Photo credit: iStock.com/Sarah Bossert
Photo credit: iStock.com/Sarah Bossert

We consulted with parents and preschool directors to bring you this list of seder ideas that actually work. Pick one—or 10!

  • Enlist the children’s involvement in the preparations by having them make place cards
  • Feed kids something before starting so they aren’t hungry
  • Use a bag of plagues for an interactive plague time
  • Have blocks available for children to build pyramids when an activity is needed
  • Create a poster of the order of the seder, and allow children to take turns placing stickers on the poster to mark which part of the seder you’re on
  • Hang blue crepe paper sheets from the ceiling; when it’s time to leave Egypt, have the children take their stick of celery and part the Red Sea as they march out of Egypt
  • Give each child a color-coded set of directions for finding the afikoman (hidden piece of matzah), with some hints (older children can read their own, as well as help the younger children with theirs)
  • Buy or make a placemat listing the 14 steps of the seder, and give children a piece of candy or a small toy to place on the step of the seder that was just completed
  • Provide a tent area near the seder table with books, Passover games and puzzles for the children to play with while the adults conduct the seder
  • If you have older children at your seder, encourage them to work on a “news report” of the Exodus from Egypt and give reports during the seder on how the children of Israel are doing on their journey
  • Make puppets for the characters in the story so children can use their puppet during that person’s “voice” in the Hagaddah
  • Make a “dayenu” sign for them to wave during the singing of “Dayenu”
  • Decorate or make a tambourine to represent Miriam’s song at the Red Sea
  • Purchase or create a 10 plagues wall hanging or bag (for a wall hanging, use a board covered with pretty fabric and Velcro to attach the appropriate plagues; for a bag, represent the plagues using large animal buttons, insect stickers, Styrofoam or ping-pong balls for hail, bubble wrap for boils, sunglasses for darkness and red tissue paper or tinted water)
  • Have a make-your-own charoset buffet table, with a variety of ingredients to choose from
  • Make an edible pyramid for the table (mix ground almonds, dried figs and dried dates in a food processor to create a soft yet formable dough; roll dough into a ¾ log, and then roll it in ground almonds to coat it; square the log by flattening each side, and then cut it into small cubes, dipping the ends in ground almonds; stack on a plate in the shape of a pyramid)
  • To save time with a young audience, try using individually wrapped hand towelettes for the hand-washing portion

Special thanks to Betsey Garfinkel, Jodi Jarvis, Lisa Kritz and Johanna Perlin for these ideas.