The Treasure

Family Activities:

• שְׁמִירָה
• Share
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• The illustrations by Uri Shulevitz remind us of a lifestyle from a different time and place. Talk about this with your children: If the story were to take place today, what would be different about the illustrations? You may want to prepare an illustrated booklet together of the same story, drawing pictures of the background and environment that is familiar to them today.
• The tale doesn’t reveal what the treasure was that Yitzhak sought or why he had to leave his home on a journey that brought him right back to the place where he started. It would be interesting to discuss this with the children and to hear their thoughts on the subject.
• This is an opportunity to share with your children the accomplishments that you have achieved after many efforts and great endeavor, and the sense of success that accompany these accomplishments. It is worth listening to their ambitions and dreams, too, and important that you encourage your children to try to realize them.
• Your children are invited to lead you on a journey of hidden discovery throughout your home. Close your eyes or tie a handkerchief around your eyes, and let your children lead you to places and “treasures” hidden about the home that you didn’t even know existed. The children can also give you household items and objects to feel. Are you able to recognize what they are? At the end of the journey, trade places, and lead your children around the house.
• Go on a treasure hunt – at home! You can hide a small “treasure” within the home. The children’s task is to look for it through the help of notes on which you have drawn hints and signs. The children will be happy to follow the hints that you have prepared, and to pass through different places in the home until they find the treasure.
• “Sometimes a person has to walk a long distance in order to discover what was in fact right nearby”: Have you ever noticed your children’s joy in discovering the nice, familiar feeling of
  home upon returning from a trip or a vacation? What are the “treasures” in each room of the home? What makes each one of you happy when you return home?
• There are “treasures” in the vicinity of your home, too, that the children will be happy to discover and to collect. It would be fun to go on a “discovery excursion” in your neighborhood. You can select a suitable “treasure” together to bring home, and you may even want to dedicate a special corner of the children’s room to “treasures”.
• “The Treasure” is the last book that will be distributed this year in the “Sifriyat Pijama” program. The school year is ending, and with it, your children will set off on a journey – whether they continue on to a new kindergarten or to school, or whether they remain in the same kindergarten and join the group of older children. This story reminds us that every journey brings with it a renewed appreciation of the treasure that is always with us, at home and within the family. Have a wonderful vacation from Sifriyat Pijama!