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Homeschool Favourites | May 2016 |

15/05/2016

This month I have some really exciting things to share with you. We have been using and enjoying all of these products in our homeschool this month and I am thrilled to be able to share them with you!

I’m even doing a GIVEAWAY of one of my favourites, so scroll down to the bottom of this post to enter!

Please note:

You do NOT need to buy any of these products to be a good mum, or give your child a good education!!!
The chances are you’re already doing a great job with our without these products!
However, if you are looking for something new and want to see what we’ve been using, please read on!

May Homeschool Favourites

WATCH THIS YouTube video to see all the products mentioned:

Butterfly Garden

This has to be my absolute favourite thing we did this month! We raised five caterpillars and watched them transform into butterflies…in our kitchen!

We had raised butterflies before, when my eldest son was three years-old, so we already had our Butterfly Garden. All I needed to do was just order the Caterpillar Refill separately online. This seems to be becoming a bit of a tradition!

The caterpillars came in their own little tub that contained all the ‘food’ the would need. We watched them grow…and grow …and GROW! They got really big!

I’ll be honest, they gave me the creeps a little bit! Thankfully, at no point do you have to touch them!

Once they had all made their cocoons, we opened up the plastic tub and carefully removed the paper-like insert from the lid, which had all the cocoons stuck to it. Then we pinned this to the inside of the Butterfly Garden
(essentially just a big mesh enclosure).

After a week or two, the butterflies suddenly emerged! We kept them in the house for two days, and gave them fruit, wild flowers and ‘homemade-nectar.‘ (Otherwise known as sugar in water!)

Releasing them into the garden was truly special! It’s memories like this that I will treasure forever insha’Allah.

Usborne Beginners Book Series

We have really enjoyed using these books in our homeschool. This collection of reference books, is aimed at children aged 4-8 years-old.

From this series, we have:
Caterpillars and Butterflies
Rubbish and Recycling

Weather

The reason I really like this series of books is that the language in them is accessible for young children, without being too childish.

They are fun, informative and a young reader could comfortably read one independently. The illustrations are beautiful and it is very visually appealing.

I’m hoping to get a few more for next year when we start to study Ancient History insha’Allah.

Nakd Fruit & Nut Bits

I love the whole Nakd range! Their snack bars and fruit and nut bits are so delicious!

They are Vegan, Gluten-Free, and Sugar-Free.

The primary ingredient of the range appears to be dates and cashew nuts. There are loads of different varieties, but my favourite is the cocoa delight. It really tastes like chocolate, but it’s completely healthy!

These snacks are very handy to take out with us in the car or when we are out and about on field trips. It’s nice to know that the kids are snacking on something wholesome 🙂

The best thing about these snack bits are that they make NO Crumbs and NO Sticky Fingers and NO Stains!

For these reasons, they are an absolute essential in my homeschool.

Yusuf the Talking Doll

Yusuf is a soft plush doll from DesiDoll Company and he is so cute!

He speaks in English and
Arabic when you push his hands and feet. I love how says, “Atchoo…Alhumdulillah,” when you push his little nose!

There is also a girl version available called Aamina.

Yusuf teaches young children essential Quranic
words, phrases and Surahs including:

As-Salamu’Alaikum
Bismillah hir Rahman nir
Raheem
Al-hamdu lillah
SubhanAllah
Insha’Allah
JazakAllah Khair
Masha’Allah
La ilaha illallah Muhammad
dur Rasul’lallah
Surah Ikhlas + translation
Surah Fatiha + translation
Fun Nasheeds

Young children learn best through play. It is toys like this that can really help to make a child confident in his Muslim identity, and also teach him more about Islam.

He is a beautiful doll and is treasured in our home.

GIVEAWAY

It’s Giveaway time!

I wanted to share one of my favorites with one of you…well actually TWO… one Yusuf and one Aamina!!!

The May 2016 Favourites Giveaway will run until Monday 23rd May 2016 at 12AM GMT.

The giveaway is open internationally.

All entrants under the age of 18 must have parental permission to enter.

Please aware that if entering overseas, you may be liable to pay customs tax (or the equivalent), so please check beforehand.

ONE winner will receive my favourite TWO talking Muslim dolls (Aamina and Yusuf). RRP £56.

You can enter by following the directions in the Rafflecopter widget posted below (click HERE is you would like to know more about Rafflecopter). I’ll announce the winners on THIS blog post and contact them directly through email.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

I hope you enjoyed seeing what products we’ve been using in our homeschool this month. I’d love to hear what some of your favourite products are.

Please let me know in the comments below.

I hope you enjoyed this blog post. Make sure you don’t miss the next blog post by Subscribing to my mailing list.

For a daily look into our homeschooling day follow me on Instagram, Twitter or Facebook.

In need of your duaas.

Peace and Love.

Awesome Volcano Experiment for Kids

08/05/2016

Kaboom! Bang! Whooooooah!

I can’t begin to tell you how excited I was to do this experiment with my boys this week in our homeschool. Making a volcano is one of those science projects that I have always wanted to do with the kids and it was so much fun!

This volcano experiment is so simple and you with probably have everything you need already in your home.

If you are interested in how we made our Erupting Volcano, please keep reading!

Since a young age, my boys have been obsessed with dinosaurs. So much so, that it had taken over my house. Dinosaur toys, stickers, books, bed sheets….it was driving me CRAZY!

Thankfully, this interest has now evolved into an interest in fossils, geology and volcanoes.

As I try to encourage the kids to explore their interests, we decided to make this a part of our homeschool, doing an experiment/project on this topic, once a week.

We have been using the book Rock & Fossil Hunter for our experiments, It’s full of different activities that kids can do, using materials that you can easily find in the house.

This blog post will look at the first two experiments:

– The Erupting Volcano
– On the Lava Trail

Check out this VIDEO we made of our experiments:

As you can tell, they had so much fun doing these activities! I’m sure your kids will too!

Awesome Volcano Experiment

Materials Needed:

Small plastic water bottle
Water
Measuring jug
Tray
Sand
Dessertspoon
Bicarbonate of soda
Red Food Colouring
Washing-up liquid
Vinegar

Place the bottle in the middle of the tray, and pile up the sand around it, to look like a volcano. If the sand is not sticking, dampen it a bit to help it hold in place. The decorate the outside of the volcano however you like…obviously in my home that meant with dinosaurs!
Pour enough warm water into the jug to fill the bottle 2/3 full. Then add 2 dessert spoons of bicarb, 1 dessert spoon of food colouring, 1 dessert spoon of washing-up liquid to the jug.
Pour this mixture into the bottle.
Then get ready for the eruption…..it will happen quickly!!!

Pour 100ml of vinegar into the bottle and jump back!

Don’t worry, it’s not explosive….just very foamy! Perfectly safe for little kids!

This could also work for a chemistry experiment if you have older kids. It’s a simple acid-base reaction.

Why are volcanoes different shapes?

This is the second experiment from the book Rock & Fossil Hunter.

It aims to illustrate how the temperature of lava affects its flow and the ultimate shape of the volcano.

The cooler the lava, the slower it flows, resulting in conical volcanoes.

The hotter the lava, the faster it flows, leading to flatter (shield) volcanoes.

Materials Needed:

2 tins of treacle

2 plates

Heat-proof pan

Boiling water

Put once tin of treacle in the fridge overnight.
Put the other tin into the heat-proof pan, and surround it in boiling water. Leave it to warm up the treacle for thirty minutes.
Open both tins, and pour onto separate plates.

Cold Lava

Hot Lava

You should find the cold treacle piles up on the plate, like viscous cool lava would.

The hotter treacle will spread out to form a wider puddle, like runny lava.

Both of these experiments should be done under the supervision of an adult and are suitable for child aged 4+.

Are your children interested in volcanoes?
What volcano activities have you done with them?
If you have any great resources on the subject, or if you have written a blog post on the topic, please share it in the comments below.

Thank you so much for stopping by, and reading this blog post.

To make sure you don’t miss the next one, just Subscribe to my mailing list and you’ll be sent an email to let you know it’s out!

For a daily look into our homeschooling day follow me on Instagram, Twitter or Facebook.

In need of your duaas.

Peace and Love.

Nature Study in the City – April 2016

30/04/2016

Spring is here!!! …Hurray!

In our homeschool we have been making the most of the glorious weather and observing the changes in nature.

Nature study is an integral part of our homeschool curriculum. We make an effort to try to spend at least two hours every day outdoors. Sometimes this is at the park, or nature reserves, sometimes we go for country walks…and when the weather is not great we just do a bit of gardening and play in our back garden!

Being outdoors is so important for children. It encourages creativity, concentration, and even improves academic performance! If you’d like to know more about this, please check out last months Nature Study in the City blog post.

But there’s more than just the physical and academic benefits…

I find that being in nature reaffirms my faith! I know it sounds crazy, but witnessing creation in all its beautiful complexity, makes me certain there is a creator, and I want my children to experience this too.

Nature study is not only for those who live in the picturesque countryside. If you, like our family, live in a city there are many ways you can teach your child about nature too.

Here is what we did for Nature Study this April:

Observing the Seasonal Changes

Change is all around us! We’ve spent a lot of time taking note of the new flowers that are appearing and teaching the children their names.

We’ve paid particular focus to the primose and bluebell, looking at its petal and leaves, and where they grow.

Another focus of our nature study has been bird-spotting! We recently purchased a pair of Children’s Binoculars
. They have been so useful and a sure-fire way to get the kids involved in our bird-watching.

They spotted two jays up there!

It’s been a lot of fun looking for bird’s nests in the trees and trying to listen out for baby chicks! The kids love creeping up on the nests, and looking for ‘clues’ on the ground that there might be babies in the nest.

Birds’s Nests

We’ve been using this book the Usborne Spotter’s Guide: Birds
to help identify the birds we’ve seen. I’m pretty good at the larger birds, but I need help when it comes to the small finches and tits.

Pet Caterpillars

It’s a bit of a spring-time tradition of ours to raise Caterpillars
and watch them turn into butterflies. The boys were over-the-moon and decided to make them a card to welcome them to the family! They’ve been named Roy, Joy, Poi, Moi and….Jibreel! Oh I hope none of them die!

They arrived in this small tub, that contained all the food they would need. We have watched them grow bigger and bigger, and we are now waiting anxiously for them to make their cocoons. When they do, we will carefully move them into our butterfly habitat, and watch them emerge. It’s all so exciting!

We have set up a small ‘invitation to play‘ in the corner of our kitchen. Along with the caterpillars, I have set up a Magnifying Glass
and a Usborne Book of Caterpillars and Butterflies
to encourage independent learning.

Children’s Garden

The children began planting their garden last month. Their sunflowers are growing well…too well! I have no idea what we’re are going to do with them all! They also have runner beans growing and we just planted some nasturtium seeds too.

Planting nasturtium seeds

Watering his runner beans

Sunflowers galore!

Nature Collection

Whenever we go out, my 3-year-old son always insists on bringing a few ‘finds’ home with him.

We had accumulated so many leaves, twigs and stones that, instead of throwing out when he wasn’t looking!… I decided to respect his interest and give him a corner of our home to store them. He stores flowers, leaves and twigs in one tub, stones in another, and anything else in the other one.

His grownig collection!

It’s so wonderful to watch his love of nature grow and to see the pride he takes in his collection.

We have been using this diagram from a Magic School Bus: Inside the Earth
picture book to help us identify the stones he has collected. I’m learning so much myself!

I hope this will encourage you to get outside with your children, wherever you live and enjoy the wonders of Spring!

Do you have any spring traditions in your family? Do your children ‘collect’ everything they find outside too? I would love to hear about your outdoor experiences with you children. Please leave me a comment below 🙂

I hope you enjoyed this blog post. Make sure you don’t miss the next in this series!

I’m hoping to get it out the same time next month insha’Allah.

To make sure to don’t miss it, just Subscribe to my mailing list and you’ll be sent an email to let you know it’s out!

For a daily look into our homeschooling day follow me on Instagram, Twitter or Facebook.

In need of your duaas.

Peace and Love.

You Might Also Like:

CLICK HERE

Linked Up to Homeschool Creations

Do We Really Need Online Islamic Toy Stores?

28/04/2016

This blog post was sponsored by IbraheemToyhouse.com

With Ramadan approaching, Muslim mums across the world are
starting think about what gifts they will be giving their children.

The online market
place for Muslims is booming! Never before have parents been able to purchase
so many products specifically for Muslim children.

Ibraheem Toy House has been featured Worldwide in the Press,
TV shows and in influential Mummy blogs; but what’s the big deal!

Why is everyone getting so excited about Ibraheem Toy house?

Why do we, as Muslim parents, even need an online Islamic
toy store?

This blog post will explain why online Islamic Toy stores
are so important, and why your children need them too!

Why should I shop at an online Islamic Toy Store?

Run by
Muslims

These shops are owned and primarily run by
Muslims.

As such, they better understand what the
Muslim consumer wants and what our Muslim children need.

As Muslims, these businesses care about
your children and about the future of our Ummah. In fact, many of these
companies were started because they felt the needs of the Muslims was not being
met by larger corporations.

As they share the same moral standards as
you, you can be confident that your money is going to support a halal business,
and none of the money will be used to support anything haraam. We hope there will be more Barakah insha’Allah.

Learning
about Islam through play

It is widely accepted that young children
learn best through play. It is through play that they learn their own
abilities, and develop confidence and self-worth; and because it’s fun, they will play for
long periods of time, helping them to develop the ability to concentrate.

Filling our home with Islamic toys will encourage
our children to develop confidence in their religious identity. Instead of
Barbie, fill your daughter’s toy box with Muslimah dolls. This will help her
view modesty and piety as normal, and encourage her to wear her hijab with
pride!

Furthermore,
Islamic toys can teach everything from Quran, Salah, Tajweed, to Prophetic etiquettes and Arabic;
and all this is done by playing as they naturally would.

A very important aspect of play is its ability to
bond; to bond mother to her child, or to build a bond between siblings. What
better way to develop these relationships, than through Islamically orientated
play.

Everything
Under One Roof

Before Ibraheem Toy House, shopping for gifts for
Muslim children was so hard, especially if you wanted toys specifically for
Muslim kids.

Thankfully, Ibraheem Toy House has brought all the best products
under one roof. I no longer have to scour through 10 different websites, search
Ebay and pay for extortionate international shipping! Instead, everything I
need for my children is available from one shop. It’s like the Muslim’s version
of Toys R’Us!

Ibraheem Toy House, was founded with the aim to serve our
children by providing toys and resources that will encourage a love of Islam.

They say,

“Our mission
is to instil the love of faith in young Muslims.

We are passionate about educating children about
the teachings of Islam and help parents connect children to their faith.

We believe children should be proud of their
religious belief and religious learning should be FUN and interactive.”

Today,
Ibraheem Toy House stocks over 200 different products from 25 suppliers around
the world including dolls, books, games, DVDs, prayer mats and more.

Nazia
Nasreen founded Ibraheem Toy House from her kitchen table whilst her two
children were still very young. She is an inspiration to all Muslim women who
dream of starting their own business, and is a testimony to the power of
determination, hard work and self-belief.

Since
starting her online toy store only two years ago, Nazia has received Awards and
international recognition for the worthwhile service she is providing to the
Muslim Ummah, as the first online Islamic toy store in the U.K.

So if you
are a Muslim woman thinking about starting your own business, I would urge to
look for inspiration from Nazia, and take the first step to making your dream a
reality.

Ibraheem ToyHouse is constantly on the lookout for new toys and products to serve the
Muslim community.

What would you like to see more of in the toy store? Are
there any particular products you are looking for?

Please let us know us know in the
comments and maybe Nazia can find them for you!

We’d love to hear what toys your
children would enjoy. Please leave us a comment down below.

I hope you enjoyed this blog post. Make sure you don’t miss the next blog post by Subscribing to my mailing list.

For a daily look into our homeschooling day follow me on Instagram, Twitter or Facebook.

In need of your duaas.

Peace and Love.

Homeschool Favourites | April 2016 |

19/04/2016

As homeschoolers, we are always on the look out for new products to enhance our children’s learning experience.

I thought it would be fun to share some of our homeschool discoveries; things that we’ve enjoyed using this month in our homeschool.

Please note: You do NOT need to buy any of these products to be a good mum, or give your child a good education!!! The chances are you’re already doing a great job with our without these products! However, if you are looking for something new and want to see what we’ve been using, please read on!

April’s Homeschool Favourites

Watch This Video for an overview of all these products:

Rush Hour Logic Game

This game has provided hours of entertainment for our family. It is a classic logic game, where the aim is to get the red car out of the traffic jam by moving the sliding blocks/cars out of the way.

There are different levels of difficulty, and it come with a handy draw-string bay to keep the pieces together.

What I loved most about this game is that even though it’s fun, it felt like it was making my son think! I mean REALLY think!

It’s a great way to develop problem solving and critical thinking skills, and exercise little (and not so little) minds.

Fun Dough Arabic Letters

This play dough set contains cutters for all the Arabic letters, various shapes, as well as a rolling pin, various molds and tools.

Everything inside is good quality, it’s easy to use and the play dough even smells like bubble gum!

We have used this set in our homeschool to teach our children Arabic. If you are interested in seeing what activities we did with this play dough set, CLICK HERE

5 Ways To Teach Arabic With Play Dough

Bresser Children Binoculars

Now that spring is upon us, we are spending more time outdoors. In particular, an important part of our homeschool curriculum is the study of nature.

We’ve been using these binocularsto identify birds, trees, and also to look at the stars. It has added a wonderful new dimension to our homeschool.

A Drawing a Day

This colourful book by Usborne is filled with instructions on how to draw 366 different things; animals, vehicles, buildings, food…Plenty to keep your children interested.

It give simple step-by-step directions that make it easy for children to follow along and work independently.

There is plenty of space to draw in the book itself, and the pages tear out easily. It is very child friendly and lots of fun! I would recommend it for children over 5 years-old.

I hope you enjoyed seeing what products we’ve been using in our homeschool this month. I’d love to hear what some of your favourite products are.

Please let me know in the comments below.

I hope you enjoyed this blog post. Make sure you don’t miss the next blog post by Subscribing to my mailing list.

For a daily look into our homeschooling day follow me on Instagram, Twitter or Facebook.

In need of your duaas.

Peace and Love.

Nature Study in the City – March 2016

22/03/2016

We all want our children to spend more time outdoors. However when you live in a city, connecting our children to nature can be difficult.

In this series of blog posts, I hope to inspire you with some ways you can teach your children about the natural world, and give you some creative activities to do indoors or in a city garden.

Spending time outdoors in a natural environment has been proven scientifically to benefit children.

Since the release of the book Last Child in the Woods, which brought attention to the developmental effects of nature on our children, there have been multiple studies that prove likewise.

Some of the benefits of outdoor play include:

Supports development intellectually, emotionally, socially, spiritually and
physically (Kellert, 2005).

Encourages creativity: Studies show that children engage
in more creative forms of play in the green areas. (Bell and Dyment,
2006).

Improves Concrentration: Exposure to natural settings increases
children’s ability to focus and enhances cognitive
abilities (Wells, 2000).

Improves Academic Performance: Children who partook in outdoor
science programs had an improvement in their science results by 27% (American Institutes for Research, 2005).

Reduces ADD symptoms (Kuo and Taylor, 2004).

Improves eyesight (American
Academy of Ophthalmology, 2011)

Encourages healthy eating (Bell &
Dyment, 2008)

Reduces stress (Wells and
Evans, 2003)

Book Recommendation

Before we start, I want to let you know that we have been using this vintage nature book, Looking At Nature, by Elsie Proctor, as our primary text.

It is fantastic. Unlike most nature books, it is not just pages of facts, but it also poses lots of questions for the children to answer and gives great ideas for outdoor activities and experiments.

This is what we have been doing this March:

Observing Germination

We began this month with a trip to the supermarket to by some compost and plant seeds. I read in the book Looking at nature
, that Sunflowers
, Nasturtiums
and Runner Beans
are easy to grow…we’ll soon see!

I decided to begin with an activity I remember doing at school. We filled jars with kitchen roll, and then carefully pushed two Runner Bean
seeds in the gap between the glass and the tissue. Then we added enough water the to jars to make the tissue damp, and left them on a sunny window-sill.

Within 5 days this is what we saw:

The children drew what they saw for their Nature Notebooks, and we discussed all the parts of the plant and what plants need to grow. They learnt the words germination, shoot and tap root.

This is something you can do indoors, in a small space, and at very little expense!

Began Planting Our Children’s Garden

This year I am giving a part of our small garden to the children. They will be responsible for growing the plants in that patch, weeding, watering etc. If it works…it’s going to be a fantastic source of learning opportunities.

The boys planted their Sunflower Seeds
, and left them in our cold-frame to grow.

Looking for catkins

Thankfully we have a number on trees on our road that have catkins. We collected what we could find, and brought them home to identify.

Visited our City Parks

At this time of year, there is so much to see in the park. The daffodils are blooming, the birds are back and building nests, and everything is stirring back to life!

We spent several hours looking for the first signs of spring. The boys drew some daffodils for their nature notebooks, and I just allowed them to explore. The only rule we have in the park is ….You Are Not Allowed To Walk On The Path!

Drawing daffodils

Playing hide-and-seek! He’s counting…

He’s hiding!

They found this muddy pond and were in there wading through the murky water…They loved it!

I hope this will encourage you to get out into nature with your children, wherever you live.

What activities have you done outdoors with your kids? Do any of you have any recommendations for other plants we can put in the children’s garden? Please let me know in the comments below 🙂

I hope you enjoyed this blog post. Make sure you don’t miss the next in this series!

I’m hoping to get it out the same time next month insha’Allah.

To make sure to don’t miss it, just Subscribe to my mailing list and you’ll be sent an email to let you know it’s out!

For a daily look into our homeschooling day follow me on Instagram, Twitter or Facebook.

In need of your duaas.

Peace and Love.

Linked up to Homeschool Creations and The Hip Homeschool Hop

My Five Favourite Homeschoolers on Youtube

18/03/2016

Watching other homeschool mums on Youtube has been such a fantastic source of information and inspiration.

Many of these homeschooling families share their schedule, curriculum choices, and give you a glimpse into their daily lives.

I often will watch these amazing ladies whilst I’m folding laundry or washing dishes.

For busy mums Youtube can be a great way to find information and new ideas.

If I’m having a tough day with the children, I like to watch other home educators to lift my spirits: a little ‘pick-me-up’ when things are getting rough!!!

Here are my Five Favourite Homeschoolers on Youtube:

Full Time Wife Life

Abby, from Full Time Wife Life, has some lovely day-in-the-life videos, as well as awesome planning and scheduling tips for the homeschool day.

MsBasimah24

A recent discovery of mine, MsBasimah24 is full of energy, positivity and totally real! I love her videos, and can’t wait to see more from her:

A FarmHouse Full

Nicci, from A Farmhouse Full, is a mum of seven (soon to be eight mashAllah). As well as homeschooling, she makes videos about pregnancy, her garden, and frugal living.

Erica Arndt

Of all the Youtube homeschoolers, Erica Arndt is probably the most famous. Her blog is packed full of incredible resources, and is well worth checking out! On Youtube, she talks about homeschool curriculum, organisation, amongst many other things.

Habeebee Homeschooling

From the inspirational Ameera Rahim, the Youtube channel Habeebee Homeschooling talks about home education from an Islamic perspective. There are only a few videos, but they are full of insight mashAllah.

Those were my favourite Youtube homeschool channels.

And finally…

Don’t forget to check out MY Youtube channel too!

Our Muslim Homeschool

Do you watch any homeschool moms on Youtube? Which channels would you recommend to other home-educators? Please let me know in the comments below.

I hope you enjoyed reading about my favourite Youtube channels. Make sure you don’t miss the next blog post by Subscribing to my mailing list.

For a daily look into our homeschooling day follow me on Instagram, Twitter or Facebook.

Thank you so much for stopping by!

Please remember us in your duaas.

Peace and Love.

Allah Calligraphy Craft

08/03/2016

This Islamic Craft for Muslim Kids is easy to do and looks so beautiful!

We simply glued sequins and buttons to a calligraphy colouring page of the word ‘Allah.’

We are thinking of putting them in frames and displaying them in the children’s rooms 🙂

Islamic calligraphy craft for Muslim Children

These colouring pages were from the Ibraheem Toyhouse website.

Make sure you don’t miss the next blog post by Subscribing to my mailing list.

For a daily look into our homeschooling day follow me on Instagram, Twitter or Facebook.

Thank you so much for stopping by!

Please remember us in your duaas.

Peace and Love.

Vikings Homeschool Unit Study

06/03/2016

What is it about Vikings?!?… Kids love them!

In this blog post, I will show you what Resources we used to teach our Kindergarten (Year1) and Preschool kids about Vikings, and hopefully give some ideas about how to teach this unit study in your homeschool.

As my eldest is only 5-years-old, I do not include too much written work in our unit studies. Instead the focus is hands-on learning and literature. However, if your children are older, you could certainly add in notebooking, lapbooks or even creating a poster of what they have learnt.

This is how we taught my Year 1 (Kindergarten) student about the Vikings:

1. Library Books

As with all our unit studies, the first thing we did was head to our local library to see what they had on the subject. We found this great book of World History by Dorling Kindersley.

I encouraged the boys to look through the relevant pages, and read aloud anything that intersted them. This is an old edition, but this History Book by the same publishers looks great too!

2. Day at the Museum

Another thing I always try to incorporate into our unit studies, are field trips to museums or historical sites. Our local museum was holding a ‘Viking Day.’ The boys got to try on a replica Viking helmet, look at maps and art work featuring the Vikings, and make these awesome Viking helmets:

3. Map Work

My son has a ‘thing’ for maps! So I used this interest in maps and world geography to help him learn about the Viking conquests. This FREE printable we used can be found HERE

4. Literature

We also try include some children’s literature to go along with our unit study:

My eldest son read the easy reader Viking Adventure from the Oxford Reading tree. I love this series and would recommend it for any children who are learning to read, but are not ready to tackle chapter books yet.
Also, during this week, I read to the children from the book Viking It and Liking It (Time Warp Trio).
It’s incredible how much information children can absorb from stories and books. At this age, there is no real need to TEACH ….only to READ!

5. Online Resources

The BBC has compiled an excellent collection of video clips and resources that we looked through. The videos of the VIking ships really captured my boys imagination! You can check these out by clicking HERE

If you have any Viking Resources for children that you would like to share with us, please leave a comment below!

I hope you enjoyed this blog post. Make sure you don’t miss the next blog post by Subscribing to my mailing list.

For a daily look into our homeschooling day follow me on Instagram, Twitter or Facebook.

In need of your duaas.

Peace and Love.

Teach ARABIC with PLAY DOUGH!

01/03/2016

This post is sponsored by Desi Doll Company Ltd

Every child loves play dough! Make learning Arabic fun for
your kids by teaching through play….Teach Arabic with Play Dough!

Teaching Arabic to young children can be done in two ways:
through natural exposure to the language (conversations, story books, songs etc.) and
through play.

In my humble opinion, workbooks and written curriculum have limited
value in young children. Instead, for preschool and kindergarten children,
Arabic can be learnt through play.

Here are 5 ways to teach
Arabic with play dough:

Letters

An obvious place to start is teaching your child the Arabic letters.

For these activities, it helps if you have a poster or book displaying Arabic letters nearby. We used a wooden puzzle to help the children visualise the letters.

The play dough can be moulded into the shapes of the letters:

Alternatively, you can now get play dough cutters in the shapes of the Arabic letters. This set by Desi Doll company was fantastic!

The letters came out really clearly and my kids found them very easy to use. On top of that, the play dough smells like candy!

We began by doing a ‘Letter Hunt’ where all the cutters were placed in the middle, and I would call out a letter and the kids had to find it!

“Find me the letter Raa!”

“Find me the letter Meem!”

Then we used the cutters themselves to make the individual letters of the Arabic alphabet.

The children were eager to write their names in the play dough… as well as all their friends!

Colours

Whilst the children are playing with the play dough it is very easy to casually teach the colours as you go along.

“What colour is this?”

“Shall we make it in Burtaqali (Orange) next time?”

“Where is Azraq (Blue)?”

Numbers

Play dough makes a great manipulative, and it is easy to mould into counters.

We used simple ball shapes, but you could use any shape/animal that appeals to your child.

We used these counters to count to ten in Arabic and then ask:

“How many balls are there altogether?”

“How many ball are Asfar (Yellow)?” etc.

Shapes

Using the shape cutters and knives in our play dough kit, we were able to make a variety of shapes to to help the kids learn their names in Arabic.

Spell out Vocabulary

This activity was by far the most successful of all!

We used the letter cutters to spell out new vocabulary words; such as the parts of the face and body, food, animals etc. My five-year old really enjoyed spelling out the names of the Prophets (Peace be upon them).

Combining the sensory experience and manipulation of the play dough, with a purposeful spelling exercise, seemed to massively improve their memorisation of new words. This technique would be particularly effective for children who are tactile learners.

On top of that, it was so much fun! The children get so excited when I bring this play dough set out!

Play dough is also a great way to increase hand strength in preschool children, and improve their fine motor and bilateral coordination skills; so they will be ready to learn to write in the coming school years.

If you are interested in buying the play dough set we used, visit DESI DOLL COMPANY for more information.

Fun Dough Arabic Letters

How have you used play to teach the Arabic language?

What games or toys have you found useful?

Please share your thoughts with us in the comments below 🙂

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