Talk to Allah – an activity for young ones
I love this activity sent in by a mum which encourages children to talk to Allah, and gives them a little bit of guidance on how to focus that conversation!
Ramadhan Idea 25: Ramadan Lessons for Schools (and libraries)
A few people have asked about any sort of lesson plans for Ramadhan, to be able to do a presentation at school.
Here are a few options…
A. Ramadhan talk at school (put together by a mum):
1. Play the months of the year song and child can show her calendar
2. Ramadhan – why is it one of the most special months of the year? Because…
• The Holy Qur’an was sent down through angels – R can show the Qur’an and read a short chapter, with the meaning
• It is a chance for us to think about ourselves, about all the things we have said and done in the past year, whether we have been kind to people or not and to make promises about how we can try our best to even better next year.
• In fact Muslims love the month of Ramadhan so much that we all look out for the moon of Ramadhan on the first night – R can show her poster on the phases of the moon
3. Play ‘Ramadhan Moon’ (4:05)
4. In the month of Ramadhan, Muslims do lots of things:
• We spend lots of praying, reading the Qur’an and thinking
• We try our best not to say anything or do anything that might make others feel sad..so we try our best to use our bodies in a good way
• Don’t eat anything during the day and when we eat at night, start with milk and dates to give you energy and give thanks for all the wonderful food that you have to eat everyday
5. Use interactive whiteboard to talk about how our bodies are very special and it is nice to use them to do good things and to do things that make people happy. This is what Muslims try especially hard to do in the Month of Ramadhan. Group discussion and annotate diagram on the white board-how can we use our hands, eyes, ears, mouths, tummies, legs, heads in a good way?
6. Read a Ramadan storybook
7. Activity: Make a new moon poster
B. A Ramadan play/assembly for all of primary:
Here is a play/assembly that one school did with all the Muslim children in their school and it was very well received!
C. Ramadan talk at pre-schools and Key Stage 1:
Here is a lesson plan for teaching about Ramadan in Early Years
Here is a powerpoint on Ramadan – with a focus on the moon
D. Ramadan Activity Day in Primary Schools:
Here is an example of an activity day in school, teaching about Ramadan through hands-on activities!
E. One mum sent this in, from her time in at her child’s school:
“I thought I’d share these pictures. I went into my daughter’s school and we did a few Ramadhan activities.This is a British School in Bahrain – a lot of the kids (and teachers) really didn’t know much about Ramadhan so it was really nice spending time with them.
We made a telescope to spot the hilal (after we talked about the moon and watched a nasheed) – the teacher was so excited about the mobiles she told all the rest of the infant classes to make them too! We also made a moon and star mobile which was hung up in the school, and a good deed jar. With the good deed jar for every good thing the child would get a coin. At the end of each week the jar will be emptied and money given to charity. The kids were very enthusiastic!
We also drew around a few children and they labelled how the would fast with different parts of their body. Lots of fun! We finished off with Ramadhan goody bags for all the kids!”
F. Here is what another mum shared:
“Since Christmas my son Mahdi has been asking me to come to his school and talk about Ramadan! He had to be a bit patient but i finally went to my sons KG class and did a Ramadan class! The kids and teacher were super happy, but best of all was how excited my son was to share his holiday and be represented in the classroom!
We read Ramadan by Hannah Elliot and Curios George Celebrates Ramadan by Hena Khan. I used my flannel board to show the stages of the moon and how we follow the Lunar Calendar. I also had images of things relating to Ramadan: Quran, no eating, prayer, etc.
After learning about all the Ramadan terms we sang the Ramadan song from Elizabeth Lymers ‘Ramadan Rhymes’ book.
We then did our paper lantern crafts using white crayons to draw moon ? and stars ⭐️ that we would later watercolor paint on cardstock! I had ramadan nasheeds playing on a speaker while we crafted! ?
I ended the session by giving each kid a goody bag with a fruit snack and a paint it your self coin bank in the hopes that it would be used to collect for those less fortunate! (I had given this a lot of thought and went to dollar store to see what i could get for his 26 classmates. But in the end I realized I couldn’t stand the little dollar store trinkets that we all end up throwing away the next day so spent a little bit more on these great paint yourself banks that are $1 a piece at your local DT!)”
F. Here is what another mum shared:
“Last week we visited my daughters class for a Ramadan presentation. We started by introducing Ramadan, why and how we fast. Then I spoke to the kids about how they can fast with their bodies.
Kids were encouraged to come up and label the card board cut out of a girl. Mouth – tell the truth, hands, share etc…
Next all the kids made a good deed spinner – each section had one good deed. The idea was to spin each morning and see what deed they will concentrate on that day.
Finally we played a what’s behind the squares game. Here the kids had to try and figure out what was behind the squares. Kajoor, a mosque, someone visiting the sick etc. Each time the picture was revealed we talked about the significance. The final picture was one of their class which made them laugh!
Then we handed out moon shaped biscuits and Ramadhan party bags.”
P.S. This is what one mum gave out when she went into school!
G: Ramadan sessions at the library
One mum takes it one step further and goes to the local library to share Ramadan there! Working with the librarian, they came up with a lesson plan and voila! It’s now a yearly tradition and all the local library users join in. What a wonderful way of truly sharing Ramadan with the local communities around us!
Allah’s Awesome Creation – Ant Talk!
Subhanallah. Check out this video of research on ants communicating … something that has been in the Quran more than 1400 years ago!
‘When they approached the valley of the ants, one ant said, “O you ants, go into your homes, lest you get crushed by Solomon and his soldiers, without perceiving.” He smiled and laughed at her statement, and said, “My Lord, direct me to be appreciative of the blessings You have bestowed upon me and my parents, and to do the righteous works that please You. Admit me by Your mercy into the company of Your righteous servants” (Sura 27: 18-19).’
