What is the best haggadah to prepare/use in a Seder with 6-12 year old kids?

Question

There are a literally a million Hagaddos out there, but i need something that helps me explain Magid to young kids in a way that gives over sipur yetzias mitzayim, not nice vertilach. The past couple of years, I have used the excellent Hagaddah from Rabbi Perlow from Lakewood, it does exactly this, but I need a change of pace this year.

Answer 1

I recommend the second person advice of which this all stems (Exodus 13:8):

וְהִגַּדְתָּ לְבִנְךָ בַּיּוֹם הַהוּא לֵאמֹר בַּעֲבוּר זֶה עָשָׂה יְהוָה לִי בְּצֵאתִי מִמִּצְרָיִם׃

And you shall explain to your son on that day, ‘It is because of what the LORD did for me when I went free from Egypt.’

Meaning, as it seems, your grasp is already decently firm on the Haggadah content. I thus purpose that you deliver it over yourself. No fancy books, props etc.

In this, the experience is very much tailored and customized for your children. Furthermore, this gives you the opportunity to connect in a very classic, wholesome way.

Answer 2

As you mentioned, there are obviously an infinite number of Haggadahs. The first one that comes to mind would be the Chinuch Haggadah - Expressing and transmitting the splendor of our Mesorah by Rabbi Yaakov Bender. From your question this sounds like it would be the best fit (and it ships free if you order it by the 31st).

If it is not what you're looking for please clarify and I will try to see if I can come up with something else for you. Best of luck!

Answer 3

My personal favorite, and highly recommended, is באזני בנך: בהירות והכוונה בעריכת ליל הסדר by R' Yitzchok Perlmutter (the hagadah's in Hebrew.)

It's geared to be very practical and useful especially for people running the seder for the first time, but I found lots of useful content.

It's broken up into a few sections. The first two deal with practical advice for preparing and running the seder.

Then, he gives an overview of the whole hagadah showing how the theme is developed as the seder progresses. It's a phenomenal job of highlighting the main points, and I've found that just using that works great for my 9yo and 5yo kids (obviously younger kids need a different approach).

He then goes through the entire hagadah, explaining each step thoroughly and expounding on the highlights.

At the end of the hagadah he has two more resources. He has a wonderful 25 page essay discussing the conceptual purpose of the yeridas mitzrayim, the shibud and the geula. And then he has a collection of midrashim and explanations on the 10 makkos.