This parsha, Chukat, talks about the Parah Aduma (red heifer), Moshe hitting the rock with his Mateh (staff) to get water when Miriam dies and her well ceases to give water, and a plague of snakes that comes.
An easy project for the kids was making chocolate cookies in the shape of snakes, rocks, staffs, and cows. Obviously, the cow was easy for me only because I have a cow cookie cutter–a wise investment for parsha projects–but the rocks and snakes and staffs require no special equipment or skill.
Instead of the usual roll out pareve vanilla “butter cookie,” I made a favorite chocolate cookie dough that is not really for cut-out cookies, but, if chilled, is pretty easy to roll out.
I also made water challah using this recipe (but with 3 heaping Tbl. of meshaper afiyah dough conidtioner added and an additional cup of water).
For shaping the water challah, I made one into a round beehive shape using a ball of dough in a deep round pan. According to the Midrash (Tosefta Sukkah 3:11-13; Numbers Rabbah 1:2), the well of Miriam “resembled a rock the size of a beehive, from which, as out of a narrow-necked jug, water coming out in a trickle shot high up in the air like a geyser.” (see here)
Pragmatic Attic 