Night 4 of Chanukah Family Fun: Create Homemade Dreidels Out of Clay

By Yehudit Garmaise

We sing about making “dreidels out of clay,” but by picking up some clay, a sharp awl, which is a pottery tool, and some paints, you and your children can make custom-made dreidels for spinning or decoration.

The homemade dreidels will look great on your dining room table or on the table on which you bensch licht.

Here are the instructions for making unique dreidels out of clay:

1. Buy a large pack of Model Magic clay or white clay that air-dries and can be painted.
2. Form a ball of clay into a cube: with four sides.
3. A flat wooden mixing paddle helps to flatten each side and start to make each side more diagonal, so the cube begins to look like a dreidel. 
4. Use your fingers to gently pinch and pull out the bottom side to make a point. The point will likely be too long, so just pinch off the extra clay at the bottom of the dreidel.
5. To make the top of the dreidel, use the extra clay to make the top of the dreidel by rolling it out until it is the shape of a thin snake.
6. Using an awl, the sharp, pointed pottery tool, gently poke into the top of the dreidel. 
7. Use the awl to gently open the hole to insert the dreidel’s small handle.
8. Insert the top into the hole, and use the awl to smooth out the area around the top so that it stays inserted.
9. Use the awl to carve the letters nun, gimmel, hei, and shin on each side of the dreidel.
10. Let the dreidels dry overnight, and then paint with acrylic paint.
11. Every dreidel should look different and will look great together.

“Just like people come in all shapes and sizes, and it is ok to be who, and how you are, dreidels should come in different shapes and sizes and should be decorated your own way,” says Chaya Esther Ort on chabad.org, who provided the idea.