Here’s quick an easy shark craft for your Preschool and Kindergarten kids. My son has been reading about sharks this week in our Muslim Homeschool…So we decided to make our own shark art activity. He loved it!
Its easy enough for young children to do, and the results are so cute!
If you have young children, who are crazy about sharks, they’ll love this craft activity!
Materials Needed
– Paper Plates (3 per shark)
– White Paper
– Black Poster Paint
– Crayons
– Scissors
– Glue Stick
– Paint brushes
Step-by-step Instructions
1. Paint two plates with the black paint and allow to dry.
2. Cut the remaining white plate in half and glue it to the bottom half of the painted plate.
3. Cut two eyes and a mouth from the white paper, and use your crayons to add details (teeth, pupils etc.)
4. Glue the eyes and mouth into place.
5. From the remaining black plate, cut out three fins and glue them onto your shark as shown in the picture below.
Please give this craft a try and let me know how you get on in the comments below, or post your photos online and tag me on Instagram, Twitteror Facebook. I’d love to see how your sharks turn out!
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This week in our Muslim homeschool we have been looking at the story ofProphet Ibrahim (AS).
In my humble opinion, I find children retain these Islamic stories better if they are followed up with a hands-on activity. This craft is very quick and easy, and will help your children to remember what they have heard.
The story I related can be found in the Quran [6:75-80]. We began by reading a simplified version of this story from theI Love Islam Series: Book 1.
The story tells us how Ibrahim (AS) asked his people if they believed a star was God, but when the star disappeared in the morning he said, “See! That star is not Allah. Allah would never go away!“
Then he asked his people is the moon was Allah, but when morning came he said, “The moon cannot be Allah, because Allah would never go away.”
Finally he asked them is the sun was God, but inevitably the sun set and so the sun too could not be Allah. Allah always exists. He never sets and never goes away!
1. Begin drawing a sun, moon, star and a large semi-circle onto the foil-card with the permanent marker. Allow the children to cut them out.
2. Cut around the wording on the FREE PRINTABLE and glue it to the large semi-circular card.
3. Cut three lengths of string (approximately 15 cm each) and tape either the moon, sun and star to the bottom of each piece of string.
4. Tape the other end of the string to the semi-circle. In my opinion, it looks best if the strings are all different lengths.
5. Punch a hole in the top of the semi-circle with a hole-punch, and use some string to hang your mobile up. Our mobile has taken pride-of-place hanging from our kitchen curtain pole!
How have you taught your children this story? I would love to hear! Please leave me a comment 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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Like most homeschooling families, I started planning for the next year of home education at least 6 months ago, and have been slowly collecting different resources as I find them. This is what we are going with this year!
This blog-post contain affiliate links. Please see Disclaimer for more information.
My children are 5 and 3 years old.
Below I have listed the curriculum we will be using for M as he starts Year 1 (Kindergarten) from September. For A, my pre-schooler, we will not be following a set curriculum, but will draw ideas from few different books, which I also have listed below.
The books listed below are the ‘main’ texts we will be using, but we will also draw from many other resources that we have at home; as well as online and from our library.
We also enjoy frequent field trips!
If you are interested in any of these books, just click on the title of the book for a link to Amazon or the relevant website.Please note: This does not include our reading list, i.e books (fiction) that M will read or will have read to him.
I hope our curriculum helps to inspire other Muslim Homeschooling Families, as so many others have inspired me!
YEAR 1 / Kindergarten Curriculum
Islamic Studies
It is my opinion that religion should not be taught as an academic subject, but rather it should be something that children witness as part of normal life, learning from your example and other good company. However there are some books that we will use for activities and to stimulate discussions:
For this year we will follow an interest-led approach for the humanities. By this I mean that we will have a relaxed approach to these topics, studying what-ever M wants to learn about using books from our local library.
Science:
We will be primarily doing the study of nature this year. However when the weather doesn’t allow us to go outdoors, we will use the latter two book for fun science experiments:
If you would like more ideas for Curriculum choices, particularly for older children, I would recommend visiting Noor Janan HomeschoolandIman’s Home-school; both great resources for Muslim Homeschoolers.
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If you have any questions, or any ideas for future posts, please leave them for me in the comments below. If you have a blog post about you homeschool curriculum. please feel free to link it below. I’d love to know what your using!
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.
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:
by Saniyasnain Khan & Maria S Puri
by Elsie Proctor
