Sr Alif blogsHappy Islamic New Year! We are in the 1st month of our Hijri Calendar and the focus around the world in Islamic classrooms whether in schools or homes is about educating students the Islamic Months of the calendar!
Teaching children the names of the Islamic months is not as challenging as some may think. If you remember to teach in a fun and creative way, children can memorize it in no time! Remember the 3 Learning Styles using Auditory, Visual, and Kinesthetic senses. Always keep in mind what kind of learner your child is and introduce concepts in the way that will best appeal to his learning disposition. It may be that they have more than one or all three learning styles (as in the case of classrooms), so don’t hesitate to try more than one activity, and don’t forget to repeat the concept as children master with repetition. Inshallah.
1. For Auditory Learners- Make a Rhyme or Sing a Month Song. Auditory learners get the most out of listening; they will be able to respond better to spoken instructions versus written instructions. Involve your little auditory learner in a rhyme! Songs are just a fun way to engage multiple age groups, and you will find that kids grasp concepts and information faster with a rhyme!My Recommendation: If you are not the creative kind to make up your own verse or two, then why not leave it to the experts- Yusuf Islam’s Islamic Month’s Song (link below) is an exceptionally catchy and educational song. Surprisingly, we all (yes, mom and dad included) learned the months and its order in the Hijjri Calendar this way. Play it on the way to school, or just listen to it at home during coloring time, and see how the months catch on!
2. For Visual Learners- Make Your Own Hijri Calendar. I am a visual learner and making illustrations or drawing pictures always helps me visualize the information I am learning about and helps me retain information more clearly. Get your little visual learner to make an illustrated calendar of his own.My Recommendation: Print this Hijri Calendar Template (download PDF below) on heavy white cardstock. Get your child to color in the names of the month and illustrate the month with images they can associate for each month -perhaps an important day, child’s birthday, upcoming special event or trip, etc. Children tend to comprehend new ideas when they are connected to prior knowledge.
You can also decorate the calendar with gems and glitter or turn it into a scrapbook project and print small size photos to paste on each page. You can also paint their hands and feet and put their imprints on some of the pages. The project will be a fun way to make a special keepsake alongside learning the calendar months and one that the child will enjoy turning the pages to!
3. For Kinesthetic or Tactile Learners- Play Games with Calendar Flashcards. Tactile learners often learn by carrying out a physical activity, and these activities that involve “doing” help tactile learners grasp concepts sooner. They may struggle to learn by reading or listening. Playing flashcard games or playing physical games about the months may be a better bet to teaching tactile learners about the Hijri months.My Recommendation: Play some games with flashcards. If your child is able to hold, touch and feel the flash cards with the months on it, it will introduce the concept in a more appropriate manner than if he were to memorize the months by listening and repeating. Print these flashcard templates (download PDF below) on heavy white cardstock paper or laminate them for durability. Pick a game idea from my list depending on your child’s age group, or make your own!
Game Idea #1: Shuffle the flash cards and get the child to place them in order of the month starting with Muharram. You can play Yusuf Islam’s song in the background to help the child know the order of the months while he is sorting out the cards, or you can call out the order while the child finds the correct month and places it on the floor.
Game Idea #2: Play a memory game with the cards, take turns saying what you would do or want to do in each month (in the correct month order)….and when it is the turn of the next player, the player has to first say what was done in the previous month before he adds a new task for his month.
Player 1: In Muharram, we celebrated the New Year.
Player2: In Muharram, we celebrated the New Year. In Safar, it was so hot!
Player 3: In Muharram, we celebrated the New Year. In Safar, it was so hot! In Rabi ul Awal, we visited Spain…..and so on.
You need a minimum of two players for this game. Place the flashcards in order for reference in the front of the players. Once the months are mastered, then you can make this game challenging by mixing the cards and placing them in random order. The child whose turn it is will pick out the correct month from the cards before he proceeds to add a “story” to it. And as they play, they place the cards in correct month order.
Game Idea #3: You can make a variation of Game# 2 for the younger ones by just sticking to the months, use the flash cards for this game too, so the kids have something to manipulate while playing this game…..
First arrange all the cards in the month order in line.
Player 1 picks the first month card and says “Muharram” and passes his card to Player 2 who says what’s on the card and then picks the next month card from the arrangement and says…. “Muharram, Safar”
Player 2 then passes his cards to Player 3 who in turn has to repeat the previous cards in order and then pick a fresh card and he says… “Muharram, Safar, Rabi ul Awal”
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