Chag Purim Sameach!

This week we celebrated one of the happiest holidays on the Jewish calendar, Purim; a wonderful story of courage and standing up for what you believe in. This is the same message we strive to teach children at our Early  Childhood Center,  We are taught to commemorate this wonderful holiday by giving מנות‎ משלוח (Mishloach Manot) - gifts of food and drink, and through lot’s of celebration!

At all three of our branches, our little ones were quite busy all week with their preparations! Throughout the week we created several Purim themed art extension projects, including masks representing our favorite Purim characters – Mordechai, Queen Esther, and King Ahasuerus, as well as Groggers to make lots of noise should anyone mention the name of Haman! Some of us even made our own Mishloach Manot baskets to fill with lots of goodies to give to our family and friends!

Getting ready with fun art extension projects!

While learning and singing Purim songs, we all made our favorite Purim treat: Hamantaschen! These three-pointed cookies with jam (and sometimes chocolate) in the middle are so yummy, we gobbled them all right up! So with our projects made, our songs sung, and our bellies full there was only one thing left to do: Celebrate!

And celebrate we did!

One of our favorite parts of Purim is getting to dress up in fun costumes! Many came dressed as the famous characters of the Purim story, but we also saw super heroes, crayons, princesses, and even Mario and Luigi! We held Purim Parades and walked from classroom to classroom showing off our costumes so everyone could see how adorable we looked!

Check out our awesome costumes!

We look adorable, don't we?!

And of course it wouldn’t be Purim without a Carnival! Our Oceanside branch kicked off the week last Sunday by holding their carnival in conjunction with Oceanside Jewish Center and Temple Avodah.   On Thursday, Long Beach held their carnival, and Merrick/Bellmore wrapped up the celebrations with their carnival earlier today! All three sites had lots of games, food, a big bouncy castle, and lots of fun prizes!

As you can see, it was a wonderful Purim had by all!

Chag Purim Sameach Everyone!!

P.S. If your tummy is still craving more of these wonderful cookies, check out this great recipe from allrecipes.com!  


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