If we can do nothing else as parents, we must teach our children to know Allah.
Learning about the 99 names of Allah connects the hearts of children to their Lord. It helps them to develop a better understanding of Him and their own place in this world. And what better way to teach children than through gentle, play-based activities!
The more you know Allah, the more you will love Him.
Imam Al-Ghazali
This blogpost is sponsored. Faithful Kids kindly gifted me the Beautiful Names of Allah Memory Game and compensated me for my time. It also includes affiliate links. Please see Disclaimer for more information.
I was delighted to be introduced to the Beautiful Names of Allah Memory Game by Faithful Kids. My children and I have enjoyed playing this game together and learning the 99 Names of Allah as we play!
99 Names of Allah Children’s Game
This beautiful box contain 3 colour-coded sets of cards, with each set making the game progressively more difficult. The cards are printed on thick high-quality card and designed with elegant geometric patterns. The name itself is clearly printed in Arabic, along with a transliteration and translation.
I really loved that they include a small A4 poster of the 99 Names of Allah and a thoughtfully written pamphlet showing you how to play the various games.
How to Play the Memory Game
The idea of the game is simple enough for children as young as 4 year-old to understand! My little girl certainly enjoyed playing!
Simply place the cards face down on the table and take turns to find the matching pairs. As each player turns over a card, they must read that card aloud to the group. This helps other players to know which cards are where, and helps with the memorisation of the Asma-ul-Husna. The winner is the player to find the most matching pairs.
Other ways children can use them
In our homeschool, these cards have become a regular part of our morning routine!
We use them as flashcards, each day revising the names previously learnt, and selecting the next card to memorise. I hope in this way, we will be able to memorise all 99 Names of Allah by the end of the year insha’Allah.
Since these cards are so beautiful, I’m planning to display them on my wall. Each time a new name is learnt by the children, we will stick it up on display.
We play the memory game for a special treat a few times a week, enjoying our time together, whilst also revising the Blessed names we have learnt.
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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Learning the ninety-nine names of Allah should not be just about memorising a long list of names. It should be something that helps children to understand their Lord and form a relationship with Him. It should be more than just words on the tongue, but should touch their hearts and deepen their love for God.
One way of engaging young kids in Islamic education is through arts and crafts
This week in our Muslim homeschool we learned the name:
Al-Malik – The King and Owner of Dominion.
We began by talking about the definition:
‘Al-Malik is both the Owner, who possesses and the King, who has complete authority and commands what He possesses. The One to whom the commanding and forbidding belong to. The King, The Sovereign Lord, The One with the complete Dominion.’
Whilst the kids were making the Crown Craft (outlined below) our conversation went something like this:
“Allah is The King. He is The King of kings. He is your King!
But what is a King? What does a King do?”
After a bit ( NO…. a lot!) of prompting they arrived at the answer,
“A king owns everything, tells everyone what to do, and punishes those who disobey him.”
“But who owns the King? Who tells him what to do? Who punishes the King if he is naughty?”
“ALLAH!”
“Allah is the King of Kings! Al-Malik!”
It is important for your children to understand that He is not like anything they can imagine. He is not like any King they know, and He most certainly does NOT have a crown!
Children’s Crown Craft
Materials Needed
Gold card
Tissue paper
Fun fur (1-2″wide)
Stickers
PVA glue
Stapler
Sticky tape
Now your kid is ready to be a king (or Queen!). Whilst they play remind them,”You are a King, but who is your King? Who is the King of kings? Who is al-Malik? ……. ALLAH!!!!
From the gold card, cut out two strips, each approximately 2″ wide.
Staple two card strips together. This will be the base of your crown.
Spread PVA glue along the bottom half of each card strip and stick the fun fur along this edge. It will look best if you allow some of the gold card to show at the top.
Meanwhile cut out 4 more gold strips from the card, each 1″ wide.
5. Staple 2 strips together, with the gold side facing inward.
6. Once the glue has dried on the fur, staple the wider card strip together, making sure that it is the correct size for your child’s head.
7. Attach this across the top of the crown base.
8. Repeat from step 5 with the remaining strips and staple them perpendicular to the first arch.
9. Decorate the crown with stickers and jewels.
10. When everything has dried, push the tissue paper up into the underside of the crown and use your sticky tape to secure it in place.
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As a part of our Muslim homeschool, I am teaching my children the ninety-nine names of Allah. It is my opinion that Islamic education should be taught in a creative and fun way and that is how I have approached this week in our Islamic studies.
This week we were looking at the name al-Khaliq, or The Creator.
We began by discussing the definition of al-Khaliq:
“The One who creates something from nothing and determines and creates according to the proper measure and proportion of each thing. The One who plans and determines how, when and where to create. The One whose works are perfectly suited, appropriate, fitting and proper.”
Then I gave out the Al-Khaliq colouring sheet and whilst they were decorating it, we memorised ‘al-Khaliq. The Creator.’
It was also an opportunity to revise the Arabic letters and see which they could identify from their sheet.
When they were finished, we cut around the words and stuck them in the centre of a large A2 sheet of coloured card.
Then I gave the boys a basket each. I encouraged them to go outside and collect things from our garden that Allah (swt) had created.
They scoured the garden (and later the park) and brought back a collection of leaves, stones, petals, seeds and a pine cone.
Using glue sticks and wrapping tape, we stuck these treasures around the name ‘al-Khaliq’ reflecting on how He (swt) has made these things from nothing. SubhanAllah!
We also used this opportunity to look up the names of all the leaves and flowers, so it doubled as a science lesson too!
It was a fun way to teach the children about God, to instill a sense of awe and wonder about Him, and ignite an interest and excitement about Islam. We made a lot of happy memories too!
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