Eraser Clay Dreidel

Eraser Clay Dreidel
Design by Susan Berkowitz

Although Hanukkah, the Festival of Lights, is really a relatively minor religious holiday, it has assumed more importance in our country, coming so close to Christmas. The story of Hanukkah is the story of the weak conquering the strong, over 2000 years ago, when the Macabees defeated King Antiochus' army, which was trying to make the Jews give up their religion.

Dreidel was actually once a German gambling game. The rules are very easy. The letters writteon the the 4-sided top are nun (nothing, gimel (all), heh (half), and shin (add 2 things to the pot). All together they mean "a great miracle happened here." (This refers to the fact that when the fighting was over and the Temple was cleaned, the Jews wanted to light the menorah. There was only enough oil to last one night. However, by a miracle, the oil burned for 8 days. Hanukkah is celebrated to commemorate the rededication of the Temple in Jerusalem and the miracle of 8 days.)

Each player starts with 10 or 12 pennies, m&m's, pebbles, etc. (We also like to use the foil covered chocolate coins sold at Hanukkah time.) Each player puts one in the center "pot" and takes a turn at spinning the dreidel. The face-up letter determines what he wins (or loses). When the pot is empty, each player adds one more. If there is an odd number in the pot, a person who has hehwins half plus one. The game ends when one person wins everything.

Materials:

One pinwheel package of Amazing Eraser Clay
Sculpey blade or Excel/X-Acto knife (children must be supervised. All cutting should be done by a parent!!!)

Directions:

Condition the clay by kneading and flattening in your hands until soft and flexible.
Take 1/3 ounce of the blue clay and roll it into a ball.
Press lightly on the ball, flattening 2 sides.

Turn over and repeat, until you have a cube or block.
Grasp 2 opposing edges with your thumb and index finger, and pull the two edges together to meet.
Turn the cube 90 degrees and repeat for the adjacent edges, so that your cube now has a point on one end.

Use your fingers to smooth the sides and edges of the dreidel's bottom point.
The opposite side of the "cube" will be the dreidel's top. To create a handle to spin the dreidel, pinch up some clay along 2 sides of the top, then pinch up some more clay from the other 2 sides, forming a little pointed handle in the center of the dreidel's top.

Take a small piece (about pea-sized) of the white clay, and roll it into a small, thin snake.
Wrap it around the handle to evenly create a good strong handle to spin the dreidel by.

(Make one more small, thin snake with the green (or other contrasting color) eraser clay. Use pieces of this snake to form the letters on each side of the dreidel. Insert jpeg dreidel letters

Bake in a calibrated oven (checked with an external oven thermometer) at 250 degrees F for 10 minutes.