We asked for `eitzes' -- here are some great ones
"Dovid, could you please pass the Bisli?" (Dovid passes the
Bisli.) "Thank you." "You're welcome." (Dovid's turn.)
"Miriam, could you please pass..."
Home Projects -- Chugim
by Raizel Foner
When we lived in America, we used to do `projects.' Here in
Israel, we do chugim. These family chugim can
be done once a week, just on Rosh Chodesh when the children
come home early, for rainy days or during the long summer
vacation. Get ready for a bunch of ideas:
1) Heading the list is a Baking chug, doubling or
tripling the recipe so part gets stored in the freezer for a
future Shabbos or Yom Tov, and part is enjoyed at the end of
the chug.
Related is a restaurant project. The children decide on the
menu, help with the shopping, and can spend HOURS preparing
the food. Everyone can pitch in -- the older ones can fry
felafel balls while the younger ones dice vegetables, draw
signs/menus for the `restaurant' and set the table. You may
even want to bake your own pitas.
Food-decorating projects: vegetable platters -- you can
borrow those gadgets that cut veggies cute; fancy braiding of
challos is fun, as well as practical.
2) A few times a year (say, two or three weeks before Rosh
Hashona, Chanuka and possibly Pesach) we have a Making Cards
for Relatives chug. There's nothing like home-made
cards, right? Part of the chug is how to address,
stamp and mail the cards.
3) Similar to the above is a Letter Writing chug which
teaches basics like staying out of the margins, how/where to
date the letter, etc. "Friendly" letters can go to relatives;
"business" letters we've written to companies either praising
a product or voicing a complaint. Letters to the Editor [like
this one, by all means!] or letters to the Prime Ministers,
which we haven't done, yet. Any takers?
4) Then there's the Library Restoration chug.
Depending on the size and condition of your children's book
collection, sorting through and taping pages and covers back
into the books can take quite some time. It might be best to
do this during a vacation morning or spread it out over one
hour in the evening for three days in a row. At this point,
one of you might object, "Hey, wait a minute! This isn't
fun!" The answer is that it's worth demonstrating to children
that "many hands make light work," that when a number of
children pitch in together to accomplish something, they can
really have an enjoyable time. [Such a project can include
time out for storytelling or a reward of a NEW book to add to
the library.]
5) One of the more popular chugim in our house is the
Manners chug. The children sit around a table set with
a few serving bowls of nosh, drinks, and take TURNS
politely asking, "Dovid, could you please pass the
Bisli?" (Dovid passes the Bisli.) "Thank you." "You're
welcome." (Dovid's turn.) "Miriam, could you please pass the
potato chips?" (She does.) "Thank you." "You're welcome."
This chug is very impressive when relatives from
abroad come to visit, PLUS I've found it rubs off even into
day-to- day living, as the children automatically ask for
what they want with derech eretz. An important life
skill.
[You'll have to decide on how much a child can take for each
serving. Little enough that he'll have to ask for more but
not too little that it should be petty.]
6) A Calligraphy chug. I've used this as a way to get
certain children in the family to improve their penmanship,
without insulting them by implying it isn't as good as it
should be.
When learning calligraphy, one writes a lot slower and more
meticulously. Calligraphy markers (not real
calligraphy pens with metal tips) are good enough for
beginners, relatively cheap, and you don't have to worry
about anyone making a mess by accidentally knocking over a
bottle of ink.
7) The Stationery Making chug goes over well,
especially with elementary school age girls. It entails
drawing a scene, flowers or whatever else you want, very
lightly in the middle of the page, or drawing just in the
corners of the page, or around the edges as a border. The
children can either write letters on these or use their
homemade stationery to trade or collect.
[For interesting effects, you can rub crayons lightly,
sideways, off a cut-out design placed in the center of the
page. When you lift off the design, the outline will
remain.]
8) Let's not forget a Jewelry Making chug. Good for
fine motor skills. String beads, macaroni or pieces of cut-up
plastic straws together for a necklace or bracelet. Boys can
join in and use what they make for gifts.
Other good chugim for hand-eye coordination are
Quilling (rolling thin strips of paper on hat pins to form
shapes which are glued together), Origami and Napkin Folding.
Also Tissue paper flowers.
9) Some ideas for seasonal chugim are:
In the summer we usually have one to three Succa decoration
chugim. Before Chanuka, try making a Bookmarks
chug. Actually, these make good all- purpose presents.
You can decorate bookmarks with a long, skinny drawing, cut-
out pieces of felt glued on, or personalized with the
person's name or an inspiring quote. Before Purim we make
labels for shalach monos, shaped like clown faces,
fish, with stickers or without etc. You people don't need my
ideas on this!
If you start early enough: a Cleaning for Pesach chug
can be fun. When done in advance, without time pressure,
sorting through clothes and drawers can be interesting.
Let's see who fits into this dress, now. Hey, what's this
box of chocolate-covered cookies doing in Abba's hat box?
[Of course you planted it there as a reward, and you can make
this into a scavenger hunt, if you like. Which reminds me
that scavenger hunts are great. Split the family in two, half
make the hints and hide things, the other half searches. Or a
peanut hunt (peanuts with shells) around the house!]
10) This Shabbos, Tatty came up with a Chessed
chug. Each person has to figure out what the
family member/guest sitting to his right (left, two places
down) needs or would like: another refill of drink, a napkin
etc., and then try to provide it. A very good exercise in
consideration, awareness and thinking of others.
A Shevach chug: go around the table taking turns
complimenting or finding something positive about the person
to your right etc. "A man according to his praise." It is
revealing to see what each child focuses on to praise.
In short, anything can be a chug, from teaching
children a skill: how to iron, play chess, ask for something
assertively without being aggressive -- to getting a job done
around the house: filling in cracks in the walls with
spackle, paint jobs, soap-and-water cleaning jobs, car washes
-- just package with enthusiasm.
[We used to have a Drama chug. The kids prepared a
play, organized props, made announcements for the
neighborhood and charged a ridiculous fee like half a shekel.
Or they made their own amusement park inside the house, with
blindfolds, light and sound effects etc.
How about a garage sale for the children's old toys, puzzles
etc.?
Once you're in the swing of things, you won't be lacking
ideas, only time...]
*
And another `eitza,' this time for heartburn. You all have
your favorites, like baking soda with water. A pregnant
mother suggests: half a cucumber with peel, or two plain
almonds.
