3 DIY Menorahs to Make with Your Kids

Celebrate Hanukkah this year with a special DIY kids’ menorah. Your kids will be excited to create a family heirloom for the Festival of Light. All of these festive project are simple to create and give children the creative space to easily express themselves. Try these ideas from us at Pottery Barn Kids during your next family crafting session.

Colorful Candlesticks

While traditional menorah designs often look like nine-armed candelabras, your homemade design can take any shape while still including spaces for nine candles. This decorative project uses different candlesticks, including one that’s taller than the others, to create a sophisticated modern menorah. When the paint dries, you can display your candlesticks however you like. You’ll also be able to use standard wax candles sized to fit in the pre-made holders. If you’d rather use kosher candles, use air-dried clay to fill the candle holders and to create an impression in each. The clay will dry hard enough to hold correctly sized candles.

Start by covering a table with newspaper or a drop cloth, so kids can paint freely. Then let your kids select which colors they’d like to paint their candlesticks. Once they pick their colors, your little artist can go to town! Color blocking is a fun and easy technique. Let your kids be creative by painting a solid color all over a candlestick and using small brushes to add fine details or bright designs.

Consider purchasing metallic craft paint to add some sparkle. You can also teach your kids how to mix new shades from a set of paints in primary colors. Or, stick with the traditional Hanukkah colors like blue and white, plus either silver or gold depending on what your other decorations look like. These candleholders will be a fun bit of flair when you add glow-in-the-dark paint or glitter to emphasize the shining light from the candles.  

Candle Cubes

Do your children have some old wooden blocks that they don’t really play with anymore? Recycle these toys for your menorah this year with some paint and power tools. You can even select one large block to hold all the candles.

Once you and your children have chosen the blocks to use, let them cover the blocks with Hanukkah stickers. Next, spray paint over the sticker-covered blocks. After the paint dries, remove the stickers so that designs are left in negative space. Attach your menorah candle cups to the block or blocks using a strong glue. This way, you’ll be able to use kosher candles if you’d like.

Menorah Menagerie

Reach back into the toy box for this whimsical menorah idea. This design is highly customizable based on your children’s personal interests.  

Let your kids pick out which animals or figurines they’d like to use to create their menorahs. Ask them to line up the animals on the menorah base in a desired order and glue them down with a strong adhesive. After attaching, you can spray paint the entire thing for a monochromatic look. Remember to attach the plastic birthday candle cups before spray painting. The small stature scales well to the proportion of the plastic figurines.