Lanterns are an festive way to decorate your home during Ramadan and to prepare your home for Eid. They are very easy to make and something that even the youngest children can help with.
Materials
A4 foil card
Scissors
Stapler
Ruler
Pencil
Sequins(optional)
PVA glue (optional)
How to make it
1. Turn the foil card horizontally, and cut a strip 1/2″ from the end.
2. Using a pencil, lightly draw a line 1″ from on the top and another 1″ from the bottom of the card.
3. Take the larger piece of card, turn it vertically, and fold it in half.
4. Then cut into the card, starting at the folded edge, all the way up to the pencil line. You will need to make between 12-14 cuts, each about 1/2″ apart.
5. Now its the fun part! Unfold your card and decorate. We used sequins and glue. If your children are younger you could use stickers.
6. Once the glue has dried, hold the card horizontally in your hands and curve it round. Holding the edges of the card together, use your stapler to secure it. Then take the small strip of card you cut off in step 1, and staple this to the top of the lantern to act as a handle.
7. Push down a little on the top of the lantern to make it ‘fan’ out.
You lantern is now ready to hang and decorate your home for Eid and Ramadan.
I would love to see photos of the lanterns you make with your children. Please share them with me on Instagram, Twitter or Facebook.
This advent calendar is so easy and quick to make. It is a great addition to your Ramadan decorations and is a fun way to get you children excited about the blessed month.
We fill our advent calendar with halal sweets, and allow the children to open them up just before we go to our daily Ramadan class. You could also put a little note inside, indicating a new activity or game that you will be doing that day, or even a little toy.
If you don’t want to make the envelopes, you can buy them premade, and just decorate them. Its super easy, so why not give it a go!
Using your FREE TEMPLATE, draw the outline of the envelope on the back of a sheet of gift wrap. You will need to draw the around the template 10 times on each sheet.
Cut out the envelope outlines. You should have 30 in all.
Fold the envelopes and apply glue to the tabs to hold them in place.
Stick number stickers on the front of the envelopes.
Fill envelopes with ‘goodies.’
Hang string and attach envelopes with clothes pegs.
ENJOY! Have fun with it!
You can use any color gift wrap, coloured paper or stickers to create the look you want.
Give it a try! I would love to see how you’ve decorated yours.
Please share your photos with me and my followers on Instagram, Twitter or Facebook.
We love using an Islamic calendar in our homeschool. Teaching the Islamic months is an important part of any Muslim homeschool, and we use ours during “Calendar Time” in the morning.
I have been looking online for an interactive calendar for the
kids with inter-changeable Islamic months, lunar cycle and prayer times.
However after many
months of searching, I couldn’t find anything that I felt was suitable. So I
decided to make my own and share it with you!
It includes days, Islamic months, Year (AH), the lunar phase and the 5 prayers times.
It is so easy to make! You definitely
don’t need to be ‘crafty.’
We use this calendar as part of our ‘calendar time’ in our
homeschool day. After Quranic memorisation in the morning, the children work on
this calendar and their Gregorian calendar.
It is a great way to introduce small
kids to the Islamic months, the lunar phases and prayer times, as well early
years numeracy. We use it to discuss the significance of certain months in Islam, as well as a countdown to Ramadan!
Below are the instructions for how to make your own Islamic
Calendar including a FREE download
I would love to see how yours look and how you decorate
them. Please share you pics on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram using the hashtag
#MyIslamicCalendar, or leave a link in the comments below.
My Islamic Calendar
Materials Needed:
A3 coloured card (1 sheet) – I used navy blue to match my
Gregorian calendar
Using your glue stick, glue on the ‘My Islamic
Calendar’, ‘Date’, ‘Month’, ‘Year’, ‘Lunar Phase’, ‘Fajr’, ‘Dhuhr’, ‘Asr’, ‘Maghrib’,
‘Isha’ tabs.
Laminate the remaining cut-outs.
Using your strong adhesive glue, glue the blank
white rectangles/squares that you have laminated onto the A3 card. These will
act as a background to each inter-changeable section. Leave to dry according to your
glue’s instructions. My glue required me to leave for 24h.
Stick the Velcro dots onto the back of the
numbers, months, years, lunar phases. Stick the Velcro dots onto the front of
the blank laminated rectangles/squares on your calendar. Note: you will need
two Velcro dots in the ‘date’ section, and one in the other sections.
Now its time to work on the clocks. Using your
coloured card, cut out 5 long clock hands in one colour, and 5 short clock
hands in another colour.
Position the clock faces on the A3 card below
each prayer name. Using a pin, pierce a hole in the centre of each clock face,
and through into the card below. Thread the clock hands onto the paper fastener.
Then use your this paper fastener, to go through the small holes, securing the clock
to the card.
Your calendar should now be ready
to use!
The calendar in this download has straight title text. After playing around with it, I felt it looked better. However, if you would prefer ‘My Islamic Calendar’ to be curved, please leave me a comment below, and I will upload another printable insha’Allah.
We keep all our extra pieces in envelopes next to the calendar; one envelope for the numbers and lunar phases (things that change frequently) and one envelope for the months and years. By keeping them in two envelopes, it makes it easier for the kids to find what they need. You could also use little baskets or attach separate pouches to the calendar itself.
I would love to see how yours look and how you decorate
them. Please share you pics on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram using the hashtag
#MyIslamicCalendar, or leave a link in the comments below.
This homeschooling activity was inspired by the book ‘The Very Hungry Caterpillar’ by Eric Carle. This preschool activity helps with letter recognition, putting the letters in the correct order, sequencing, as well as letting the lil’ ones be creative and have some fun.
Alphabet Caterpillar
How to Make An Alphabet Caterpillar
Begin by having you child draw around a circular object, like a cup, to create at least 27 circles. We used lots of different coloured paper, to make it more interesting.
Tracing around a cup
Then either cut the circles out yourself, or let him/her have a go. In my case I did most of the cutting myself as Dino-boy is still a little young.
Next ask you child you put glue the circles down in a particular order (Blue, green, red, blue, green, red etc.). I was amazed at how excited Dino-boy got by this exercise. It was wonderful to see.
Gluing the circles in a sequence
Adding the eyes
Then draw on /stick on the eyes. We had some foam eyes left over from another craft pack, so we used them. It gave our caterpillar a rather menacing look!
Then I asked Dino-boy to stick some alphabet stickers onto the caterpillar’s body, in order. In hindsight, it may have worked better if the stickers were stick on first, before each circle was glued down. However, both achieve the same learning outcome. If you child is older, you cold have them write out the letters on each circle.
Sticking on the letters…
Next, we drew on the legs. Technically a caterpillar has only 6 legs, so I guess ours is more like a millipede!
Draw on the legs…
Our Very Hungry MILLIPEDE!
Then we added some grass and a sun, and got a bit creative!
Teaching the Arabic alphabet to kids in the West is often done after the English alphabet, as a second language. Despite this, there are so many way we have found to make learning Arabic fun and enjoyable for your preschool kids.
Below I have listed my favorite resources and activities to help kids learn the Arabic alphabet and have fun doing it.
These recommendations are primarily for young children (under 4s) but could be used for any child new to the language.
This blogpost includes affiliate links. Please see Disclaimer for more information.
As I was beginning to discover the Montessori method of education and browsing through the plethora of information online, I stumbled across a great website, ‘Noor Janan Homeschool’. In amongst her free printables, I found these lovely Arabic Letter Cards. After printing and laminating them, we have used them a multitude of ways. I ask Dino boy to name the letter, or to pair with matching letter, put them in order or we play a memory game with them.
Learn Arabic with Playdough
On the same website (Noor Janan Homeschool) there are Arabic playdough cards, where you mould the playdough into the shape of the letter on the card. Dino boy was not interested in these, so after laminating them, we now use them as colouring in sheets, and simply wipe clean after.
As he is colouring in, we talk about the letter, its sound, words that begin with this letter or what its shape reminds us of.
Tell your kids a story
I came across this method on Youtube on thesafida34 channel where you tell a story with the letter. For example with Ba, Ta and Tha: “Ba, Ta and Tha are three boats. One sunny day, they decided to go out on the seas and catch some fish. Ba was not a very good fishing boat, and he left his fish in the water (Where the fish are representing the dots on the letters). Ta did very well mashAllah and caught two fish and Tha, who had the longest fishing rod (sticking your tongue out to make the sound of the letter) caught three fish.”
4. Arabic Alphabet Puzzles for kids
We have been fortunate to receive a few puzzles, wooden and card, of the Arabic letters. These are available from amazon and many Islamic bookstores.
I use these when I want to kids to do some Arabic, but they are not in the mood for anything ‘heavy.’
5. Online Resources for kids
This websiteIslamic Playground is a recent discovery of mine. Although I do try to limit screen time for my kids, there are occasions when they deserve a treat! There are two lovely games on this site – Drag and match game where the player has to match the letters and as they do it the letters sound is played. – A journey through the Arabic alphabet. The player has to walk along the letter and as they reach an obstacle on the path they will be asked an ‘Islamic’ question to get past. Although this one does require mum or dad’s help, it is well worth it.
6. Painting Activities
Sometimes the simplest things work the best! Either write out the letters yourself, or ask you child to, and then paint them . Simple but it holds their concentration!
7. Arabic Alphabet Workbook
The website rahmahmuslimhomeschool has a wonderful FREE workbook for ages 3+ to help your child recognise and begin writing the letters. My son LOVES this. I’ve put it in a ‘grown-up’ folder for him which only adds to his excitement!
8. Learn Arabic with Youtube Videos
There are many songs and videos on Youtube to help you child become more familiar with the sounds and shapes of the letters. These are our favourites:
