Parshat Vayikra: Ketoret Hasamim
Here we go...Sefer Vayikra. This is going to get challenging. Most of this parsha - and much of this sefer - is about Karbanot, sacrifices. My own attention span is very limited when it comes to reading the details of animal slaughter and blood sprinkling. And, well, these images don't exactly make good art projects for first graders :).
Thankfully, there is one aspect of these ancient rituals that does lend itself to a kid-friendly sensory activity - the Ketoret, or the incense offering. Every day, "sweet spices" were burned on the altar of the Tabernacle.
So, I knew that I wanted to do something with smells and spices. Years ago, I made havdalah bags with spices in connection with the Ketoret but I wanted to do something different this time around. I considered making perfume and decorating perfume bottles which they probably would have LOVED but I wanted to do something more art-based. I tried painting with spices at home (just by adding water to spices) but it came out muddy and chunky. So, instead, I found lovely examples of artists gluing spices (and sometimes other foods) to create both abstract and representative art. I was particularly inspired by this series of paintings created by Kelly McCollam so I decided that we would give this technique a try.
The bottom line is that this project was both MESSY and SMELLY! After talking about the "ketoret" and the expression "ריח ניחוח להשם"- "a pleasant smell for God," we played a fun game of "Guess that Smell" (kids love any game that involves a blindfold! For smaller kids, I should have used more obvious smells like orange peels and onions) Then they got to work with their art-making. I tried to explain to them that they should just enjoy the process and that the final product might not be "pretty." For the most part, the boys didn't care at all what theirs looked like, they just wanted to do more and more - they loved the mess of glue and spices all over the place. A number of the girls, however, were somewhat traumatized by their hands turning yellow from turmeric and their paintings looking "messy." These are some of the examples that I made in advance:
In class, I brought small glue squeeze bottles which allowed the kids to make thin lines of glue and really use the spices just as they would with glitter (and just as messy!) This is really the first project that I am not sure whether or not I would do it again. On the one hand, I love that the sensory learning that can be done with the various smells of spices and herbs and flowers and fruits. But, I would need to think about how to manage the frustration of such a messy project (that does not necessary result in bulletin board-worthy results :)). But, some of the students said that they would use their "paintings" for havdalah this week which I think would be pretty neat!
SHABBAT SHALOM!