You know that famous story where the Kosel was covered in garbage and then the Yid hid gold coins and everyone cleared away the garbage? Well, this game is based on that story!
The Background
Here in Sydney now it’s winter and we are running our winter camp. My group is usually around 40-50 kids. I like to tell them a story and play a game with the 30 minutes we have before heading out on a trip.
The Idea
Last night my wife and I were planning today’s activities. Being the 3 weeks we wanted to share lessons about the Beis HaMikdosh. We decided to start with the story of the gold coins and clearing away the garbage from the Kosel. On a recent trip to the US my mother-in-law sent me back with a bag of chocolate coins. So I thought to put them to use in our camp. I was thinking to hide the coins around the room and after the story the children would run around and find them. But my wife thought of an even better idea! Keep reading 🙂
How it Went
Before I said the story, we handed out 1-2 papers to each child and told them to scrunch them up. I had already prepared some scrunched up papers with a chocolate coin hidden inside. Before I started I told the children when they hear the word “garbage” they should throw their scrunched up papers in the middle. And it was awesome!
When I got up to the part of the story where he hid the gold coins I showed them my gold chocolate coin, placed it in a paper in front of them, scrunched it up and added it to all the other scrunched up papers all over the floor. I then went ahead and added my other papers with gold coins. When I finished the story I did a countdown and all the children raced to the papers trying to find the ones with the gold coins.
I love when these ideas turn into great activities!