolates to dip with, so you can create something "healthy," like chocolate dipped apricots, or more indulgent, like chocolate-dipped wafer cookies or Oreos. Simply cover your desired ingredient in chocolate, and then wrap in gold foil to create homemade gelt.

Make a batch of Rice Krispies Treats, and have your kids mold them into Star of David shapes. Once the stars are set, your children can decorate the treats with blue-and-white frosting and sprinkles to represent Hanukkah.

For teaching children how to play the game, these are a fun tool to make and eat afterwards.

Skewer a marshmallow with a pretzel stick, taking care not to break the pretzel. With a bit of peanut butter or Nutella, "glue" an unwrapped Hershey's Kiss to the flat side of marshmallow and set aside. Roll and dip the dreidel in melted chocolate, then let harden on a wax paper-lined baking sheet. Once the dreidel is hardened, you can pipe the various symbols onto the chocolate covered marshmallow with melted white chocolate. Let the dreidels harden overnight before using them to play games.