Craft No. 01

Jumbo Bead Menorah Hanukkah Craft

Delight your child by helping them create this unique jumbo bead menorah in just 5 easy steps.

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Let’s make one!

What you need

Nine beads, a board, and one shamash.

What you need

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Big wooden lacing beads in bright colors

Jumbo Lacing Beads

Chunky wooden beads with holes wide enough to take a metal candle cup, in bright colors that need no paint.

Balsa Wood Sheets

Five 12 by 4 inch sheets of 1/8-inch balsa, light enough for small hands and wide enough for a row of nine beads.

Tempera Paint Sticks

Twelve quick-drying, washable tempera sticks for decorating the balsa base with no brushes and no cups of water.

Fire Retardant Spray

A Class A fire retardant for raw wood and absorbent materials. A grown-up sprays the beads and the base before anything else happens.

Aluminum Candle Holders

Twenty aluminium candle cups that glue into the centre of each bead and keep the flame off the wood.

Bottle of Elmer's clear washable school glue

Elmer's Glue

A five-ounce bottle of washable clear school glue for the beads and the candle cups.

Jumbo Lacing Beads

Nine, plus the shamash

Balsa Wood Sheets

The menorah base

Tempera Paint Sticks

Quick-dry, washable

Fire Retardant Spray

Grown-ups spray first

Aluminum Candle Holders

One cup per bead

Elmer's Glue

Holds it all together

Instructions

Five steps, one menorah.

Spray first and let everything dry, then paint, then glue — the candle cups go in last.

Spray the balsa wood and beads with flame retardant and let them dry completely

Grown-ups only

Decorate the balsa wood sheets as desired with the quick dry paint sticks.

Glue nine jumbo beads of any color in a straight line onto the balsa wood base, evenly spaced.

Add one more bead to the first or center bead. This will be the shamash holder.

Glue a candle holder insert into the center of each jumbo bead.

How to make it

Spray the balsa wood and beads with flame retardant and let them dry completely

Grown-ups only for this step!

Decorate the balsa wood sheets as desired with the quick dry paint sticks.

Glue nine jumbo beads of any color in a straight line onto the balsa wood base, evenly spaced.

Add one more bead to the first or center bead. This will be the shamash holder.

Glue a candle holder insert into the center of each jumbo bead.

Grown-up guide

The practical bits

Why spray the beads with fire retardant?

Because this menorah is wood and it is meant to be lit. The spray is the first step so the beads and the balsa base are dry long before any paint, glue or candle goes near them, and the metal candle cups keep each flame off the wood.

Ages

3‑6

Preschool hands do the painting and the gluing; a grown-up does the spray and the candles.

Time

An afternoon

Most of it is drying time, once after the spray and once after the paint.

Can we really light it?

Yes, that is what the spray and the metal cups are for. Light it on a heatproof tray, keep the shamash bead clear of the row, and never leave it burning unattended.

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Nine beads, one shamash, and a menorah your child made with their own hands.

More crafts→

✦

Nine beads, one shamash, and a menorah your child made with their own hands.

More crafts

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