Before the game ‘Dreidel: the spinning top‘ begins, say a few words to the children about Hanukkah.
Tell them that the goal of the game is to collect all the tokens (e.g. sweets) initially distributed amongst participants.
MATERIALS
- a piece of wood or some other material which can be used to make a four-sided spinning top (Instead of a spinning top, you can also use a large die with four Hebrew words marked on it)
- a pen/marker to write the Hebrew letters
- tokens (nuts, sweets or counters)
- 4 pieces of paper with Hebrew letters on them to glue to the dreidel or die (attachment 1.1)
- glue
- scissors
Step 1
Prepare the four-sided spinning top. Glue a specific Hebrew letter onto each of the sides:
Nun – you neither give anything away, nor take anything from the pile;
Gimel – you take everything;
He – you give away half the number of shared tokens;
Szin – you give away the number of shared tokens.
If your spinning top has 6 sides, or if you’re using a die, repeat 2 of the letters: “He” – you give away half the number of shared tokens and “Nun” – you neither give anything away, nor take anything from the pile.
Step 2
Ask the children to sit in a circle (they can play on the ground or sitting around a table). Divide the tokens equally between them (15-20 per person). Each child puts one token into a shared pile on the table. They must do so at the beginning of each round before the next player spins the top. Choose a child to take the first turn at spinning.
Now that they should know about the letters’ meanings, let the child spin the spinning top (or throw the die) and check which letter comes out on top. Each child should act as the letter indicates:
Nun – you neither give anything away, nor take anything from the pile. (All the tokens in the shared pile remain on the table, thus increasing the chance that the next player will get them.)
Gimel – you take everything. (The child gets all the token in the shared pile.)
He – you give away half the number of shared tokens. (If there were 4 tokens on the table, the player would have to give away 2 tokens from their own pile.)
Szin – you give away the number of shared tokens. (The worst outcome. The player must give away the number of tokens in the shared pile. If there were 4 tokens on the table, the player would have to give away 4 tokens from their own pile.)
After their round ends, each child puts one token into the shared pile and the next player spins the dreidel.
The game ends when one player wins all the tokens.
