How To Build A Model Sukkah
Materials Needed for Sukkah Craft Activity
- Brown and green construction paper
- Cardboard pieces
- Large fabric scraps
- Four twigs
- Clay
- Old magazines and catalogs
- Old berry baskets
- Scissors
- Glue
- Green and brown pipe cleaners
- Twine
- Dollhouse furniture (optional)
How to Build a Model Sukkah
- Cut the berry baskets on the edges so that there are five flat pieces of basket (from four sides and a bottom). The berry basket pieces will help form the roof of the sukkah.
- Cut down the cardboard to one square foot for each sukkah (or smaller if preferred).
- Glue green construction paper onto the cardboard.
- Take four balls of clay and press them down on the green construction paper which is glued to the cardboard. These four clay pieces represent the four corners of the sukkah.
- Press one twig, stick, or small branch into each ball of clay. The sticks should be pointing strait up.
- Weave green pipe cleaner to the berry basket. This will look like branches. Depending upon the size of the model sukkah, weave pieces of berry basket together, or tie them together with small bits of twine and then set it aside.
- Cut three pieces of cardboard or three pieces of brown construction paper to fit three sides of the sukkah.
- Glue fabric to the pieces of cardboard. Set them at the three sides of the model sukkah with the fabric inside. Use bits of clay to hold them in place and use glue or twine if desired to attach them to the sticks.
- Gently place the roof on top, and use a little twine to tie to the sticks if it seems necessary.
- For additional decoration, cut pictures of fruits and vegetables out of magazines and glue them to walls inside the model sukkah.
Click here to download your favorite image of Israel to hang as a decoration! - Cut out small leaf shapes from green construction paper, and attach with dabs of glue to the roof.
- Place dollhouse furniture inside the model sukkah, if desired. A table with chairs is appropriate, as are sleeping bags.
Additional Ideas
Discuss with the children that a sukkah is supposed to be a temporary structure. The Jews built sukkahs when they were wandering in the desert after the Exodus from Egypt.
Gather grass clippings and other foliage to decorate the model sukkah. Use more twigs or craft sticks to build the roof, if preferred.
Be creative with them and think of other ways to decorate the model sukkah.
Photos courtesy of: Te'ena
Read more from teenainjerusalem, small and big moments from her every day life in Jerusalem.
