The Little Red Hen and the Passover Matzah,
​by Leslie Kimmelman 

Song – The Matzah Making Song (to the tune of “Row, Row, Row Your Boat”)
 
Roll, roll, roll your dough.
Make it nice and round.
Make it flat,
Poke lots of holes,
And bake it till it's brown. 

Activities –

• Make matzah (recipe adapted from PJ Library)

Ingredients
·       1 cup of flour + 2 tablespoons for rolling out the matzah
·       ⅓ cup of water
Preparation
·       Preheat the oven to 475 degrees.
·       Set 2 tablespoons of flour, your rolling pin, and a fork down next to a clean work space.
·       Mix together 1 cup of flour and ⅓ cup of water.
·       Knead until it forms a smooth dough.
·       Divide the dough into four balls; roll out each ball into a large, thin circle.
·       Using a fork, quickly pierce each bread about 25 times on each side to prevent rising. The holes should go completely through the bread.
·       Place the breads onto the baking sheet. It's okay if they overlap.
·       Bake for 2 minutes.
·       Open the oven and carefully flip over the breads; bake for an additional 2 minutes until the matzah are lightly browned and crisp.
 

• Ask Questions

One of the main attractions of the Passover seder is when the youngest child who is able asks the Four Questions. (Click here if you want to hear them in Hebrew.)  Questions are important.  They are how we learn.  Here are 4 school questions.
        
         1. What is your favorite snack?
         2.  What Shabbat song do you like best?
         3. Do you like smelling the spices during Havdalah?  Describe how they smell.
         4. What is your favorite thing to play with in the outdoor classroom.
 
Pick one question, all four, or one of your own to discuss and Illustrate.  Ask a grownup to help you write the words to describe what you drew or write them in your own way.

• Play “I Spy” –

When we search for the afikoman, a wrapped piece of matzah used for dessert, we have to look high and low and use our observation skills.  The same is true when we play I Spy.  Sit in the middle of a room.  Look around.  Can you spy something blue?  Fuzzy?  Purple?  See if you can think of something you see and have someone else guess what you spy.

Learning –
Fine motor, literacy, mathematical thinking (sequencing, measuring), observation, self-regulation