How to Make a Dreidel Out of Clay

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Learn how to make a dreidel out of clay with this simple tutorial for both polymer clay and air drying clay dreidels! And if you love this, check out my big list of crafts for Hanukkah. This post contains affiliate links.

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In possibly every Jewish preschool, children learn “the Dreidel song” – a classic Hanukkah nursery rhyme. The song goes “I have a little Dreidel, I made it out of clay, and when it’s dry and ready, oh dreidel I shall play. Oh, dreidel, dreidel, dreidel, I made it out of clay. And when it’s dry and ready, oh dreidel I shall play.”

Here’s the song in case you’re not familiar with it:

I wanted to revisit this song and actually make a dreidel out of clay. I figured it really shouldn’t be too difficult to do, using polymer clay in vivid colors. I first made this years ago, and since then have gained new experience. I decided to remake it sharing the different types of clay you can use, as well as tips for getting your parts to stay together.

These clay dreidels really do make perfect little Hanukkah gifts, a great Hanukkah party activity, or a DIY Chanukah party favor (if you have the patience to make that many).

For those who are new to dreidel: this is a little four-sided spinning top that is traditionally played with on Hanukkah. This tiny little toy goes together with a fun game.

The letters on the dreidel are as follows:  נ-ג-ה-ש , which stands for נס גדול היה שם , or “a great miracle happened there.” During the time that the Hanukkah story took place, Torah study was forbidden. The Jews would study Torah in caves, with a lookout, and when the law enforcement came by, they’d quickly hide their studies and cover up with their tops that they were playing with.

Now, the dreidels used around Hanukkah time are symbolic of that struggle and the entire miracle of Hanukkah.

Learning how to make a dreidel out of clay is actually a fabulous Hanukkah STEAM activity. You need to get things to be perfectly balanced to have a beautifully spinning dreidel. You can encourage kids to make a few and see which works best – and why.

While I normally like to encourage embracing imperfection in crafting, in the case making a dreidel out of clay, you want it to work. The point needs to be perfectly balanced and the more even things are, the prettier it’ll spin.

On that note, it’s a bit of a challenging craft. If you want a dreidel craft that’s more low key and easy, try this wood dreidel craft.

Which type of clay should you use to make clay dreidels?

Think about the typical materials used for making dreidels. Plastic and wood are the most popular, and they’re both very lightweight materials.

Polymer clay is a lightweight clay.

In comparison, the Crayola air dry clay is a much thicker, heavier material.

If you want to go air dry, Sculpey Model Air would be a much better option, as it’s lighter weight.

Whatever you choose, the main point is to have fun. The point of making this doesn’t have to be to have it work! You can simply make it as an engaging Hanukkah craft. And the heavier air dry clay dreidel can work – it just only spins around a few times, kind of like rolling a die. There’s nothing wrong with that!

So if heavy Crayola air dry clay works best for you, so be it!

Both of these processes for how to make a dreidel out of clay are quite specific, so if you’re making this with young kids or preschoolers, to go along with the song, you may just want to roll out air dry clay, use a dreidel cookie cutter to cut out the shapes, and stamp the letters. Paint it when it’s cured. It won’t spin, but it’ll be a fun little process craft for Hanukkah.

What you need to make a dreidel out of clay:

Polymer clay dreidel

• Polymer clay
• Shaping tools
• An oven-safe glass dish (and an oven)
• Glaze if you want a more polished finish(I didn’t use it)
• Sculpey Bake and Bond
• Optional: paint marker

Air dry clay dreidel

• Air dry clay – the lighter weight the better
• A cup with a little bit of water
• Acrylic paint and a small, flat paintbrush
• Recommended: paint marker

All clay should be used on a protected surface.

If you don’t know how to write the Hebrew letters, you can cut it out using your Cricut or purchase Aleph Bet stickers (just be aware that you’ll need enough of the four letters for each dreidel.)

How to Make a Dreidel out of Clay

I used different processes for each clay, based on their properties. Polymer clay is less soft, making it easier to create smaller pieces and join them together. When done correctly, this can be quite strong.

Air dry clay is very brittle when cured, making it best created out of one solid block. It is, however, soft enough to work with that way.

How to make a dreidel out of Polymer clay

1. Pull off just enough clay to make a square the size of your typical die. Soften it by working it in your hands until it feels workable.

2. Roll it into a ball. If you have an acrylic piece to roll it onto a smooth surface, you’ll avoid fingerprints like I got on mine.

3. Softly flatten it on each side to form a cube or slightly rectangular shape (longer in height than width and equal on each side).

4. Pull off a piece to make the bottom. It should be about 1/3 of the size of your main body. Note: The tutorial shows a much larger one, however, this one didn’t spin as well as the second one, which had a much smaller point.

5. Flatten one side and pinch up and then roll the other side to form a point.

6. Roughen up/score the flat sides where the point will connect with the main dreidel body. That is, the top of the point and the bottom of the cube. This gives it more traction to adhere well.

7. Apply some of your liquid Sculpey “glue” to that area.

8. And then connect the two parts. You’ll need to be wary of keeping them together until you bake it as it won’t hold on its own until baked.

9. Form a “stem” just large enough for your thumb and index finger to hold and repeat the scoring/roughing up and liquid Sculpey gluing process to the top.

10. If you’d like you can engrave letters before baking. Or draw or paint them on after.

11. Bake your clay dreidel according to package instructions and then finish off with any letters, decorations, or glazes you may want to add. You’ve mastered how to make a dreidel out of clay!

How to make a dreidel out of air dry clay

1. Start with a slightly larger piece of clay – this will be the entire mass of your dreidel. Form a rectangular/elongated cube roughly the height of your dreidel (this may get a bit larger).

2. Pinch out the bottom to form a point. This should be centered and not too long.

3. Start pinching out from the top to get your handle. Press down along the edges of the part you pinched to form the top of your main body.

4. Use something flat and sharp to keep pressing along the base of the handle, rolling the handle between your fingers to make it rounder.

5. As you go along, you’ll also need to reshape the main body into a cube.

6. Keep working the shape until it’s good to go. You can wet your fingers a bit to smooth out all the little parts of your dreidel when you’re done. Don’t use too much water.

7. Let it air dry completely and paint.

8. When it’s dry and ready… before you play, don’t forget to add your letters! I didn’t engrave it on the air dry clay as it’s a bit harder to work with something so small.

I hope you enjoyed learning how to make a dreidel out of clay! Got any tips, variations, or suggestions to add to the list? Comment below!

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