השבת אבידה

With an open heart

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Following Yonatan, you can discuss and share: What can be the meaning of the phrase: “to open up your heart”? Is there an image or item that reminds you of loved ones, and make you feel like your heart is opening up and your feelings are welling up?

Where have I been and what have I been up to?

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Thanks to the lost keys, Yonatan gets a glimpse into his father’s daily routine. And what did you do today? You can play charades, miming to one another a place you have visited or something you have done. Take turns acting out a place or action, while the rest of your family tries to guess where you have been and what you have been up to.

Details in the illustrations

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Yossi Abulafia’s illustrations are full of details. You may want to stop and look: Which animals can you find in the illustrations? Do they appear more than once? What are the people on the street up to? And now, look at the illustrations again: Have you discovered anything that you did not seen the first time?

Pinterest

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More arts & crafts, songs and activities can be found on the Sifriyat Pijama Pinterest page

A discussion on what has been lost

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Have you ever lost anything you found important? How did you feel and what did you do? Perhaps you’ve found someone else’s lost item… This book invites children as well as parents to share their childhood experiences of losing and finding lost items.

A video about a lost and found stand

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A video about a lost and found stand

Shabi and Uzza from the Israeli children’s television show Parpar Nechmad are also returning lost items to their owners. Scan the code to watch the video.

A game of hiding and seeking

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Pick an item and take turns hiding it and having the other players look for it. You can help each other by giving clues such as “hot and cold” or a treasure map. Did you find it? Now it’s someone else’s turn – hide, search and find.

Searching through the illustrations

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There are lost ads on the first few pages of the book. You may enjoy looking for amusing and surprising ones together to share with the rest of your family. Among them is one found ad – are you able to locate it?

Pinterest

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 Arts & crafts, songs and other activities are available on the Sifriyat Pijama Pinterest page

 A discussion on searching and finding

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Following this book, you may want to embark on searches together with your parents, grandparents, or other relatives: What have you found? Were you surprised? Do you enjoy searching and finding?

A game of Search Cootie Catcher

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A game for both seekers and finders.
Scan the QR code
Print out, cut out and fold according to the instructions.
Have you searched? Have you found? Would you like to play again?

Illustrations

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This book contains both colorful and black and white illustrations. Can you figure out when the illustrations are in black and white, and when they are multicolored?

A game of “what’s missing?”

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A game of “what’s missing?”
Place several items in a row and look closely.
Take turns hiding one of the items while the rest of your family members have their eyes closed. Once it has been removed and hidden, the other players can open their eyes and start searching – Which item is now missing? Where was it hidden?

Pleased to meet you, I’m Hyla!

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I’m similar to a frog but smaller. I can be found in Israel, mostly on trees, eating insects and laying eggs in the water. I’m a protected species and therefore cannot be kept in a jar, only in nature.

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פינטרסט

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Pinterest

Find more inspiration and creative activity in our Pinterest page.

Ayin Hillel (1926–1990)

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Ayin Hill (Hillel Omer) was born in Kibbutz Mishmar HaEmek in 1926. An author, poet, and landscape architect, Ayin Hillel often incorporated nature, landscapes, and animals into his poems. Many generations of Israeli children were raised on his literary gems, such as the Uncle Simcha stories, Why does the Zebra Wear Pajamas?, Yossi, Smart Child of Mine, and many others. Ayin Hillel also wrote poetry and prose for adults. He won many awards for his work, and passed away in 1990.

Proposed Family Activities:

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• Rabbit’s tail appears in every illustration, but Rabbit cannot find it. You may want to ask your child to leaf through the book, and locate the tail on each page.

• You could attach a kerchief to the back of your child’s pants, and go searching for their tail around the house: Where is that tail hiding? Perhaps you could follow the route described in the book: under the bed, inside the shoes, under the pillow, in the kitchen, then the bathroom, and finally sit down. Like the rabbit in the story, your child can leap for joy when their lost tail is finally found.

• Can your child name their body parts? You may enjoy playing a game in which you ask your child: Where’s your elbow? Where’s your knee? Where’s your big toe? And have them point to each body part in turn.

• Rabbit looks in the bathroom and catches his reflection in the mirror. You may also want to stand in front of the mirror with your child, name one of the emotions felt by Rabbit throughout the book, and make the corresponding facial expression: smile to show joy, make a concerned face, get excited, and so on.

• Who has a tail? Perhaps you could take out some stuffed animals or look through a picture-book to discover what other animal has a tail. Which has long ears? What other animal can leap and jump?

delicious carrot cake

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• What does Rabbit like to eat? Carrots, of course! How about making a delicious carrot cake together?

Ingredients:

2 eggs

½ a cup of sugar

1/3 cup of oil

2 medium-sized carrots, grated

1 cup self-raising flour (or 1 cup of white flour mixed with a teaspoon of baking powder)

½ a teaspoon of baking soda

1 flat teaspoon of cinnamon

Method:

• Preheat the oven to 180 degrees
• Mix all the ingredients in the order in which they appear
• Put the batter in an oiled baking pan, and bake for 20-25 minutes. Insert a toothpick into the cake, and when it comes out dry, the cake is ready
• Sit in the kitchen, eat the cake together, hug each other, and enjoy

Family Activities:

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1. Noa is very attached to the old doll that her grandmother made for her, but also likes new dolls and toys. You can ask your children which dolls and toys they like in particular, and remind them who gave them the gifts and under which circumstances.

2. Mr. Minasa tried to get rid of his old shoes when he arrived in the new country. You can play an imaginary game with your children: If you were leaving for a faraway place, what would you take with you and what would you leave behind?

3. Like Grandmother Agarnesh, you too can craft a hand-made doll for your child, using old socks and clothing. You are invited to send us a photograph of the doll, which we will happily post on the Sifriyat Pijama website!

4. Mr. Minasa arrived in the new country from Ethiopia. Where did your family originate? This is an opportunity to share your personal immigrant story with your children, and show them photographs of the old country. Perhaps you too have old bjects or clothing that you can search for together.

5. Mr. Minasa’s neighbors recognized his old shoes and returned them to him. Did you ever find something and return it to its owner? Was the owner happy to receive the lost object?

6. You can act out the story with your children. Each one in turn takes on the role of Mr. Minasa and looks for places around the house to hide the shoes. The other player finds them and declares, “Oh, here are Mr. Minasa’s old shoes!”

Family Activities

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• You may want to look at the lovely illustrations by Menachem Halberstadt together, and ask your child to tell the story in their own words. We do not know what Rabbi Hanina Ben Dossa looked like, but we can imagine the lifestyle of his time and the Galilean landscape. Perhaps you would enjoy searching for clues about his time and place in the illustrations.
• Menachem Halberstadt added amusing details in his illustrations that are not mentioned in the text. You may want to look for the illustration of all the chickens in the yard. What are they doing? Did you find anything about this illustration funny?
• In the story, Rabbi Hanina describes the rooster and hen using signs: the rooster was black with a white spot, and the hen was white with gold dots. You may want to play the guessing game: one of you thinks of an object in the room and describes it using signs, and the other has to guess which object it is. Did you guess right?
• Have you or your child ever lost something dear? Was it found? Try to recall together the feeling you had when you discovered the item had been lost, or found.
• How can we refrain from losing things we hold dear? You may want to let your child think of ideas to help them keep track of their property, and share some of your techniques and practices with them. You may also like to teach your child where items found are taken today (for instance the police station, or the “lost and found” in public places).
• Perhaps you would enjoy playing “Where’s the lost chicken?”: place the palm of your hand on a sheet of paper so your thumb is separate from the other fingers. Draw around your hand – the thumb will be the chicken’s head, and the fingers will be its wings. Add feet, a cockscomb and beak, and cut out the chicken. One of the participants hides the chicken, and the others have to find it. The one who hid it can help the others find the lost chicken by saying “hot” or “cold” as they get nearer and further away from its hiding place.

Who was Rabbi Hanina Ben Dossa?

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Rabbi Hanina Ben Dossa was a Tanna­ – a scholar from the time of the Mishna – who lived in the Galilee some 2000 years ago. He was an incredible man, and many tales are told of his modesty and special qualities. Although Rabbi Hanina and his family lived in extreme poverty, he was not tempted to take anything that did not belong to him, and was very careful about returning any lost property to its rightful owners. The writer Ori Elon based his adaptation of the story of Rabbi Hanina and the lost rooster and hen on the following short story found in the Talmud, in the Tractate of Taanit, page 25a:

Once it happened that a man passed by Rabbi Hanina’s house and left hens there and the wife of Rabbi Hanina Ben Dossa found them. Her husband, however, forbade her to eat of their eggs. As the eggs and the chickens increased in number he was very troubled by them and he therefore sold them and with the proceeds he purchased goats. One day the man who lost the hens passed by [the house] again and said to his companion: “Here I left my hens”. Rabbi Hanina overhearing this asked him: “Have you any sign [by which to identify them]?” He replied: “Yes”. He gave him the sign and took away the goats.

Family Activities

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• Throughout the book, illustrator Liora Grossman has depicted each of the objects lost by the characters in the story. You may want to look through it together, and search for all the missing items. Have you found them all? Have you ever looked for something and realized it was hiding “right under your nose”?
• Page by page, Aviv meets a tractor, princess, cloud and clown that claim “It’s mine!”, but none give all the signs describing the ball that he had found. You may want to play a similar guessing game: one player closes their eyes, while the other chooses a small object, hides it behind their back, and describes it using some identifying features. The first player then opens their eyes and tries to guess which object is being described and concealed.
• How can we refrain from losing things that are important to us? Ask your child to offer some ideas about how to take care of their property, and share some tips with them on how you make sure you don’t lose yours.
• Have you or your child ever lost something you loved? How did you feel? Have you found a lost object? Perhaps you too will have the privilege of returning it to its rightful owner! You may want to make a ‘lost object’ poster with a description of what you have found, along with your telephone number. You could go out on the street together and put the poster up in a public place. If anyone calls, don’t forget to ask them for signs to make sure you indeed return the object to its rightful owner.
• At the end of the story, Aviv and Yuval play ball together. You too can to play ball – passing it to one another, trying to shoot hoops, or kicking it toward the goal… just make sure you don’t lose it!