With the holidays upon us (and winter weather here as well), you may be looking for some fun Hanukkah crafts to do indoors with your kids. This popsicle stick menorah is perfect for the season and fun for kids to create.
This project is great for preschool age kids up through elementary age, and you can either make it with just the sticks or glue them to a paper to put in a frame or hang as art.
Popsicle stick crafts are super versatile, so a pack of popsicle sticks can go a long way in helping create several fun projects (like these butterflies or rocket ships!).
Other Hanukkah Crafts and Activities:
- Hanukkah Bingo
- Hanukkah Tic-Tac-Toe
- Dreidel Garland (Easy Hanukkah Craft with Free Template!)
- Hanukkah Craft – A Pasta and Lentil Menorah
- Hanukkah Books and Activity Ideas
How many candles are on a mennorah?
This craft is a great way to teach little ones about the Hanukkah holiday and Jewish traditions. The menorah plays an important part in celebrating the holiday. You can talk about it while working on the craft project, or after reading a book about the celebration.
Hanukkah includes a nightly ritual of lighting a candle once per day for eight days. A menorah with nine candles includes one candle for each night as well as a shamash (“servant”) candle, which is used to light the other candles.
On the first night, two candles are lit (the shamash and one other). On the second night, three candles are lit, and so on.
How kids can help with this Hanukkah craft:
- Kids can paint the popsicle sticks the different colors.
- Kids can cut out the teardrop shaped flames.
- Kids can help glue the pieces together.
Why kids love making a popsicle stick menorah:
- Kids love to get in on the holiday spirit, and making a themed craft is an easy way for kids to feel involved in making their own holiday decorations.
- Kids get to paint all the components and they can either do traditional Hanukkah colors (blue and silver) or choose their own colors.
- Doing a Hanukkah craft is a great time to talk about what the components of the craft stand for, and learn more about the holiday or appreciate a new culture if it’s not their own.
What you’ll need to make a popsicle stick menorah:
- Popsicle sticks
- Acrylic paint in your chosen colors and a small paintbrush
- Yellow paper for the flames
- Scissors
- School glue or low temp glue gun (used with supervision)
- Wax paper to paint on (optional)
How to make a popsicle stick menorah:
- Gather eight popsicle sticks to be the menorah. Place two popsicle sticks horizontal to be the base and four more horizontal (two sets of two sticks end to end) above it to be where the candles will sit.
- Glue two popsicle sticks vertically to connect the two sets of sticks together to form your menorah shape. Allow the glue to fully set (you can also add some duct tape to the back of your sticks if you feel like it needs more support once the glue is dry).
- Paint your menorah whatever color you like with a small paintbrush and allow it to dry.
- Paint nine popsicle sticks white to be your candles and allow those to dry.
- Cut some teardrop shaped flames out of yellow paper to be your candle fire.
- Glue your candles onto your menorah, four on each side and one in the middle, with the middle candle sitting a little higher than the other candles.
- Glue on your paper flames and once your glue is set, your menorah is ready to display!
Tips:
- Glue the popsicle sticks directly onto a piece of cardstock or construction paper for a more secure backing or to hang as art!
- Painting the sticks on wax paper ensures that the popsicle sticks won’t stick to the wax paper as they dry, which makes them easier to remove.
- Using a low-temp glue gun to assemble the menorah means that you won’t have to wait for glue dry time and your menorah will be done a lot faster.
- You can add magnets to the back of your menorah to display it on the fridge!
Looking for more winter crafts? Check out:
- Snow Globe Template – Free Printable
- Snowman English Muffin Personal Pizza (A Winter Snack Idea!)
- Winter Bingo Printable Game
- Snow Globe Craft with Handprints
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Get the How-To
Supplies
- 17 popsicle sticks
- acrylic paint
- small paintbrush
- yellow paper ( for flames)
- school glue (or low temp glue gun)
- wax paper to paint on ((optional))
Instructions
- Gather eight popsicle sticks to be the menorah. Place two popsicle sticks horizontal to be the base and four more horizontal (two sets of two sticks end to end) above it to be where the candles will sit. Glue two popsicle sticks vertically to connect the two sets of sticks together to form your menorah shape. Allow the glue to fully set.
- Paint your menorah whatever color you like with a small paintbrush and allow it to dry.
- Paint nine popsicle sticks white to be your candles and allow those to dry.
- Cut some teardrop shaped flames out of yellow paper to be your candle fire.
- Glue your candles onto your menorah, four on each side and one in the middle, with the middle candle sitting a little higher than the other candles.
- Glue on your paper flames and once your glue is set, your menorah is ready to display!
Equipment
Notes
- Glue the popsicle sticks directly onto a piece of cardstock or construction paper for a more secure backing or to hang as art!
- Painting the sticks on wax paper ensures that the popsicle sticks won’t stick to the wax paper as they dry, which makes them easier to remove.
- Using a low-temp glue gun to assemble the menorah means that you won’t have to wait for glue dry time and your menorah will be done a lot faster.
- You can add magnets to the back of your menorah to display it on the fridge!