A menorah craft for all ages

I was invited to share a craft at a kid-friendly Hanukkah event held at the gorgeous Yiddish Book Center on Sunday. It went over very well, so I wanted to share it with all of you! 
Here's my sample menorah: 

The white cardboard rectangle was cut from a trifold school project board. I had a mega-pack of construction paper and spent several hours cutting out random shapes, including a lot of tall, candle-ish rectangles, while watching TV. (I bought all of the supplies at Walmart, which is not where I prefer to shop, but that enabled me to get more than enough stuff for the event while staying under budget.) The "flames" are cotton swabs I dunked in watered-down yellow acrylic paint and then cut in half. They fit perfectly into the corrugation channels at the top and bottom of the rectangle, so you can "light" a candle merely by placing a swab tip into a channel.

For the backs, I cut out a bunch of fin shapes from a few cereal boxes I had saved up. As the event I had the kids/parents let me know when they were finished crafting, so I could glue a kick-stand on the back. I could have glued them on before the event, but I didn't want anyone to accidentally craft their menorah upside-down. This way, it didn't matter which end was up until I added the stand.

Here are some shots of the event. Note, I did a bit of blurring/cropping to allay any privacy concerns. All of the pieces were pre-cut so the kids wouldn't need scissors, and everything was pieced together with glue stick (there were enough sticks for everyone), so there was hardly any mess. I added a few sets of washable markers in case the kids wanted to draw, and a good number of them did! 

This girl was there while I was setting up and she couldn't wait to get started. She made a perfect, traditional-style menorah.

This boy was too busy to keep still for a photo, so all I have is this slightly blurry pic of his menorah rocket (!!).  See the flames at the bottom? 

A few kids especially loved putting the flames into the cardboard channels. I had plenty on hand, so they were welcome to use more than the standard nine. 

More finished pieces:

A great big THANK YOU to Lisa and Sarah at the Yiddish Book Center, and thanks to all of the kids and families who attended! Everyone was respectful and fun and simply a joy to spend time with. Happy Hanukkah! 
​xo