This blog-post was written in partnership with Al Maurid Books. Although I was compensated for my time, and given a review copy of the book, all opinions expressed here are 100% my own.
Teaching the 99 Names of Allah to children can be challenging for any Muslim parent. In our Muslim homeschool, we use a variety of crafts and hands-on activities to help our children remember the 99 names of Allah.
I believe that learning the names of Allah does not need to be rushed. By taking our time, we allow the names of Allah to impact on their hearts, thereby helping to nurture a deeper and stronger connection to the Divine insha’Allah.
Each activity below is designed to help children understand the 99 names of Allah. The names themselves can seem complicated and somewhat abstract to young children. By associating the Divine name with an activity or craft, we show the children a more concrete representation of that name, creating a connection that will help with memorisation, as well as their understanding.
And besides….it’s so much more fun this way!!!
To watch a Youtube Video about all the activities we have been doing,
CLICK ON THE VIDEO BELOW!
Why should Children Learn the 99 Names of Allah?
Learning the names of Allah (swt) is a great way to help children to understand the nature of Allah and create a love for the divine in their hearts insha’Allah.It has been narrated Abu Huraira that the Prophet (SAW) said,
“Allah has ninety-nine names, i.e. one-hundred minus one, and whoever knows them will go to Paradise.”
Sahih Al-Bukhari – Book 50 Hadith 894
Allah
The first place we began is with the name “Allah.”Using a FREE TEMPLATE of the name, we filled in the letters with sequins and buttons to make a beautiful calligraphy to hang-up on our wall. For more information on this craft CLICK HERE
Alternatively, you could use glitter, tissue paper or even make a collage from old magazines or newspapers.
Al-Khaliq
Al-Khaliq can be translated as “The Creator”.
For this name, I felt the best way to teach the children about how Allah creates, is to witness His creation.
So we went outdoors; to the park, to the woods, and just around our own garden, and spent some time talking together about what Allah had created. We talked about how He created everything from nothing, with no help.
This concept is something that even the youngest of children can understand. Allah made the clouds, Allah made the sun, Allah made the birds etc. I asked the children to collect things from our nature walk. We came home with so many twigs, leaves and flowers!
Once we got home, we made a poster using a FREE Colouring Page of the name Al-Khaliq.
Around the name we stuck all the beautiful things that the chlidren had collected. It looked lovely up on the kitchen wall!
For more details about this craft, you can read my previous blogpost HERE.
Al-Malik
Al-Malik translates as “The King.”
As a visual representation of this name, the children made a crown! Whilst they were making it, we talked about how Allah doesn’t wear a crown, and how Allah does not look like any king that they can imagine. We spoke a little about the role of a king and I asked them,“Who is the King of the Kings? ….. Allah!”
If you would like to make this crown with your children, CLICK HERE.
Ar- Razzaq
Recently, we have been learning the name Ar-Razzaq which translates as “The Provider.”
To help the children understand this name better, we have been using the book “Aishah Learns to Bake” by Latifah Peerbux.
This is the story of a young girl called Aishah who wants to bake. Her mum agrees to teach her how, but she asks her to guess all the ingredients they need. What is wonderful is how her mum uses clues with an Islamic or Prophetic twist!!!
For example, as a clue for dates, her mum says,
“Allah even says we find this fruit up in heaven! It’s the same fruit we eat in Ramadan to break our fast!”
Aishah Learns to Bake by Latifah Peerbux
Aishah continues to guess all the ingredients for her cakes, learning more and more as she does so.
The book ends with her father explaining to her how Allah is Ar-Razzaq, the Provider.
It’s a sweet and heart-warming story that helps children to understand what a blessing it is to have food, as well as the Blessings that different foods contain; and ultimately to be more grateful to Allah for providing us with them.
As the hands-on activity, we made the Honey and Date cupcakes that Aishah and her mum baked. They were delicious! Alhumdulillah!
Al- Wadood
Al-Wadood can be translated as “The Most Loving.”
The idea that Allah loves us, even more than mummy and daddy, is something that even very young children will understand.
This art activity is a great one for small kids too! We drew the outline of a heart onto a piece of paper. The children then scrunched up lots of small piece of tissue paper and glued them all over the heart!
They looked so pretty, and were a wonderful visual reminder that Allah loves them!
Ar-Rahman
Most recently, we have been looking at the name Ar-Rahman, which can be translated as “The Most Compassionate.”I’m still thinking about what hands-on activity we can use to help the children to better understand this concept.
My initial idea was to ask the children to take care of our cats for a week. I hope that this will teach them that just as they are taking care of their cats, Allah is taking care of them, and their family, and all the people in the whole world, and all of creation!
What do you think? If you have a better idea I’d really appreciate it if you would share it with us all in the comments section below!!!
Have you been teaching the 99 Names of Allah to your children?
How do YOU approach it?
If you have any useful resources, I’d love to hear about them.
Please let us all know by leaving a comment down below!
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47 Comments on How to Teach the 99 Names of Allah to Children
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Ghada Salem
26/08/2016 at 9:52 pm (7 years ago)Lovely Mashallah ❤️
Shahida Khalid Reshamwala
01/03/2019 at 7:52 pm (4 years ago)Awesome ?way to teach the kids.
Mashallah, may Allah reward u for this…Ameen
Gemma Somauroo
12/03/2019 at 8:47 am (4 years ago)JazakAllah khayr! Thank you Shahida 🙂
Muna
06/12/2019 at 3:07 am (3 years ago)JazakiALLAHU Khairan!
Gemma Somauroo
18/12/2019 at 9:52 pm (3 years ago)Wa iyyakum
revert life
02/09/2016 at 3:11 pm (7 years ago)Really lovely such good ideas mashaAllah
lisha945
20/10/2016 at 2:55 am (6 years ago)thank you so much for sharing this! I am a new teacher so its helpful to get my ideas flowing!
Saroosh M
02/01/2017 at 2:31 am (6 years ago)Excellent ideas! Just recently I was gushing about the importance of learning the 99 names of Allah. These resources and ideas would be perfect for my preschooler brother. Jazakillah! =)
renata sadjad
18/01/2017 at 8:48 am (6 years ago)Masya Allah. This is wonderful. I am also a new Islamic teacher. Teaching a class of 3-5 year olds. I would be great to get in touch and learn more.
Khadijah Ahmad
02/04/2017 at 6:45 am (6 years ago)Subhanallah mashallah I’m amazed at how thoroughly you homeschool AND have time to run such a successful and information rich blog!
Regarding explaining compassion-how about making some simple packages for homeless people? Homeless people can look quite scary but showing compassion -I think- is about being sympathetic and helpful to everyone despite it maybe feeling initially uncomfortable. Because it’s easy to feel compassion in some situations and not others…
Or you could donate items to local refugee families? Or sponsor a child? We go through action aid as you get a letter and drawing from your sponsored child every few months (probably dependent on country and postal system!) and we write letters back. More of a long term compassion project but could also involve learning about sadaqah!
Gemma
03/04/2017 at 2:46 pm (6 years ago)Thank you Khadijah!
I love how those ideas highlight the importance of community and sadaqah in the children’s learning.
Jazakillahu khayrun!
jamela
07/09/2017 at 10:59 pm (6 years ago)Assalam Alikum
I love these ideas! Please let me know how I can get this from you as a curriculum maybe for more of the names? Also I can not open the links it goes to a error page. Please let me know what to do jak!
Gemma Somauroo
08/09/2017 at 1:55 pm (6 years ago)Walaykum assalaam! Thank you for highlighting the fact that my links are not working. I will try to fix that.
I haven’t made a curriculum for this, but I do need to write another blog post for the other names we have studied. Insha’Allah.
Thank you for you support.
Rabeea
03/01/2021 at 11:59 am (2 years ago)Hey Assalamualaikum! Were you able to write another one? It’s 100 days to Ramadan and this article has been extremely helpful in making a plan for the next few days and I would absolutely love to learn more about how to teach my preschooler the rest of the names 🙂
Haia
08/09/2017 at 7:29 pm (6 years ago)Beautiful ideas mashaAllah. Thanks
Metia
14/09/2017 at 9:39 am (6 years ago)Maasyaa Allaah…love your idea sister:)
Umm Y
26/09/2017 at 8:34 pm (6 years ago)Assalamo aleikom!
May Allah reward, such good ideas!
Gemma Somauroo
03/10/2017 at 3:30 pm (5 years ago)Walaykum assalaam. Ameen. Thank you for visiting our blog and taking the time to comment 🙂
Rukia
31/12/2017 at 12:12 pm (5 years ago)Masha Allah. Great ideas. I have used many ideas from here in our Sunday class. Jazak Allahu khair.
Gemma Somauroo
31/12/2017 at 2:34 pm (5 years ago)Really?!? That’s wonderful! Thank you Rukia, you’ve made my day. JazakAllahu khayrun
Ariba
28/02/2018 at 8:42 pm (5 years ago)MashaAllah loved those ideas!! I wish I had come across this blog earlier..did you do other Names too? Would love to know how you did them.
Binta Inuwa
14/03/2018 at 6:11 am (5 years ago)Masha Allah sister! Thanks for the wonderful contribution.
Vittoria
04/05/2018 at 2:20 pm (5 years ago)MashAllah you have great ideas for this subject, I believe they will work perfectly with my children too, InshAllah ?
Gemma Somauroo
07/05/2018 at 11:43 am (5 years ago)Alhumdulillah! That’s wonderful!
Yamama
08/06/2018 at 8:10 pm (5 years ago)Thank you soooo much every idea you took abuot are so beautiful. Follow me in instagram @the_ambitious_mother i put there alot of ideas about islamic activities
Yamama
08/06/2018 at 8:14 pm (5 years ago)Nice thank you sooo much follow me in instagram the_ambitious_mother. I put alot of activities about islam for kids ❤️❤️❤️
Fatima
09/03/2019 at 10:11 pm (4 years ago)MashaAllah fantastic ideas sis. Jzk khayr for sharing. I would love to see how you teach the rest of Allah’s names. Thank you again.
Gemma Somauroo
12/03/2019 at 8:38 am (4 years ago)Thank you Fatima. I appreciate it!
Maliha
10/05/2019 at 5:58 am (4 years ago)Masha Allah I like the practical way of learning and I believe we are taught that kidz learn easily with pictures or practical way but it’s difficult for me to get that thing in Islamic learning you gave me a way. Plz share more ideas for kidz activity to keep their interest in learning more about islam
Tasneem
16/01/2020 at 11:06 am (3 years ago)JazakAllah for sharing these brilliant ideas Alhamdulillah. It’s been a goal of mine to learn the 99 names as my kids know more of them (from learning them @ school) than I do! I think the creative right brain activities linked to the memorization capability of the left brain will be just the thing I need to get them to dig deeper into their understanding of the names & to get me to finally commit them to memory inshaAllah Aameen. JazakAllah khayr kindest soul!
Gemma Somauroo
17/01/2020 at 2:31 pm (3 years ago)Thank you Tasneem! I sincerely hope these activities help you to memorise the 99 names of Allah, and you enjoy getting creative! Much love – Gemma x
Saima
02/02/2020 at 4:23 am (3 years ago)I’m so glad I came across this website ! Masha Allah u have amazing ideas and Thankyou so much for sharing them with us, May Allah rewards u ♥️. U could use play Doh to make things to teach the names or even the kids can attempt to write the name in Arabic or use Paper mache to make things ,
Aneeza Nadeem
06/02/2020 at 1:38 pm (3 years ago)Mash’Allah these are brilliant ideas, may Allah reward you greatly for sharing these with us. I have recently started home educating my children and have been thinking of how to introduce more Islamic teaching at home. Think these activities will work nicely for us.
Jazak’Allah khair
P.S. If you have studied more names please share!
Shazia
02/05/2020 at 11:37 pm (3 years ago)Masha’Allah, Alhamdulilah you are doing great in the way you are teaching your kids. May Allah bless you and your children. I too am trying to teach my kids the knowledge of Islam and this has really helped to give me some ideas I can do with my kids. Thank you
amera
02/06/2020 at 2:57 am (3 years ago)None of your files open as pdf.
are these really free to download or just advertisements.
Gemma Somauroo
06/06/2020 at 3:14 pm (3 years ago)All the links are working on my end Amera. Please Kindly check your privacy settings which may be blocking pop ups. They are free, not ads.
Utfa
16/07/2020 at 5:15 am (3 years ago)Salam sis thank you for every advise and may The Al Wahid The one who has created everything bless you and your family always.
It’s been few weeks I had started teaching the 99 names of Allah to my kids by writing one name of Allah on the white board with it’s meaning and leaving it on the board for a week plus with a dua that says pray with me. Also we go through the names on line with the flash cards with Tariq the tigers flash card and then we discuss the name and get the children to draw the name in Arabic and write the meanings underneath in their text books and at bed time they have a tasbee which they pray the name that they learned for a week for 100 x untill a new name is written on the board. Also listen to different 99 names nasheed on YouTube.
Gemma Somauroo
16/07/2020 at 7:24 am (3 years ago)Walaykum assalaam. What beautiful ideas Utfa! Thank you for sharing them with us. JazakAllahu khayrun
Rola Al-Omar
12/08/2020 at 6:37 pm (3 years ago)Assalamu alaikum Dr. Gemma, thank you for the great ideas. I have been using the names of Allah (swt) as the foundation for my preschool Islamic education. I am a preschool director in California and teach the Islamic section of the day. After a short discussion or story read about a name we do a craft. We have used the same idea you had for the name of Allah but to teach Al-Wahid where they paint, fill with glitter or sequin a large # 1 and at the bottom of every name I always print out a short sentence highlighting the goal of the name, for example ” Allah is Al-Wahid, He is One and only one, he has no father, no mother or no son”
We have done
Al-Malik with a crown craft
Al-wadood with a heart craft
Al-Khaliq with a painted earth globe
Al- Baseer with eyes craft
As-Samee’ with a picture of an ear that is cut up and numbered and they have to assemble the puzzle to reveal the picture.
Ash-shafee with a painted medicine bottle and a cut out spoon
Al-aleem with a big question mark in the shape of a jigsaw puzzle that they assemble
Al-hafith with them drawing or glueing pictures of their family members within two big hands.
Al-a’laa with an outline of a large upwards arrow and sticky dots to fill and we have done Al-Qawi and Al-Ghani as well.
The idea is to make a book at the end of the year with a craft on each page representing a name of allah and a concept or a sentence on the most important aspects about HIM to know as a child.
Your post inspired me to add Ar-Razzaq and Ar-Rahman.
Asfia Jahanzaib
14/11/2020 at 5:45 pm (2 years ago)All of these ideas are amazing… Jazaakillahu khairun kaseera…
Dr Gemma
15/11/2020 at 1:39 pm (2 years ago)Thank you Asfia! JazakAllahu khayrun 🙂
Khan
15/05/2021 at 2:11 am (2 years ago)I have a suggestion for Ar-Rahman activity. You can ask the children to help parents, grandparents,pets (provide food ,water)& other needy people around by doing any little household task like to serve them which would make realize & self motivate them to help others & be kind.
Arif
26/05/2021 at 3:37 pm (2 years ago)ASAK
Inspirational MA. Lots of fantastic ideas, may Allah reward all of those involved.
I had an idea regarding the name Al Malik which may help regarding the trouble with associating a crown with Allah. Something that is also associated with a King is a throne which Allah himself has made mention of. Perhaps this may be a better way of conceptualising this particular attribute.
Hope this helps
Arif
Muriam Gohar
13/07/2021 at 6:35 am (2 years ago)Jazakallah for sharing such worthy stuff
Yosri bin Abd Ghani
29/09/2021 at 12:38 am (2 years ago)Masyaallah! Alhamdulillah. I’m from Malaysia, we are writing children’s Islamic literature for a start. Meeting you has inspired us more. Thank you Jazakallah
Dr Gemma
01/10/2021 at 7:59 am (2 years ago)Happy to connect with you here!
Adilah
17/05/2022 at 4:32 am (11 months ago)Wonderful ways to teach the 99names of ALLAH by making them engaged very well ❤️❤️❤️
Thank you so much 🥰