Easy Homemade Dreidel 

Children of any faith love playing the traditional game played during Hanukkah called dreidel. You don’t have to buy a dreidel to play the game. See how I made these simple dreidels with cardboard and pencils that my Nanny Family already had in their home. 

Be sure to read these children’s books about dreidels before and after playing the game with the kids: “Little Dreidel Learns to Spin” by Rebecca Gardyn Levington, “Spin the Dreidel” by Alexandra Cooper, “D is for Dreidel” by Greg Paprocki, and “Dreidel, Dreidel, Dreidel” by Scholastic. 

You Will Need: 

Cardboard
Ruler 
Pencils
Scissors
Marker 

What to Do:

1. Cut out a 3 inch square from cardboard.

2. Divide the square into 4 equal triangles. 

3. Print one Hebrew letter per triangle:  Nun, Gimel, Hey, and Shin in the triangles (for Hebrew letters see photo below). 

4. Poke a pencil through the middle.

5. Protect the surface so the pencils don’t damage the table. 

How to Play Dreidel: 

1. Give each player begins the game with an equal number of game pieces (about 10-15) such as pennies, nuts, raisins, or marbles. 
2. At the beginning of each round, every participant puts one game piece into the center “pot.” In addition, every time the pot is empty or has only one game piece left, every player should put one game piece in the pot. 
3. Every time it’s your turn, spin the dreidel once. Depending on the side it lands on, you give or get game pieces from the pot. 
4. When one person has won everything, that round of the game is over!

Nun means “nisht” or “nothing.” The player does nothing.

Gimel means “gantz” or “everything.” The player gets everything in the pot.

Hey means “halb” or “half.” The player gets half of the pot. 

Shin (outside of Israel) means “shtel” or “put in.” Peh (in Israel) also means “put in.” The player adds a game piece to the pot.

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