The first paper dreidel we ever made didn’t spin. It sort of lurched, fell over, and landed on Shin every single time, which my son took as a personal insult. We’ve made a lot of dreidels since then, and the one in our template does spin, as long as you push the pencil through dead center. More on that below.
These are the Hanukkah crafts for kids we keep coming back to, sorted by age so you’re not handing a 4-year-old something that needs a craft knife. Nearly everything uses paper, glue, paper plates or a few popsicle sticks. The templates are all in one free PDF.
If you’re after coloring pages instead, we’ve got 20 of those on a separate page.
Hanukkah Crafts for Kids Ages 3 to 5 (1 to 5)
Short, messy and finished before anyone loses interest. Most of these take about 15 minutes.
Paper Plate Menorah
Glue nine paper candles along the rim of a paper plate cut in half, with the middle one sticking up a bit higher. That’s the shamash. Our template has all nine candles and the flames, so little ones just color, and you do the cutting.
Handprint Menorah
This one’s a favorite because the math works out perfectly. Paint both of your child’s hands and press them onto paper side by side with the thumbs overlapping in the middle. Eight fingers become the eight candles, and the two thumbs make one shared shamash. Add a flame on top of each finger with a fingerprint in yellow.
Write the year on it. You’ll be glad you did in about ten years.
Sponge-Painted Star of David
Tape two triangles of masking tape onto paper to make the star, let your child dab blue and white paint all over it, then peel the tape off once it’s dry. The star shows up clean and white. Peeling the tape is, frankly, the main event.
Paper Gelt
Color and cut out our printable gelt coins. They’re the currency for the dreidel game later on, and they’re a lot cheaper than the chocolate kind, though I can’t pretend they taste as good.
Dreidel Stick Puppet
Color a big dreidel from the template, cut it out and tape it to a popsicle stick. Then spin it in your hands and sing the dreidel song. That’s it. Preschoolers will happily do this for longer than you’d think.
Ages 6 to 8 (6 to 11)
These need more cutting and a bit of patience, and they’re the crafts that actually get used once they’re made.
Spinning Paper Dreidel
Print the dreidel template on card, not thin paper, or it’ll collapse. Cut along the solid lines and fold along the dashed ones, glue the tabs, then push a short pencil down through the top so its point pokes out of the bottom tip. The pencil needs to sit exactly in the middle, so there’s a dot on the template marking where it goes. Get it straight and it really will spin.
The four sides already have the letters Nun, Gimel, Hei and Shin printed on them, so you can play straight away.
Popsicle Stick Star of David
Glue three popsicle sticks into a triangle, make a second one, and lay one over the other upside down. Kids can paint them first or wrap them in blue and white yarn after. They make good window decorations, and nobody’s ever thrown one away in our house.
Eight-Night Paper Chain
Make a chain of eight links in blue and white, one for each night of Hanukkah. Tear one off each evening after the candles are lit. Our template has the eight strips with the 2026 dates printed on them, from Friday 4 December to Friday 11 December.
Happy Hanukkah Bunting
The template has one letter per flag. Kids color the flags, punch two holes in the top of each and thread them onto string. It takes up a whole afternoon if you let it, which, depending on the afternoon, may be exactly the point.
Tissue Paper Window Star
Cut out the star frame from the template, stick clear contact paper or tape over the back, and fill the gaps with small squares of blue and white tissue paper. Hang it in a window and it glows when the light comes through.
Pop-Up Hanukkah Card
Our template has a menorah that pops up when you open the card. Two small cuts, one fold, and some glue. Kids write the message inside. Grandparents keep these. Ours certainly do.
Ages 9 to 12 (12 to 16)
Older kids can manage clay, smaller folds and proper planning, and they tend to want something that looks good enough to keep.
Clay Dreidel That Spins
Shape air-dry clay into a cube about the size of a large marble, pinch one end into a point, and push in a short dowel or a piece of a chopstick for the handle. Once it’s dry, which takes a day or two, they can paint the four letters on the sides. It’s harder than it sounds to get it balanced, so expect a few attempts before one spins properly.
Mosaic Menorah
Draw a menorah outline (or use the one on our coloring page) and fill it in with small squares of colored paper. It’s slow and very satisfying, and the trick is to sort the squares into colors before you start.
Clay Menorah Decoration
Roll a base from air-dry clay and press in eight small cups in a row, with a ninth one raised in the middle for the shamash. Paint it once it’s dry. This one is a decoration only. See the note on candles below.
Origami Star of David
Fold two paper triangles from squares of origami paper and slot one into the other. It takes a couple of goes to get the folds crisp. Make a few in different sizes and string them together.
Dreidel Game Kit
Decorate a small box to hold everything, then fill it with the paper dreidel from craft 6, a stack of paper gelt and the rules card from our template. It makes a nice present for a younger cousin, and it’s the craft that gets the most use by the end of the week.
How to Play the Dreidel Game
Everyone starts with the same number of gelt, usually 10 or 15, and puts one in the middle to make the pot. Then you take turns spinning, and the letter facing up when the dreidel stops tells you what to do.
- Nun: nothing happens.
- Gimel: you take the whole pot.
- Hei: you take half the pot.
- Shin: you put one in.
When the pot’s empty, everyone puts one back in. Families have their own house rules about rounding halves and when the game ends, and honestly I’ve never seen two families play it quite the same way. The rules card in our PDF gives the basic version.
A Note on Candles
Please don’t put real candles in any menorah a child has made, whether it’s paper, clay or wood. The ones on this page are decorations. If you want something that glows, battery tea lights are fine.
Download the Free Templates
The PDF has every template for these Hanukkah crafts for kids: the spinning dreidel, paper plate menorah candles, gelt coins, the eight-night chain strips, bunting letters, the window star, the pop-up card and the dreidel rules card. It prints on US Letter and A4. Print the dreidel on card.
More Hanukkah Printables
- 20 Hanukkah coloring pages (sorted by age, with an 8-night menorah tracker)
- Printable advent calendar for kids
- Winter crafts for kids
Frequently Asked Questions
What are easy Hanukkah crafts for preschoolers?
The handprint menorah and the paper plate menorah are the easiest, and both take about 15 minutes. The sponge-painted Star of David is good for kids who like getting messy, and the dreidel stick puppet needs nothing more than coloring and some tape. All four are in the ages 3 to 5 section.
How do you make a paper dreidel that spins?
Print the template on card stock, fold it into a cube with a pointed bottom, and glue the tabs. Push a short pencil through the dot on the top so the point comes out of the very tip of the bottom. The pencil has to be straight and centered, or the dreidel will wobble and fall over.
How many candles should a menorah craft have?
Nine. There are eight candles, one for each night, plus the shamash, which is the helper candle used to light the others. The shamash usually sits higher or lower than the rest so it stands out. Every menorah craft on this page has nine.
Can kids light a menorah they made?
No. A homemade menorah made of paper, clay or wood isn’t safe with real flames, so keep these as decorations. Use battery tea lights if you’d like them to glow. Your family’s real menorah should always be lit by a grown-up, on something sturdy and away from curtains.
What do the letters on a dreidel mean?
Outside Israel, the letters are Nun, Gimel, Hei and Shin, which stand for a Hebrew phrase meaning “a great miracle happened there“. In the game, they tell you what to do: Nun is nothing, Gimel takes the pot, Hei takes half, and Shin puts one in. In Israel, Shin is replaced with Pe, for “a great miracle happened here”.
Are these Hanukkah crafts free?
Yes. The templates are in one free PDF with no email form and no sign-up. Print as many copies as you need for home, a classroom or a Hebrew school class.
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