The night before Pesach, there is a fun “Hide and Seek” game you can play with your kids called the “Search for Chametz (leavened products).”
This game can help your kids understand the power of preparing physically and spiritually for Passover. Because Passover is a spring holiday, it is a wonderful opportunity for cleaning our homes and examining our lives.
What You Need: a candle, a wooden spoon, a feather, and ten small pieces of bread.
Once it is dark outside and you have completed your Pesach cleaning, hide ten pieces of bread around the kitchen in paper or another simple wrapping (in the open, and not out of sight). Turn off the kitchen lights to enhance the darkness. The children can take different roles: One child can hold the lit candle to help find the chametz; another child can use a feather to sweep the chametz onto a wooden spoon.
After you find all ten pieces, the hide-and-seek game is complete! The next morning you burn the ten pieces of chametz. Your house is now chametz-free and ready for Passover!
This is a fun way to involve the kids in the Passover spring cleaning and holiday preparation.
As you carry out this ritual, you might want to ask your children a few questions to stimulate conversation:
- What can we learn by comparing matzo and chametz (“puffy” breads and cakes)?
- How can changing what we eat help us think about making other changes in our lives?
- What is one thing you want to change in your life this spring? How will you go about doing it? How can we help you?
