The Anafim Children Create a Birthday Canvas

By Talita Macieira & Julie Rausch, Educators, Rabbi Joseph Weinberg Early Childhood Center (RJW ECC)

In the Anafim classroom, birthdays are more than a celebration of age—they are a celebration of identity, community, and creativity. To honor a child on their special day, we embark on a collaborative process to create a birthday canvas—a gift made with intention, beauty, and love.

Over several weeks the class was offered multiple opportunities for exploration, decision-making, and shared joy. It was a celebration not only of a birthday, but of the relationships, preferences, and creativity that make each child unique.

Our process began by asking the children to share their favorite colors. We used a large variety of color samples to expand their options beyond red, blue, pink, green, and purple. As the children sifted through the colors, they were curious and excited by new hues and shades, making discoveries about what they were drawn to and how many variations a single color could hold. This moment honored their ability to make aesthetic choices and express identity through color.

Some children chose four or five different colors. Others chose many shades of the same colors. The process was quiet and focused, and each child’s palette told a story about their sense of beauty and preference. It was a time for personal reflection—Who am I? What do I love? What colors feel like me?

Color Mixing

Once the children selected their favorite colors, they were invited to bring those choices to life through the experience of color mixing. There was a sense of purpose and wonder as they transitioned from choosing to creating. The project now moved from imagination into experimentation and transformation.

We offered four colors for mixing: red, yellow, blue, and white. The experience was open for creating new colors and provided time for the children to enjoy the process of pumping color into their jar, mixing, and adding more colors. There was no rush. Children returned again and again to their jars, watching swirls appear, observing how drops of one pigment could completely change the tone. They were chemists, artists, and storytellers all at once.

The children were free to explore and watch the transformation as they mixed in new colors. Beautiful shades of green, blue, pink, and purple emerged. Though many of the colors were used for our next step, in this moment, we were not trying to match the color samples. The emphasis remained on discovery and process, rather than outcome. The delight was in the doing—in the “what if” of color.

Painting

With the custom-mixed paints ready, the final step was to use those special colors to create the birthday canvas. This part of the project was deeply rooted in relationship and ritual.

The painting of the birthday canvas involved a few steps and a specific request. First, the birthday child chose two children who would create a painting for them. Then the paints were gathered, matching the specific colors selected by the child. Choosing friends for this honor was a powerful act—one that reflected connection, trust, and shared experience. It made the celebration deeply personal.

The teacher helped mix any colors that weren’t available from the color mixing experience. The children sat together, taking turns adding their marks on the canvas, while the birthday child shared in the moment by watching, and sometimes commenting or making requests. It was a moment of being seen, of knowing that something was being created just for them—with love, intention, and joy.

This project was more than a painting. It was a celebration of voice, of friendship, of beauty and meaning. Each step—from choosing a favorite color to watching friends lay paint on canvas—was filled with wonder and respect. In this collaborative act, we witnessed the artistry and empathy of young children, and were reminded once again: the process is the celebration.

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