Passover

We hope this page helps your family navigating the Passover holiday. Sign up for PJ Library to receive free monthly children’s books and activities that introduce Jewish holidays, values, and traditions and help your family strengthen its connection to Jewish life.

Passover, or Pesach in Hebrew, is an eight-day spring holiday that celebrates the Israelites' exodus from Egypt. The Passover story comes from the first half of the Book of Exodus in the Bible. In those pages we read of the Jewish people’s plight under slavery in Egypt, and their subsequent escape to freedom.

If you're celebrating Passover for the first time, need a refresher on a few traditions, or just want to know more about the history of the holiday, visit our introduction to Passover here.

For more information about Passover, including recipes, book lists, activities, and more, check out the sections below:

Passover Story

Kids at the Seder

Activities

Recipes

Videos

Book Lists

The River Ride

The Passover Story

Because there is explicit suffering and death in the Passover narrative, it is not an easy story to tell. You can find a child-friendly version linked below.

The Passover Story for Kids Ages 6+

For centuries, families have used a book called the Haggadah, to tell the story of Passover and pass down the traditions and lessons of the story to their children, relatives, and friends. The word haggadah literally means “telling.” Families everywhere add their own personal touches to make the script of the haggadah their own.

5 Short & Sweet Kid-Friendly Haggadot

Scroll down to find activity ideas for getting kids involved during the seder.

Kids and the Seder

family at table

The main ritual of Passover is the seder, a carefully choreographed meal held on the first two evenings of the holiday. The seder is designed to provoke questions from children and to provide an opportunity for telling the story of how the Israelites were redeemed from slavery and given the gift of the Torah.

Here are some great ways to involve kids during the seder:

5 Ideas for a Child-Friendly Seder
Acting It Out: An Awesome Kid-Friendly Seder Idea
Getting Kids Involved During Passover
Planning a Child-Friendly Seder
Printable Paper Passover Scene
Teaching Kids to Say the Four Questions