Shavuot Craft

Trying to think of ways to celebrate Shavuot with your children?

There are lots of ideas out there. Here's something we did one year as a family.

First we read and discussed the giving of the Torah on Mt Sinai. We talked about Jesus' reiteration of the commandments. We talked about how we now have the law written on our hearts. We now want to obey God's commandments are are able to through the work of the Holy Spirit (Jer. 31:33, Heb 10:6, Romans 8:4.)

Deuteronomy 1:19 -21 states that we should teach the commandments to our children, "speaking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Write them on the doorposts of your houses and on your gates, so that as long as the heavens are above the earth, your days and those of your children may be multiplied in the land that the LORD swore to give your fathers.…"

So we thought about how we could write them on the doorposts of our houses. We looked at the Jewish tradition of putting Mezuazahs on the doorposts of their houses.

We decided to make something similar. The idea was to put the commandments into boxes and attach them to the frames of our bedroom doors and on the interior of the front door, so that we would have a constant reminder to obey God's commandments. These boxes were from small products such as moisturizers etc, but you could make your own boxes using a template.

We decorated small boxes, covering them with gold contact, and then added decorations including sticky gems. Alternatively you could paint them or cover them in wrapping paper. Any decorations of your liking could be used.

I printed out copies of the 10 commandments onto gold paper, as well as a copy of Yeshua's statement reiterating the greatest commandment from Matthew 22:36 - 40.

We rolled these verses up and put them inside the boxes.

If I repeated this activity now, I would have added Jeremiah 31:33: “This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel after that time,” declares the LORD. “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people."

We then stuck the boxes to our door frames with some Blu-tack (reusable adhesive.)

Since then, some of the boxes have fallen apart from being bumped into. I'd recommend putting them higher up on the door frame so they are not damaged. After the boxes were damaged beyond repair, we just stuck the verses themselves onto the door frames.

This activity could be adapted in many ways. I have practical boys who are not huge fans of crafty things, but they were happy to participate in this activity.

Now my children are older, it's a bit hard to get them to do any craft. However, this year I'm hoping to make tzitziyot with the family. Tzitziyot are another reminder for us to obey YHVH's commandments. They are to "look at and remember all the commandments of the Lord, so as to do them and not follow after your own heart and your own eyes," (Numbers 15:39.)

We have been praying for our family and friends, that their eyes will be opened to see the relevance of God's commandments to their lives; that His commands would be written on their hearts and not seen as something foreign.

We have also been praying that we will see and experience a greater outpouring of His Holy Spirit upon us. Most of all we want more of God's Spirit in our lives, more of the Ruach Ha-Kodesh, so that we can live more like Yeshua in this world so that others would come to know Him and be saved.

Do you have any great ideas for Shavuot craft? Let me know what you have done! I'd love it if you would share your ideas in the comments section below!

Happy Shavuot everyone.