Artsy Ummi  blogs

These are wonderful links to keep you and your kids busy all Eid Week! Click on these pictures to take you to the respective weblink and instructions. 

 Decorate Your Home with These Crafts:

 Ramadan Mobile: 

Eid Banner:

Eid Stained Glass Craft:

Decorate Your Home With These Ideas: 

Eid Card Ideas

Transform Your Old Cards Into Awesome Eid Greetings:

Make an Eid Card with this Eid Poem, or print it smaller (about half the size of a regular letter sheet) and  get the kids to color it. Fold it in half and call it an Eid card! 

Peter Gould’s Eid Art Download to “use and share as you wish” From His Facebook Wall:

Eid Craft Ideas

Practice Your Artsy Skills and Gift This to a Loved One:  

Great Project for Those Little Hands: 

Henna Skills Need Some Practice:

Or You can Settle With This Idea- Practice “Henna” on Paper Hands instead! Less Messy Anyway!:  

Eid Cakes  and Cookies

Bake an Eid Cake or Decorate a Store Bought One:

Or Perhaps Bake Them in Mini Sizes!:

Make These Henna Hand Cookies- They Are a Guaranteed Crowd Pleaser!:

Gift some of your cookie creations in this Eig Box, don’t forget to make the kids write messages on them along with their coloring: 

Busy baby Mama blogs

You know this year is super mad busy. Kids going back to school, and many to do list that just can’t seem to get down. The last thing I’m thinking about is an Eid Party. But how can I not? One thing I realized about our Muslim children is that they are exposed to birthday parties that are so attractive that it’s important to celebrate our holiday just as special if not more to make it a memorable and an extra special event.

I came up with a to do list.

1. Make invitation cards and give them out at your next Iftar in the masjid. DOWNLOAD HERE: eid invite-1. You can also request each child to bring a gift for another child (no more than $5- $10). So each child will go home with a gift. Also let them know that the gift should be non gender related. This will make gift exchange hassle free.

2. To make decorations you can print this download (DOWNLOAD THIS: eid mubarak party bag labels ) on color paper and paste them on centerpieces. Add balloons around the rooms, and tissue chains. You can choose a color theme like green and white. Make a big poster sign that says Eid Muabrak. Kids can easily make this for you in a jiify.

3. To make a goody bag, print downloads and paste them on goody bags. The content can be healthy treats. I found Annie’s gummy rabbits packs and chocolate chip granola, a nicer alternative to candies. Also Dollar Tree has some nice party favors and school supplies that you can walk away with a lot for $10.00. Party City’s might have some sale items that you can get for 10 cents -25 cents per party favor.

4. Decorate a home made or ready made cake with “Eid Mubarak”. Add moon and stars if you like. you can draw a mosque, palm trees, little muslims…your imagination is the limit! This image is from brilliantcakes.com

5. Nasheed that you can have on while the kids enjoy playing.

6.  Game Ideas:

Arabic Alphabet Hunt -children will have to find all 28 Alphabet letters which are hidden around the house. You can put write the letters on an index card . Have them placed randomely around the house or room. When they find them, they  bring them back to get a small treat. As they find them they put them in order and they all get a prize.

Eid Clothes Game- This is for 2 players or two teams. Each team will get a small bookbag or suit case placed across the room. They must race to the bag, gab a bag, and put on the clothes and race back to their starting point. The team that finishes first wins. 

Tubs of Ilm Water game : Look at this link.

Islamic Pictionary: Make 2 teams. Play this game like the regular Pictionary. Each team member in both groups  must draw a picture of something from the Quran or Quran-related until their team members figure it out and shout the answer.

Musical Chairs with Nasheed: Play the same game except use Islamic songs.

7. End of the Party finale!

Gift Exchange-Have them decorate a brown shopping bag, and attach ribbons as handle. Place all the gifts they brought in one garbage bag that can not be seen. Each child can dip their hands inside without looking. They immediately put this in the gift bag. Instruct them not to open it until they get home if you like.

Make a Palm Tree Pinata out of  brown shopping bag and green paper palm tree leaves. It’s takes 10 minutes to make, and anyway it takes less than that to break…

End it with Surprise balloon toss! One teacher at Hamza Academy, Zahra Biler, had secretly blown up 20-25 balloons, put them on a bed sheet,  and thrown them in the room at the end of the party.  Yell “EID  MUBRAAK!”  before tossing them, which will naturally signal the kids to go chasing after the loose balloons. Soon as they grab one, you might want to write their names on them.

After such a fun and exciting event, send them home with their goody bags, gift bags, and their balloons. Insh-Allah, they will be begging for next year Eid Party.

Sr Alif blogs

We are so excited to interview Rania Shalaby, a mother of 3 who loves to be a part of her children’s education. She is a teacher for LA Public School for over 12 years. She has amazing ideas on educating her children’s non Muslim friends and teachers about her deen especially during the Eid season. Here she gives us ideas on how to involve your child’s teachers and classmates in the celebration of Eid.

“When my oldest child started Kindergarten, I started looking for ways to bring in our Islamic heritage into her school. For my daughter’s birthday, I donated the book My First Ramadan by Karen Katz to her class.

During the winter holiday season, I donated Eid decorations and crafts for the classroom. My daughter’s teacher was totally on board. Typically, schools celebrate the winter holidays (ie Christmas, Hannukah, Kwanzaa) with a holiday performance of some kind. That year, the school’s performance was the Nutcracker, so I couldn’t exactly request an Eid song to be included. They were however decorating the school auditorium with wrapped gifts. So I went on www.silverenvelope.com and ordered Eid wrapping paper and wrapped as many empty boxes that I could find. I don’t know if anyone in the audience noticed but my daughter and I were sure proud of ourselves.”

When my daughter was in 1st grade. I wrote up something describing Eid Al-Adha to the teacher and donated pencils inscribed with “HAPPY EID! EID MUBARAK” that I ordered from www.orientaltrading.com to be passed out to the students. This is the letter I wrote to the teacher….

Dear Teacher,
This weekend our family celebrated Eid Ul-Adha. It is not a very well known holiday but it is one of two holidays Muslims celebrate each year around the world. We follow a lunar calendar so our holidays fall on different dates each year. Our family usually goes to prayers early in the morning then gets together with family and friends where children usually receive gifts or money.
During this holiday season, there are usually discussions in the classroom about different family traditions and students usually learn different holiday songs and/or do holiday crafts. There are 4 Muslim families that I know of in 1st grade this year, 3 of whom are in our class. I would greatly appreciate it if some effort is made to include our traditions in your holiday discussions.
I put an Eid song on a CD and have included the lyrics. I also have a picture book that discusses this Eid. Please use them if you’d like.
Thank You.

This is the link for the Eid song I gave her. The picture book I gave her was 4-3-2-1 Eid ul-adha is so much fun! by Amira Gadd and Mariam Saada.

I realized later that I should have requested to go in myself to the class to discuss the holiday because I found out from my daughter that she didn’t do much other than read the book and pass out the pencils. But again, my daughter felt proud and that was enough for me. During the school holiday performance that year, I listened to Christmas songs in English and Spanish, Hanukkah songs, Kwanzaa songs, and even a Hawaiian Christmas song. I must tell you that I can count the school’s African American and Hawaiian population all on one hand. So, I felt very underrepresented and vowed to take a bigger stand the next year.

When my daughter got to 2nd grade, I had enough courage to plainly request that an Eid song be a part of their holiday performance. This time I got smart, and got 3 other families to sign the letter with me. Here is what we wrote:

Dear 2nd Grade Teachers;

We would like to let you know of an important holiday coming up in Mid-November: Eid Ul-Adha. It is not a very well known holiday but it is one of two holidays Muslims celebrate each year around the world. We follow a lunar calendar so our holidays fall on different dates each year.
During this holiday season, there are usually discussions in the classroom about different family traditions and students usually learn different holiday songs and/or do holiday crafts. We are 4 Muslim families currently in your classes this year. We would greatly appreciate it if some effort is made to include our traditions in your holiday discussions. We would be delighted if you choose an Eid song to include in your holiday program. Here is a link where you can listen to a very easy Eid song and we have attached the music sheet for it. We also have a picture book that discusses this Eid if you wish to borrow it. http://www.nancymusic.com/Eidplay.htm
Thank You.

One of the 2nd grade teachers, the best teacher in the world in my eyes, responded to our letter and said that 2nd grade will sing this song as part of their winter performance. Here is a youtube of their performance…

This same wonderful teacher also told us that they will be doing a holiday rotation, where the 2nd grade students visit 4 different classrooms and learn about 4 different holidays: Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and Eid. We were so delighted. Here is what was planned for the 30 glorious minutes:
The room was decorated with some Eid decorations I found online.The teacher did her own research and created a short powerpoint.She read aloud the book My First Ramadan. Ahead of time, we had baked and decorated star and crescent shaped cookies for the students to enjoy. Students were given a hand cutout and brown markers and they colored in designs similar to henna. And as a goodie bag, students received a couple of dates and a pencil inscribed with “HAPPY EID! EID MUBARAK!”
It was such a great day. The best part is that my daughter now feels that Eid is on the same footing as Christmas and Hanukkah. Alhamdulilah!
I can’t wait to see what I’ll get the courage to ask for in 3rd grade!”

My child loved watching this video from Creative Kids. She loved the idea of the author narrating his own story and illustrating it all. Taking inspiration from this video, she went on to creating her own Ramadan story. It took her a few minutes to get started, but it kept her busy for over two hours putting her thoughts on paper. She then did the next best thing- created her own video; by narrating it and flipping her pages to her story on my laptop camera. It was a great project to do. She wrote about all the things she gets to do in this special month of Ramadan that she doesn’t get to experience any other time.

I personally love the fact that it was all on video because how often do we save our children’s work? The papers get put aside in a safe place only to collect dust and perhaps end up in the trash can a few years later. I even had an idea of using this video as a “Ramadan Mubarak” card to email her grandparents and family members. I am sure they will enjoy seeing her on video and make their Ramadan that much more special. It’s just our way of sharing the joys of Ramadan and parenthood with our loved ones. I hope you get inspiration to do this project with your little ones.  A 3 minute video is really simple to create and email to dear ones. I am hoping she makes one for Eid and we can email it as our way of saying “Eid Mubarak” Insh’Allah!

Sr Alif  blogs

Ramadan and Eid Songs or Nasheeds are always special. Here is one written by Sister Umfaheem Abdul-Jameel. A Jannahsteps original, not one…..but two!

DOWNLOAD HERE: New Moon Ramadan Song

If You See the New Moon!

(Sung to the tune of “If you’re happy and you know it”)

If you see the new moon, it’s Ramadan!

If you see the new moon, it’s Ramadan!

It’s the 9th month of the year

in Islamic Calendar!

If you see the new moon, it’s Ramadan!

This song can be used to teach other Islamic months as well!  Just change the month and the number of the month.

If you see the new moon, it’s  ____________!

If you see the new moon, it’s  ____________!

If you see the new moon, it’s  ____________!

It’s the ___th month of the year

in Islamic Calendar!

If you see the new moon, it’s  ____________!

DOWNLOAD HERE: Eid Day

Eid Day!

(Sung to the tune of B.I.N.G.O)

Today is the day to celebrate

For it’s the day of Eid!

Take a bubble bath!

Put on your best clothes!

Pray at the masjid!

Then have fun all day!  

Umm Proffessional blogs

I just love the fact that there are so many websites now where you can easily get Islamic gifts! I usually like to give my children’s teacher something useful, up to date, and sometimes a Muslim related product. These are just simple gifts that you can give under $20.00, and wrap it up in a gift wrapper or toss it in a nice green bag that your child made (like).

1. Hijabs  are quite inexpensive here, and they have a variety of selections to choose from. View this site.

2. Teachers will love this wonderful magazine from this website (please note: you’ll be paying in British pounds). Sisters Magazine

3. Why not give something to decorate her home or office with these colorful modern Islamic art posters. Here.

4. Present a good Islamic Book like Women Around the Messenger from here with a homemade Bookmark from your child.

5. She may really like the perfume burner ($3.99) with a bottle of firdous perfume.

These are few ideas that I think my teachers will like. Have any suggestions to celebrate teachers and let them know how much we appreciate them? Leave a comment.

Eid is just around the corner! Hurry up and get the kids to fill in these easy to print Eid card templates.

Artsy Ummi blogs

Eid is just around the corner! Hurry up and get the kids to fill in these easy-to-print Eid card templates designed by our talented Sr Sadia Masroor. PS: Print on glossy card stock for that professional look!

Eid Card Template 1 DOWNLOAD HERE

Eid Card Template 1a DOWNLOAD HERE

Eid Card Template 2 DOWNLOAD HERE

Eid Card Template 3 DOWNLOAD HERE

Eid Card Template 4 DOWNLOAD HERE

You will find our previous Eid Card designs here

Islamic geometric patterns are so much fun to color. You can download them and have your children color them in all different patterns.

Islamic Geometric Patterns 1 DOWNLOAD HERE

Islamic Geometric Patterns 2 DOWNLOAD HERE

I have started the kids early this year- our big project is to create as many repeated patterns so we can paste them on card stock and create Eid cards for all of our friends and family. I figured any art work can be converted to a card, and I’ll have enough for everyone we know and just in time for Ramadan too!