It's a few days before Shavuos. The cream cheese has been softening on the counter since you walked back in from the grocery store, and you actually need some time to make the cheesecake. But someone is asking what they can eat, and another kid is wondering, "Why can't we have ice cream right now?? It's so HOT outside!"
So let's pull some activities and ideas out of our proverbial sleeve and give you a fighting chance at getting through your list
The Coloring Pages
Some afternoons, the answer is a printable, and if this is one of them, here are some Shavuos-themed coloring pages below - Har Sinai, luchos, flowers, a Torah - print them and hand them out with markers or colored pencils, and you've bought yourself a quiet thirty minutes. Maybe forty if the markers are new.
You might even want to join them for a few minutes. Coloring is said to do wonders for the nervous system.
Shavuos Coloring Pages
Fruit Roll-Up Flowers On A Skewer
This activity looks super impressive and takes just a few minutes to set up.
You need fruit roll-ups (any brand, any flavor), a small round cookie cutter, and wooden skewers.
Unroll the fruit roll-ups and use the cookie cutter to punch out circles - you'll want about five or six per flower. Take the first circle and roll it tightly around the top of the skewer to make the center bud. Then take the next circle, wrap it around the bud, and pinch the bottom to hold it in place. Keep adding circles one at a time, pinching each one at the base as you go, until the flower opens up. Little fingers can do the pinching, or you can use a pair of pliers if you have them.
You've got a rose!
Give everyone two or three skewers each so they can make a little bouquet. Tie them with a ribbon, stick them in a jar, and you have a centerpiece for the Shavuos seudah that the kids made and you didn't.
Lotus Cookie Sandwiches
For this, you'll need a package of Lotus Biscoff cookies, 8 oz of cream cheese (softened), a quarter cup of powdered sugar, half a teaspoon of vanilla, and a couple of tablespoons of Lotus cream.
Whip the cream cheese with the sugar, vanilla, and lotus cream until it's smooth and pipeable. Scoop it into a piping bag with a star tip, or into a Ziploc with the corner snipped - nobody is grading the presentation.
Lay out half the lotus cookies on a cookie sheet and hand the piping bag to a child. They can then pipe a bit of cheese filling on the back of one cookie, and press another cookie on top (not too strongly, just enough to close it). Pop them in the fridge or freezer. They're ready for the next time the kids want a treat — or for the Shavuos table, if they last that long.
The Permission Slip
Put something away for yourself. A bar of really good chocolate, or a new flavored creamer, or maybe one of the cookies you made (this recipe is incredible). You're going to take it out Shavuos morning, while the house is still quiet, and have it with your coffee. Alone.
Pick the thing now, and put it somewhere the kids won't find it. Show up for yourself, Shavuos morning, the way you've been showing up for everyone else for the last six weeks.
The Wild Card
A Counting Game To 49
We've all been counting Sefirah - so here's a way to use those counting skills to give you a few minutes of play.
A few ways to play, pick what fits your crew:
For older kids - sit in a circle and go around, one number per kid, but every multiple of seven, everyone has to clap instead of saying the number.
For young ones: Give each kid a paper and put a pile of Cheerios (or jellies) in the middle of the table. Divide the paper into little squares and have them lay out the Cheerios seven across, seven down, counting out loud - and when they get to forty-nine, they get to eat it.
And for the little geniuses: ask them how many pairs you can make with forty-nine objects. Let them try to work it out with the Cheerios. It should take a few minutes...
