Muslim Kids Book Nook (check her out on instagram!) put together a comprehensive list of Ramadan and Eid books! Check it out below:
Board Books 1. My Rhyming Eid Book by Fatima Salem 2. It’s Ramadan, Curious George by Hena Khan 3. R is for Ramadan by Greg Paprocki
Picture Books 1. Hassan and Aneesa Love Ramadan by Yasmeen Rahim 2. Hassan and Aneesa Celebrate Eid by Yasmeen Rahim 3. Ramadan Around the World by Ndaa Hassan 4. The Most Powerful Night by Ndaa Hassan 5. Ramadan Moon by Na’ima b. Robert 6. One Perfect Eid Day and No More Cake by Suzanne Muir 7. My First Ramadan by Karen Katz 8. Rashad’s Ramadan and Eid ul-Fitr Lisa Bullard 9. Hamza’s First Fast by Asna Chaudhry 10. A Little Tree’s Ramadan Adventure by Eman Salem 11. Who Will Help Me Make Iftar? By Asmaa Hussein 12. Rami the Ramadan Cat by Robyn Thomas 13. Lailah’s Lunchbox by Reem Faruqi 14. Iqbal and His Ingenious Idea by Elizabeth Suneby 15. Celebrating Eid ul-Fitr with Amma Fatima 16. Eid Breakfast at Abuela’s by Mariam Saad 17. The Gift of Ramadan by Shazia Nazlee 18. Migo and Ali: A-Z of Islam by Zanib Mian 19. My Grandma and Me by Mina Javaherbin 20. Golden Domes and Silver Lanterns by Hena Khan 21. Crescent Moons and Pointed Minarets by Hena Khan 22. [Personalized] Perfect Eid by Tasmea Mahmud 23. I’m Learning About Eid ul-Fitr by Sanyasnain Khan
Chapter Books 1. Planet Omar: Accidental Trouble Magnet by Zanib Mian 2. House of Ibn Kathir: Year Captain by S.N. Jalali 3. Bedir and the Beaver by Shannon Stewart 4. Isa’s First Fast by Hira Rizvi
In this time of Corona, with our mosques being closed, many of us may have tuned into majlis online. However, the act of doing a majlis in your living room and with all your family members is so beautiful and powerful. It establishes the importance for our children, invites blessings into the home, and shows Allah (swt) that even during these times of hardship when masjids are closed down, we continue to keep the tradition of majlis alive. Many families at times hesitate to do this because they don’t know where to start or what to do. Here is a list of ideas that people have shared which you can do with your children!
The atmosphere (optional): bring in the atmosphere of a majlis by dressing in the appropriate clothes (whether black for wafat or bright for wiladat), decorating the house with balloons/lights for wiladats, spreading a white sheet, wearing ithar perfume, bringing out your alams (if you have), and keeping a small tray of fruit for nazr/niyaz. Get your kids involved in this as much as possible, e.g. have them help you in the kitchen as you cut up fruit (apples, oranges, banana etc) and tell them this is our niyaz for after the majlis in which we serve in the name of our Imam and recite surahs on it.
After everything is set up, call all family to sit down together.
Qur’an: Begin with asking your children to recite the Holy Qur’an even if it’s one of the small surahs. If one of you kids can read, have them read the translation as well.
Hadith-e-Kisa – there are different options depending on the age of your children:
Option a) Recite Hadith-e-Kisa by watching this video or sing/recite it yourself using the lyrics under the video.
Option b): There are several books on Hadith-e-Kisa book on amazon, and since it may be short notice to order, you can download the kindle version and read it by printing or on a screen. Here is one of the books.
Option c): Recite Hadith-e-Kisa in Arabic yourself or have one of the kids recite it. Or read the translation.
Mystery Box: In a small box or a bag, have items related to the topic of today. Have your kids come and take out items from the bag and have them guess what today’s topic is, or if they already know who it is, have them explain how that item is related to him. If you have a younger crowd, explain to them the significance of each item.
Books: Read stories about the holy personality/event that you are marking.
Videos: Show videos on the holy personality/event that you are marking
Hadith: Have you children research and share hadiths on the holy personality/event that you are marking, if they are old enough. Otherwise choose one or two and explain it to them.
Lecture/Speech: Older children can prepare a talk, or a parent can give a small speech. You could also listen to a majlis online.
Other methods: Maybe the children can think of how to creatively share the information they have prepared for the occasion, such as through a puppet show, or an interactive quiz.
Arts and Crafts: Do an art or craft on the holy personality/event that you are marking. It could also be based on the hadith shared above. Or it could be doing some creative writing/drawing based on the lecture just heard.
Munajaat/Nawhas – Have children and family recite a munajaat/nawha on the occasion, whether in English or any other. Or why not ask older children to write a poem/munajaat/nawha of their own and recite that.
End with Ziyarah: Recite ziyarah with children. Younger children can say “Salaam alayka ya Rasoolallah and go down the list of the 14 masoomeen.
Recite Dua Faraj together
Then sit for niyaz and tea/juice. For wiladats, why not bake and decorate a cake for this occasion, then cut it just now while singing Happy Birthday to the holy personality!
* Thank you to Masooma Hydery Kalyan for compiling the original post!
A little while ago, I had come across a clip of young Christian children who were eager to share their favourite verses from the Bible with each other. They knew exactly where it was, and the Bible was obviously much loved and familiar to them… I began wondering how much that is the case with our (my!) children. I think they know verses here and there but i would love for them to have that familiarity with the Quran such that they can pick it out in an instant. We give recitation a lot of focus in our communities, and also memorisation (to check out our series on help with that, see: https://www.buzzideazz.com/quran-memorisation-series/ but that’s really only the first step. I turned to you amazing folks for inspiration, and you didn’t let me down! I thought i would turn it into a series and share some of these ideas that have come up for inshallah all to benefit.
The first one is starting with the basics – helping our children learn to read the language of the Quran, Arabic.
Toys and Games – there are many many toys and games out there which can help with the initial familiarisation of the letters of the alphabet, from building blocks, to peg boards, foam mats and more.
Linkage – As well as learning to recognise the sound of the letter, why not take it one step further and link it to Arabic words and even Quranic ayahs to enhance learning all round? That is exactly what Islam From the Start has done – check it out here for NOON, and AYN for example.
Technology – there are many apps and websites which make learning the Arabic language fun, and can even help with practising writing the lettes. These are always changing and updating, so it’s worth doing a quick search and finding something that suits. Here is just one example.
Books and Cards – There are also many books and card games available. The one featured as the main pic is a great one as it also helps with joining letters.
Posters – there are also great visuals out there to have up in the house. Here is one beautiful one.
Make it FUN and APPEALING to all learners – the videos below by Tanveer Shares contain many ideas on how to teach the alphabet and then tajweed rules and so forth.
Here are some for the Alphabet:
Here’s one for joining letters:
Here is a Quran Bingo game to use to assess the children:
Here is the template to download and use for the Quran Bingo.
And here’s another alternative assessment:
And here’s one for the rules of Nun Sukun and Tanween:
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