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"I am making a Dreidel kit for
the children of a friend. I made four small open baskets that nest together. I will fill
them with four Dreidel tops and an ample supply of gold foil wrapped chocolate gelt
coins."
Emily W3
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The dreidel (or "sivivon"
in Israel) is a four-sided top used to play a simple game of chance. Each side of the top
has a different Hebrew letter on it. Outside of Israel, dreidels have the letters nun,
gimel, hay, shin.
These represent "Nes Gadol Haya
Sham" which means "a great miracle happened there." The letters have a
different meaning as well. They stand for the Yiddish words that tell the instructions of
the game. The dreidel also represents the four kingdoms, Babylon, Persian, Greece and Rome
spinning around the center (the Jewish people).
Each player starts with
ten or fifteen tokens (chocolate gelt, peanuts, pennies, raisins, candies, or any other
small items you choose to use). Each player puts one token in the middle. Then each player
takes turns to spin the dreidel. If you do not wish to play the game with tokens you can
keep score with points instead. Each player acts according to the letter left facing up
when the dreidl falls to the table.
Nun
- Lose a turn, because "Nun" is
"nisht" in Yiddish, which means "nothing".
Gimel
- Gants means
"whole." Player takes the whole pot.
Hay
- Halb means
"half". Player takes half the tokens.
Shin
- Stands for shtel or "put in." The player adds to the pot the amount determined
at the beginning of the game.
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Nun:
Player does nothing. They lose a turn. |
Gimel:
Player gets all the tokens in the pot. |
Hay:
Player gets half of the tokens in the pot. |
Shin:
Player must put one token into the pot. |
A winner
is declared when one player has all of the tokens.
 Gather the family or organize a classroom activity to
print out and assemble these paper dreidels with a basketweave design.
Next page > Instructions
To Make Your Own Dreidel > Page 1, 2, 3 |
