Three Great Ideas for a Tisha B'Av Program for Kids

At a summer camp or day camp and need ideas for Tisha B'Av? Here are a few ideas from Rabbi Daniel Brenner, the guy who is singing "It's Tisha B'Av Tonight" in the video above, for Jewish campers:

1) A Sinat Chinam Metaphor

Tisha B'Av is all about "sinat chinam" unbounded hatred that happened WITHIN the Jewish people. Because Jews were not getting along with one another, it was easy for an enemy to come in and destroy Jerusalem and the Holy Temple.

Here is a little physical activity based game that will serve as a metaphor for "sinat chinam":

Create a circle, about 3 feet in diameter with masking tape on the floor.
Place a plastic seltzer bottle in the center of the circle.
Have two kids try to "guard" an empty plastic seltzer bottle.
Have three kids try to steal the bottle by grabbing it and taking it out of the circle.
If the "thieves" are tagged, they need to take ten steps away from the circle before they can try again.

Play for a few minutes - you will see how hard it will be for the three to steal from the two!

Now play again. This time, the two also have to look at each other and scream "I hate you" back and forth at each other while guarding the bottle. (If it works, which it likely will, the thieves will have a much better shot at the bottle.)

When it is done have everyone think - how is this story like the time the Romans came in and destroyed Jerusalem?


2) Tisha B'Av Mad Libs

Have kids compose Mad Libs about loss and hope and read them:

Here's a simple template!

One special thing that broke my heart was when I lost __________________(person or object)
When I think about that, I remember ______________________(action)
Thinking about it now I am __________________________(emotion)
I can never have that time back, but I hope that I will find _____________________.

If you have someone who knows the Eicha trope, have the kids learn the melody and apply the melody to the poems as they read them aloud.

3) Freeze Frame

Have kids in groups of three or four. Assign each of these groups a "freeze frame" scene from Eicha (the book of lamentations) such as woman mourning child, Roman soldier killing old person, people begging for food, etc. You can connect them to verses in Eicha if you like. This is best done at night when a light can be turned off or the program done in a dark outdoor space and flashlights can be used to emphasize the actors in the scene.