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:
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.Nasheedthat 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.
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.
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.
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!”
From ‘Aa’ishah, RA who said: “The Prophet SAW used to tighten his waist-wrapper (izaar) – (meaning detached himself from his wives in order to worship, and exerted himself in seeking Lailatul-Qadr), spend the night in worship, and wake the family in the last ten nights.”
(Bukhari, Muslim)
A night such as Lailatul Qadr is a special night, let’s not over look the idea of teaching our children about it!
Points to remind the children about this special Night of Power:
1. This was not granted to any other religious community (Ummah) before Muslims.
2. Allah gave us this one night to do as much worship as we can do because one night of worship is like worshipping for 1000 months! And 1000 months equal more than 83 years of your life! Imagine if we can get all our Ibadah done in this one night? How lucky we would be when we have to face our scales on the Day of Judgement?
3. It is the night in which the Qur’an’s first words were revealed to Muhammad (SAW).
4. It is the night when every matter of ordainment is decreed.
5. Qadr means Power
Signs of Lailatul Qadr
Allah has kept this night a secret, but we know that it falls in the last 10 days of Ramadan. There are also some signs that reveal which night is Lailatul Qadr:
The night will be peaceful, neither hot nor cold, with a clear moon shinning but with no rays.
There will be no shooting stars in the night
At sunrise the sun will rise as just a disc without and radiant beams of light.
One companion of the Prophet reported that on Lailatul Qadr he tasted sea water and it was sweet.
Narrated ‘Aisha: “Allah’s Apostle said, ‘Search for the Night of Qadr in the odd nights of the last ten days of Ramadan.’” (Sahih Bukhari, Volume 3, Book 32, Number 234)
Rasool SAW said: “Whoever stands in (Prayer) in Lailatul-Qadr out of Eemaan and seeking reward then his previous sins are forgiven.” (Bukhari)
‘Aa’ishah, RA said: “O Messenger of Allaah! What if I knew which night Lailatul-Qadr was, then what should I say in it?” He said: “Say: Allaahumma innaka ‘affuwwun tuhibbul ‘afwa fa’fu ‘annee.” (O Allaah you are the one who pardons greatly, and loves to pardon, so pardon me.) (at-Tirmidhi, Ibn Majah)
Islamic Story
The knowledge of Lailatul Qadr was removed from Prophet’s memory when he saw two Muslims arguing.
‘Ubaadah ibn as-Saamit, RA said: The Prophet SAW came out intending to tell us about Lailatul-Qadr, however two men were arguing and he said: “I came out to inform you about Lailatul-Qadr but so and so, and, so and so were arguing, so it was raised up, and perhaps that is better for you, so seek it on the (twenty) ninth and (twenty) seventh and the (twenty) fifth.” (Bukhari)
This story teaches the children that Muslims should not fight or even argue among themselves or we lose Barakah. Also, that we can never be sure when is Lailtul Qadr so it’s better to observe all of these nights in the hope of catching the real night. More Ibadah, more Thawab!
Crafts and Activities
Set up a kids tent for Itikaaf. Equipped with sleeping bags, quran, dua book, and snacks, have them set up a little tent in the living room to observe Itikaaf.
Make a Cave Hira Painting: Have your child mix sand and brown paint, and paint Cave-Hira. Paint the sky navy blue or black. Add the first Ayat of Suratul Alaq in English. Here is a sample. Write The Night of Power! Lailatul-Qadr in Arabic with glitter. You can also add glitter inside the cave.
“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!
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:
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
Who Doesn’t Like a Good Date? Nutrition and fun all in the same package? That’s what you get when you make these yummy date bars with the kids!
Originating in the desert oasis of northern Africa and southwest Asia, the date is thought to be one of the world’s oldest cultivated fruits.
The Prophet of Allah (SAW) is reported to have said: “If any one of you is fasting, let him break his fast with dates. In case he does not have them, then with water. Verily water is a purifier.”
Dates are rich in natural fiber, vitamins, and minerals. Fresh dates are easily digestible and are therefore good for supplying the body with quick energy. Dates contain oil, calcium, sulphur, iron, potassium, phosphorous, manganese, copper and magnesium which are all advantageous for health. And so the consumption of even one date daily can lend itself to a balanced and healthy diet. Pair the dates with a cookie, and you’ve got a winning combination everyone is sure to love!
Oatmeal Date Bars
Ingredients
1 cup pitted and chopped dates
½ cup water
¼ cup sugar
1 ½ cups quick–cooking oats
1 cup all–purpose flour
1 cup packed brown sugar
½ tsp. baking soda
¼ tsp. salt
1/3 cup melted butter
1 egg white
Directions
In a small saucepan, combine the dates, water, and sugar. Cook and stir until the mixture comes to a boil.
Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 5 minutes or until mixture is thickened, stirring constantly.
In a large bowl, combine the oats, flour, brown sugar, baking soda, and salt. Stir in the butter and egg white until blended. Pat half of the mixture into an 8 inch square baking dish coated with non-stick cooking spray.
Carefully spread with date mixture. Gently pat remaining oat mixture over date mixture.
Bake at 350 degrees F for 20 – 25 minutes or until lightly browned.
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.
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
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!
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!
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.
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