Ganeinu for Toddlers 18 to 30 Months
The Ganeinu Toddler group is an adult participation group geared to toddlers ages 18-30 months and their parents/caregivers.
This is a facilitated playgroup where you can play, create, and learn with your child, enjoy a Jewish environment, and share it with other parents. The goal is to stimulate the children’s social, cognitive, and language development, using experiential art, songs, and free play, as well as strengthening the parent-child relationships, and creating a community. We provide developmentally appropriate and engaging materials such as playdough, different of forms of paint, glue, and the arts, to enhance your child’s tactile development, fine-motor coordination, simple experimentation, and exploration, in a safe and open environment.
You will often have the opportunity to create something special, either for or with your child. Past projects have included hand-painting Challah Covers, making a Dreidel, Shabbat Candles, a special Mezuzah for your child’s doorpost, Havdallah Spice Boxes, and more.
Your child will experience “social snack time” with his/her Ganeinu friends, and will learn some group participation through circle time, where we all sing fun songs together. We always end our group with a child-friendly Shabbat service where we sing Shabbat songs, light candles, bless the wine, and eat Challah. The children enjoy this ritual and always look forward to this special moment.
Every week a different theme or different holiday will be introduced and the children will experience it through appropriate activities/songs. We sing a wide repertoire of songs every week, and you will receive a CD of the songs to listen to at home or in the car with your child.
We will also have visits from Temple Isaiah’s Rabbis and Cantor, as well as Gan Ilan professionals, to enhance our discussions and knowledge.
Program Schedule
9:15-10:00 Individual activity time and Structured Activity
During this time, your child may explore the environment and experience different activities in the room. Different projects will be set up on the tables such as play dough, paints, and manipulative play. Take this time to observe what your child likes to do and to supervise. This is a time when the children as well as the parents can socialize with each other. This is also a time when we will informally discuss the Jewish holidays and Jewish rituals. We encourage the caregivers to raise parenting issues and questions for the facilitator and the group. This is also the time when we will experience the topic of the day in a developmentally appropriate way. We will either create something individually to take home (like a Challah cover for Shabbat) or we will create a group project that will stay (like Sukkah decorations for the Temple’s Sukkah).
9:45 Baby Session Joins the Group
During this time, the babies come to class.
10:00-10:05 Wash Hands/Snack Time
Snack time provides a social environment for your child to sit, eat, and watch their peers doing the same. This is also a social time for the parents to snack and chat. There’ll be a sign up sheet for snack for the children and snack for the adults.
10:15-10:30 Clergy Visit
This is a special time that truly sets our program apart! One of our wonderful Rabbis or our amazing Cantor comes for a weekly visit to answer your questions, explore various topics, and share their rich knowledge of Judaism. Recent topics have included how to raise a child in an interfaith home, baby naming rituals, Jewish bedtime rituals, an informal question and answer session about all-things Jewish, guitar time with the cantor singing holiday songs, and more!
10:30-10:45 Circle Time and Shabbat
At this time we will gather together as a group and welcome each child. We will sing classic early childhood songs, Shabbat songs, and some finger-plays. Please have your child sit on your lap at the beginning of circle time so that they get used to the routine. If they do not want to stay seated, it is absolutely okay for them to move around with the music or play. We may also play with bubbles or a parachute during this time. At the end of circle time we will say the Shabbat blessings together and enjoy our Challah.