…Unfortunately it’s not made out of clay. It came home with my son from preschool the other day and both he and I are quite enamored with it. Although I’m pretty sure we both have different reasons for our new found dreidel love.
I’d never played with a dreidel, but it’s a simple game. The dreidel has four sides each with a Hebrew character on. The instructions explain each character and have a simple action based on them.
The reason I think it’s so great, is not only because it’s seasonal and teaches us a little about a different religion, it also is a simple pattern recognition game that is fun for 2-5 year olds (and older). Any opportunity for pre-reading kids at this age to get meaning from a graphic symbol is a good opportunity.
So if you can, get dreidelling this Hanukkah, there’s lots to gain from it.