Sukkot with the Menschkins

Gather, Celebrate, and Give Thanks

Simple explanations, joyful music, and meaningful ways to help children understand and celebrate Sukkot.

Explore the Family Guide

Understand it. Celebrate it. Pass it on.

What Is Sukkot?

Sukkot is a joyful holiday when we build temporary shelters, called sukkot, to remember how God cared for the Jewish people in the desert.

It's also a fall harvest festival: a time to give thanks for the food the earth provides, enjoy the beauty of nature, and welcome family, friends, and neighbors.

A sukkah decorated with leafy branches, a paper chain and a lantern; a lulav and etrog; and a basket of pomegranate, apple and grapes

Three Ways to Celebrate Sukkot

Sukkot: A Family Guide — Understanding and celebrating the holiday together, with Saba the owl beside a decorated sukkah

Explore the Family Guide

A beautifully illustrated guide that explains the holiday, its traditions, and meaningful ways to celebrate together as a family.

Explore the Guide
24 Sukkot Songs for Kids & Families — one hour of music for building, welcoming and celebrating, with Lila holding a lulav and etrog

Listen with Lila

A joyful playlist of 24 songs, about an hour of music, for building the sukkah, welcoming friends, shaking the lulav, and dancing together.

Listen on Spotify
A multigenerational Jewish family shares a holiday meal with challah in a sunlit sukkah decorated with paper chains and lanterns

Celebrate Where You Are

  • Share a meal or snack under the sukkah roof.
  • Find sukkah gatherings through your local Jewish Federation, congregation or JCC.
  • Shake the lulav and etrog together.
  • Look up through the branches and name what you're thankful for.
Free Coloring Page

Learn the Traditions Together

Look inside the 9-page Sukkot Family Guide. Tap any page to see it up close.

Download the Free Family Guide

9-page PDF, 8.5 × 11 in. Print it, share it, read it together.
Coloring page: Decorate Your Own Sukkah with Lila. Lila the lamb hangs a paper chain in a sukkah with a table, apples, lulav and etrog.

Free Printable & Menschkins News

Decorate Your Own Sukkah with Lila

A coloring page for little hands. Lila has started the paper chain. Your child finishes the sukkah.

  1. 1Color the sukkah.
  2. 2Add decorations.
  3. 3Draw someone you would welcome.
  4. 4Add something you are thankful for.

One-page PDF, 8.5 × 11 in. Plus Menschkins news and new holiday stories. Unsubscribe anytime.

The Menschkins dance for Simchat Torah: Saba the owl carries the Torah scroll while Miri and Natan wave Israeli flags and Lila plays a tambourine

Right After Sukkot

Simchat Torah Is Coming!

Sukkot leads right into Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah, when we finish reading the Torah for the year and start again from the beginning. Communities carry the Torah scrolls, sing, and dance together.

Sing, dance, and celebrate along with the Menschkins.

Listen on Spotify

Sukkot Questions Kids Ask

Simple answers from the Menschkins Sukkot Family Guide, written to read aloud.

What is Sukkot?

Sukkot is a joyful Jewish holiday when families build temporary shelters, called sukkot (one is a sukkah), to remember how God cared for the Jewish people in the desert. It is also a time to give thanks for the harvest, enjoy the beauty of nature, and welcome family, friends, and neighbors.

When is Sukkot?

Sukkot begins five days after Yom Kippur, on the 15th of the Hebrew month of Tishrei, which usually falls in September or October. The celebration lasts seven days. It is a fall harvest holiday, and it leads right into Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah.

Why do we build a sukkah?

We build a sukkah to remember the temporary shelters the Israelites lived in during their journey through the wilderness. Sukkot is also a harvest festival, a time to give thanks for what the earth provides. Remember, give thanks, rejoice.

What makes it a sukkah?

A sukkah usually has three or more sides and a roof made of natural plant material, like branches or leaves, called schach. The schach gives shade while leaving openings so you can still see the sky.

What do we do in the sukkah?

We eat meals, welcome guests, sing, learn, and spend time together in the sukkah. Some families also sleep in the sukkah. Eat, gather, sing, celebrate.

Who are the Ushpizin?

Ushpizin is an Aramaic word meaning “guests.” On Sukkot we welcome family and friends into the sukkah, and tradition also invites special guests from Jewish history, such as Abraham, Sarah, Moses, and David. A good question to ask children: who would you welcome?

What are the Four Species?

The Four Species are the lulav (a palm branch), the etrog (a citron), hadasim (myrtle), and aravot (willow). The myrtle and willow are bound together with the lulav. Holding the lulav and etrog together is a mitzvah of Sukkot. We say a blessing and wave them, and they connect us with the harvest, the natural world, and God’s presence all around us.

How do we shake the lulav?

Hold the lulav and etrog together, say the blessing, and shake them gently in six directions: front, right, back, left, up, and down. Shaking in every direction reminds us that God is everywhere.

What happens after Sukkot?

Sukkot leads into Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah. On Simchat Torah, Jewish communities celebrate finishing the yearly cycle of reading the Torah and beginning it again. People carry the Torah scrolls, sing, dance, and celebrate together.

Pass It On

Share Jewish traditions, values, and joy with the next generation.

L'dor v'dor. From generation to generation.