Globe Girl blogs

I chanced upon a beautifully illustrated children’s book: Kids of the Ummah by Peter Gould and Inshirah. Peter Gould as many of you may know, is a very popular upcoming Muslim artist who Mashallah does amazing things with his God given talent. You can take a look at his website here. 

Perhaps I cannot call it a “book” as Kids of the Ummah is a quality children’s publication or digital download. Which means, you can directly purchase it on this link. Then you will receive an email with the PDF file. This file can be opened on your PC/Mac, iPad or similar  device with PDF capabilities. Oh and did I mention, it can be purchased for JUST $1?!! Yes, one dollar!

I think it is a must have for any Islamic Preschool and Kindergarten….a great way to incorporate some kind of technology in class. It’s perfect to have on the iPad for your own kids to run their fingers through the gorgeous pages when they are waiting in line at the doctor’s office. I personally found this to be a decent first time exposure to Muslim names as well as getting acquainted to Islamic cities around the world. I found that my 7 year old loved observing the architectural differences and similarities. She asked questions about the newly heard of cities too. Where as I am sure a toddler will be just as happy to listen to you read and point at pictures and stare at the cute little peek-a-boo faces.

I hope they come up with some more titles to make a whole series, Inshallah!

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

“Verily we have sent it down as an Arabic Qur’ân in order that you may understand” Surah Yusuf: 2

I am getting a lot of requests to share Arabic activities for our littlest readers, so here is one we play in Ramadan….

Arabic Sahoor/Fasting Game: DOWNLOAD GAME HERE: Arabic Game

• Shuffle cards and place them in any container that the cards can sit in.
• The first player takes a card, saying the Arabic letter card they pull out. Also, they can pretend to eat it.
• This player keeps taking cards until a ‘fasting time’ card appears (which really means, you miss your turn!) then the play moves to the next person. When all cards have been played, count your cards. The player with the most cards is the winner!

Busy Baby Mama blogs

So the masjid is packed. You don’t want your child to be dangling his feet on the balcony of the sister’s section. You know your baby is going to wail every time the Imam recites Takbir. When you  are forced to stay home with your kids because you have no choice. Ramadan just doesn’t seem all too exciting anymore. Wrong! This is the best opportunity to have a wonderful bonding family time that you could ever imagine! Here are some simple tips to make the last ten days with your toddler a spiritual experience for everyone.

And if your toddler is a late night sleeper, and you just can’t get them to bed…well, why fight them?  Join them! 

1. Convert one of your rooms into a masjid. Fill your masjid room with prayer rugs, Quran stand, Copies of the Quran, Dhikr beads, some Islamic story books for kids. Add Islamic artwork on the wall. Try to have as little furniture as possible in the room.

2. Make a Chart of Good Deeds for praying this special Tarawih prayers. DOWNLOAD HERE: Toddler Tarawih Chart. Have a decorative box full of prizes and treats.

3. Have your child eat a full meal, and shower before the last Isha prayer.

4. Keep a special basket filled with hijabs and kufis. Only keep the hijabs that will not fall off while you pray. They tend to try putting it back on and get frustrated while you pray.

5. Boys can call the Adhan. So can little girls if they want too! Or have all the kids take turns each day! What a great opportunity to learn and practice the Adhan!

6. Hand out Special Ramadan Tarawih Tasks. Give them special tasks to make them feel important. Let them fix the rugs, check to see if they all are in a straight row. Place cups and bottles of water near each row for thirsty family members who have fasted all day while they pray! 

7. Pretend “Pray” with Dolls and Toys. Line up their dolls for prayer as well. They can be in the back. Begin by  imaginary play of the dolls wanting to go for Tarawih prayer. Dora can have hijab, and curious George can be an Imam.

8. For little babies and toddlers- Give them lots of distraction like snacks on nearby tables, and their favorite toys (not the noisy ones!)

9. After Isha prayer- Sit down and have them sing a Ramadan song, make a special dua, listen to Quran stories, recite the Quran. Let them listen to you read the Quran aloud, they tend to imitate, you might want to have some dua books so they can use that to imitate you.

10. Keep it short. “Read very short surahs, so if they join you in prayer, it’s easy for them to follow. Don’t get irritated if they jump on you and ride you like a horse. They may even run around while you are praying. It’s not really important that they pray, but they see YOU praying. Sometimes we are tempted to put them in another room and watch TV while we can peacefully make salah, but we allow the children to be slipped away by the dunya of entertainment.

11. After completing the Tarawih- Give them a sticker on their chart, and a treat from the treaure chest. Within a week, you will see that running around and horseplay will gradually slow down, and they may insist in leading the salaah, or calling the Adhan. They will automatically ask for hijab, and will even help you put out the prayer rugs. I never forget once when I finished my fard and started folding my rug, my child said,  ” What about sunnah?”

12. Before going to bed, let them listen to the Quran. Ending the day with Quran is the best thing you can do with your child. Tuck them in with an Islamic story, and recite their duas, dhikr, Surahs and go to bed!

Sister Reminder blogs

“Remember thy Lord inspired the angels (with the message): “I am with you: give firmness to the Believers….” (8:12)

The Battle of Badr is a fascinating historic event that Muslim youth should be exposed to in a creative and legendary way. Just as we are entertained by the media on  the brilliant military chivalries of Robin Hood and King Arthur, we can celebrate  Prophet Muhammad (SAW) and his companions who led  one of the  greatest military campaigns and battles ever fought.

Steps for Kids to learn more about The Battle of Badr, that took place in Ramadan.

1. You can read the basic information with your children here. 

2. You can watch the movie battle of Badr video on you tube. 

3. Islamic Trivia for older kids. First they have to read the information and study it through out the day. You can make questions on a index cards and set up the quiz after Iftar. The one who answers most of them correctly gets a prize.

4. Have them answer the questions online. The child who scores the highest, wins!  

5. For younger ones, you can dress them up in costumes (I had done this with my boys). They can wear white jilabia and cut a white muslin strip of cloth(2 1/2 ‘ x 1/2′) as a turban. You can make sword balloons. This was my son’s favorite part! We even made turban balloons for the Quraish! None of my boys wanted to be the bad guys so we put them on our teddy bears and relatives who were “stuck’ in the house.

6. Make a LapBook like this one from Muslim Learning Garden. I found this link just as I was about to post this!  

Sr Alif blogs

Lesson #1  

Narrated by Aisha, Ummul Mu’minin: When the Apostle of Allah (peace_be_upon_him) arrived after the expedition to Tabuk or Khaybar (the narrator is unsure), the draught raised an end of a curtain which was hung in front of her store-room, revealing some dolls which belonged to her.

He asked: What is this? She replied: My dolls. Among them he saw a horse with wings made of rags, and asked: What is this I see among them? She replied: A horse. He asked: What is this that it has on it? She replied: Two wings. He asked: A horse with two wings? She replied: Have you not heard that Solomon had horses with wings? She said: Thereupon the Apostle of Allah (peace_be_upon_him) laughed so heartily that I could see his molar teeth.

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Make a toy horse with wings to teach kids about this incident! My friend’s 4 year old daughter Ayeshah was quietly playing in the living  room, as I was chatting with her mother. I had to take a sneak peak to look at why she was so quiet. To my pleasant surprise she was not watching television or zoned on Leapster, but playing with a small toy horse. I exclaimed, “Oh Ayesha! That’s exactly what the Prophet’t wife used to play with. She had the same name like you too-Ayeshah. She played with a horse toy too…but her horse  had wings!” “Why did it have wings?” So I told her the hadith about the toy horse. “My horse does not have wings…I know!! I can make my OWN wings!” and then she left in a hurry to her room, and came back with two cut out paper wings and she asked me to help her color the wings as she add the finishing touches. And voila! 

Lesson #2   

Narrated Ar-Rubi’ bint Mu’awadh: The Prophet sent a messenger to the village of the Ansar in the morning of the day of ‘Ashura’ (10th of Muharram) to announce: ‘Whoever has eaten something should not eat but complete the fast, and whoever is observing the fast should complete it.’  She further said, “Since then we used to fast on that day regularly and also make our boys fast. We used to make toys of wool for the boys and if anyone of them cried for, he was given those toys till it was the time of the breaking of the fast.”

Get inspired and teach your children to get busy and creative while fasting- just as their little brothers did from generations ago! Here is a list to of ways to keep the kids occupied and relive our deen’s history from this hadith:

Make Muslim yarn dolls: Crafty? Get creative with Umm Abdul Basir’s Muslim Yarn Dolls. 

Make a Muslim doll : Not that crafty? Use Smart Ark’s simple Doll craft kit.

Make Muslim Paper dolls: Download these paper dolls! From A Muslim Child is Born blog.

Lesson #3 

 It’s so important to study and learn our history and deen directly from the Quran. It is rich in stories that we all can learn from. Teaching Quran may be challenging to some,  but an introduction to all the prophets’ stories is a great way to begin!  

Teaching Islamic Stories using Lego figurines: Older children will enjoy this project a lot. After reading through the many pages of the Quran in this fun and creative form, they will surely inspire to make their own. This is a very effective way to learn from the Quran. Why not make them study Surah Kahf on Friday and then get them to make their own Cave stories with their lego pieces? 

These are just ideas to interest your child in Islam by using the means that they enjoy the most.  If something worked for you and your child, we would love to hear from you and add it to this list! Write to us at jannahsteps@gmail.com

Sister Reminder blogs

It is reported that “The Prophet (pbuh) was naturally the most generous of people and he used to be more generous than ever in the month of Ramadan” (Sahih Bukhari)

Ramadan can not be a month of fasting without the month of giving. Just as salah and zakah go hand in hand, so does this holy month with charity. Here are some interesting Ramadan charity ideas that can easily be done as a family or as a masjid community. And….don’t just stop after Ramadan! After this month it can continue on as a long term project, and a life long endeavor.

Make a Family Sadaqa Jar 

A friend of mine gave me a wonderful idea about making a family Sadaqa jar which can be made from an empty plastic jar. It’s good to be able to see the jar, so your child can see the money piling up. Every time they want to run to get an ice cream truck, or get a pizza, or want to buy something from the store-tell them to decide if they want to buy the item or place that money to the sadaqa box. Majority of the time they may opt to give instead. Every time they receive money from relatives, a portion of it can go to the  box. Before the end of Ramadan, you can have them open it up and count to see how much money can be raised by just collecting nickels and dimes! They can donate it to their favorite charity organization.

Fundraise for a Cause

A wonderful homeschool mom from Brooklyn sent us her idea to raise $ for the African Horn Famine. Jezak-Allah for the your idea! “My son did a great activity and raised over $160 dollars (through his relatives at iftarr) for the people of Somolia and Ethiopia (29,000 kids have already died this month from the famine!) We are going to send the money through Islamic Relief.

Just take a Ragu bottle (any bottle will do) and take tissue paper of all sizes- mix some elmers glue with water to paint all those tissues papers on. Then write a letter of appeal together. I wrote it and he held the crayon with me. Last, cut out strips of paper and write thank you. this is the person donating ticket they get as like  a receipt for their donation.
Masha’Allah its amazing how much those cute little faces can raise when they ask for money heh!”

Adopt an Orphan

This website Orphans in Need provide you with one to one connection with the orphan around the world. Only about $50.00 a month, you can provide an orphan clean water, shelter, nutritious food, medical attention, and education. They guarentee your contribution will be used on the child 100%, and not go to the overhead expense.

This organization provides information about your child you sponsored, and you receive a monthly report about the child’s progression. You will also have opportunity to communicate directly by sending letters and gifts, as well as visitation rights.

They are also building an ‘eco-freindly’ orphan village outside Delhi, India which will accommodate hundreds of children who would normally live in slums that exist in and around the major urban areas of  India.

Clean the Masjid

You don’t always have to give money… instead, give your time. I saw one high school MSA group that came together and cleaned the masjid before Jumma. This was a great help for the older gentleman working there who usually cleans the entire masjid himself before the Friday prayer!

Create an Eid Toy Drive in Your Local Community Masjid. Set a date for an Eid Toy Drive Give Away. I would do it a few days or even weeks before Eid to lessen the burden. Hand out flyers to masjids, Muslim businesses, and even in local non-Muslim supermarkets.  Then send out emails, facebook, and twitter your event to get your friends interested in donating new toys. You can remind them that it can be considered part of  their Sadaqatul -Fitr. And the needy kids will actually get gifts before Eid!

You can also support the National Eid Toy Drive and buy from http://muslimtoysanddolls.com/. For every $20.oo you buy from the store site, they give one toy and two gifts for parents of impoverished children in the US. It is wrapped and it comes with an Eid Card. The company’s goal is to give 2000  toys this year. For more information you can call 866-390-1559.

Sr Alif blogs

So many math concepts can be taught in the month of Ramadan! Here are some nifty ideas with masjid math connections! 

1. Here is a shape coloring page for kids to color during Tarawih time! DOWNLOAD HERE: masjid math #1

2. Build some Masajid from around the world using pattern blocks. Pattern blocks are a popular form of teaching geometry, symmetry, and patterns. This site offers an Islamic twist. Well worth printing the color downloads too: http://www.scribd.com/doc/21335679/pattern-blocks-masjids

3. Have fun making these 3-D Masjid using legos. What a great way to spend time with your child building masajid with legos! This clever Muslim mom made wonderful masajid with her child. Two models so far…would love to see some more!

4. Recycle containers can be made into 3-D mosques! This is quite a challenge if your kids are little, but it’s good pass time if you like to papermache and have the time to spend with them. I would recommend making a smaller masjid with the little ones, and tape the boxes together before the child adds the strips. Also, this is a great way to teach 3-D shapes i.e.cube, cylinder, dome, pyramid. This is a great project for the older ones to complete on their own! 

Artsy Ummi blogs

Fanoos Lamps that originated in Egypt around 969 AD have widely been incorporated into other parts of the world including the United States. The history of how the fanoose lamp originated is mixed with legendary  tales of Fatimid Caliph Moezz el-din’s entrance to Egypt in the early part of Ramadan. The Egyptians recieved him with lamps and torches, and since then the Fanoos has been known as one of the icons of Ramadan. Another explanation for this lamp tradition is that during the 12th century in the reign of Mumlek, the women were mostly restricted to stay home after dark. However during Ramadan, they were permitted to go to break their fast with their relatives, as long as they had a child leading the way with a fanoose. This allowed the men to know that the women were coming, so they cleared the path for them out of respect.

If you go to Egypt in Ramadan, you can see the children continuing the lamp holding tradition, running in the streets after dark with their fanoos swinging  from their hands, collecting sweets and money.  You can hear the children singing about the Mesahaty who carries the Fanoos and  wakes people up at night in order to eat before Fajr. The traditional fanoose is made of tin and glass, however this has become a craft tradition in America to both Muslims and Non-Muslims to celebrate the welcoming of Ramadan. Most of them made from paper materials, that use LED lights instead of candles!

Here are some crafty Muslim mom Fanoos Lamp List. 

Here’s a great recycling idea! It might take you two days to make this although it is very easy! 

http://www.americasmuslimfamily.com/hullabaloo/fanoos/fanoos.html

Very cute paper fanoos, It also looks like hmmmm…minature pinatas!

http://muslimlearninggarden.wordpress.com/2010/09/20/eid-lantern-fanoos/

Here’s a link to make your own LED lights with sheet protectors, so easy and beautiful! I also like the Ramadan Gift Bag idea on this same link. You can gift your home made lanterns in these gift bags. 

http://growmama.com/tutorial/ramadan-crafts/

Busy Baby Mama blogs

The Prophet (pbuh) said “This is the month of charity in which believer’s sustenance is increased. Whosoever feeds a fasting person or gives a fasting person a single date or a sip of water, to break the fast, for him there shall be forgiveness of his sins and he will be saved from the fire of hell, and for him shall be the same reward as for him (whom he fed)” (Tirmidhi)

The children are  never too young to learn about charity. It seems the younger they are, the more compassion they have for those who do not have. I remember hearing that one masjid made Iftar baskets to give to the needy people around their area. So my daughter and I got busy, and made our own.

Here are the steps you can take to make your own Iftar basket.

1. Buy baskets at the 99cent stores, or sometimes thrift stores have a good deal of them! You also need cellophane wrapper , tape, and ribbons.

2. Buy food items that can make one family meal. For example-For Pasta Dish, Buy spaghetti, tomato sauce, spices, fresh oregano or thyme, pamasan cheese will go in the basket. You can even add your favorite recipe too.

3. Have your child put them inside the basket. Explain each ingredient will make  the recipe. Help your child wrap the basket with cellophane. Add tape to any openings. Twist at the top, and wrap it with tape to secure the top.

4. Embellish it with Ribbons and Eid Cards! This one was a dot paint Eid Card made by my little infamous artist!