Throughout the past month, we have presented STEAM activities that encourage us to learn about Spring holidays from different cultures. We continue our cultural exploration this week by learning about the Jewish holiday of Passover, which will begin at sundown on Monday, and will last until sundown on Tuesday, April 30th.
Passover is the celebration of the Jews escaping slavery in Egypt. During the celebration of Passover, Jewish people abstain from eating leavened bread. Why do they do this? When they were preparing to leave Egypt, they had to gather what they could in a very short amount of time. There was no time for their bread to rise, so they created Matzah, an unleavened bread, to eat on their journey.
Passover is full of traditions, including the Seder, a ceremonial dinner and retelling of the story of Passover. There are many special foods that the Jewish people eat during this dinner, to signify the bitterness of bondage, new beginnings, and much more. Work with your child to research the holiday. This Brittanica Kids page is a great start. You can also read the book Lotsa Matzah, by Tilda Balsley, to prepare for today’s Matzah Challenge!
Once you’ve learned all about Passover and Matzah, it’s time for a fun STEAM challenge! For this challenge, you’ll need some Matzah and materials from around your home. Matzah is a notoriously brittle cracker that breaks easily. This makes it difficult to ship from one place to another.
This week’s challenge is for your child to create packaging that will allow a single piece of Matzah to be mailed without breaking. Your child must think about the size, shape, and weight of the Matzah, then consider what materials he or she can use to protect it while in transit. Once the Matzah is safely wrapped inside its packaging, put it through the “postal process.” It might be dropped, rained on, tossed around, pushed through a mail slot, etc.
How does your piece of Matzah fare through these tests? Does it come out in one piece? If not, what can you change about your packaging to ensure that the next piece reaches its destination safely?
Once you’re done with this creative engineering project, you’ll hopefully have plenty of Matzah left over to enjoy. Eat it with a simple spread of butter, or try one of these delicious recipes!
Check out the full Matzah challenge from Digital J Learning HERE.
As always, get as creative as you want, and above all, have lots of fun learning together!
We’ll see you right back here next Saturday for another STEAM Saturday activity! Scroll through the rest of our website to learn how Critchlow Adkins is Building Brighter Futures for the children and families we serve!
