how to make a dreidel

Last night was the first night of Hanukkah, so Happy Hanukkah to all of our Jewish readers. Actually, I think that it is NOT custom to use the holiday’s name in the greeting, but I’m not entirely positive what the greeting is. Anyway, even though my family is not Jewish, this is a holiday and tradition that I do with my children to some extent–just like the Chinese New Year or Cinco de Mayo. I want to introduce them to as many other holidays and traditions as I can. What better way to teach a child something than with chocolate, right? I found dreidels and gelt (the chocolate coins) at my local Walgreens and I’ve also seen them at Hallmark stores and Party City.Of course, in our modern society, if you don’t want to make your own paper dreidel, there is an app for it. So if you want, get the app and disregard the rest of this post!

dreidel game app

You can also print this one and make one yourself, using a small-ish pencil for the stick portion. I also would recommend either using a thicker stock paper, or cutting it out and gluing it to some cardboard before assembling.

Once you print it out and assemble it, it should look similar to this:

To play, you need the gelt or some other form of “currency.” I like to use the gelt because that is what is the Jewish tradition and we like chocolate. Gelt is usually pretty easy to find in stores anyway. If you cannot find it, use peppermint patties, pennies or something else.

Each side of the dreidel bears a letter of the Hebrew alphabet: נ (Nun), ג (Gimmel), ה (Hei), ש (Shin)

Each player begins the game with an equal number of gelt (about 10-20)

At the beginning of each round, every participant puts one game piece into the center kitty.

When it’s your turn, spin the dreidel once. Depending on the outcome, you give or get game pieces from the pot.

Nun means “nisht” or “nothing.” The player does nothing.
Gimmel means “gantz” or “everything.” The player gets everything in the pot.
Hey means “halb” or “half.” The player gets half of the pot. (If there is an odd number of pieces in the pot, you take half plus one).
Shin means “shtel” or “put in.” Peh means “pay.” The player adds a game piece to the pot.

If you find that you have no game pieces left, you are either “out” or may ask a fellow player for a “loan.”

When one person ends up with every piece, that round is over and you can start again. This is a great game to work on taking turns and beginning math skills.

The Crayola website also has some great Hanukkah bingo games and coloring pages, in addition to the dreidel.

And here is the song that many of us remember learning in school, including the dreidel song lyrics.