Game -- The Why Game

You will need a basket full of questions and answers about Passover on individual index cards or paper.  Get your kids ahead of time to prepare as many questions and answers as they can from the Haggadah and write the questions and answers down. Here are some suggestions to get you started.

  • Why do we eat Matzah on Passover? To remind us of the dough that didn’t have time to rise as our forefathers were rushed out of Egypt.
  • Name the Four Sons? The wise, the wicked, the simple, and the one who doesn’t know how to ask.
  • How many cups of wine do we drink at the Seder? Four.
  • What things connected with Seder night are associated with the number four? Four sons, four cups of wine, four questions.
  • Why four cups of wine? To celebrate our freedom.
  • What is the second plague? Frogs.
  • Why do we dip in the Charoset? The Charoset represents the cement that the Jews used to cement the bricks together in their slavery. Today we dip as a sign of freedom.
  • What does the shank bone remind us of? The Passover lamb which our forefathers sacrificed to God when they came out of Egypt.
  • Can you say all ten plagues in order? Blood, frogs, vermin, wild beasts, pestilence, boils, hail, locusts, darkness, plague of the firstborn.
  • Can you say the ten plagues backwards? Plague of the firstborn, darkness, locusts, hail, boils, pestilence, wild beasts, vermin, frogs, blood.
  • Who am I? I am the last thing you eat before you bensch, say the blessing after the meal. There are often lots of fights over who hides me and who finds me. Who am I? The Afikoman.
  • Who am I? I am one of the key figures in the story of the going out of Egypt. I lost my whole army and half my country in my stubbornness. Who am I? Pharoah.
  • Who am I? I am one of the plagues. I made the Egyptians itch like crazy all over. Who am I? Lice.
  • Who am I? My name does not appear once in the Haggadah, but I went several times to Pharoah with my brother to try and persuade him to let the Jewish people go. Who am I? Moses.
  • Who do we fill a cup for on the Seder table and hope he comes and joins our Seder? Elijah.

After the Mah Nishtana, you ask one of the kids to blindfold one of the guests or another family member. Then the blindfolded one has to pick a card out of a box or hat.

Someone is chosen to read the question. If the blindfolded one answers correctly he or she gets a point/sweet/nut/small prize.

The game can be played at different intervals during the evening.

Originally contributed by Rebecca Rubenstein


haggadah Section: Songs