Ramadhan Kids 2018: Day 4 Activities

Asalamu Alaikum,

    I fell a bit behind on my posts but we've been doing activities everyday. The other day we learned about worms. Yep that's right. Allah mentions worms in the Quran. Not sure what type of worm, but the translation says worm.

فَلَمَّا قَضَيۡنَا عَلَيۡهِ ٱلۡمَوۡتَ مَا دَلَّهُمۡ عَلَىٰ مَوۡتِهِۦۤ إِلَّا دَآبَّةُ ٱلۡأَرۡضِ تَأۡڪُلُ مِنسَأَتَهُۖ ۥ فَلَمَّا خَرَّ تَبَيَّنَتِ ٱلۡجِنُّ أَن لَّوۡ كَانُواْ يَعۡلَمُونَ ٱلۡغَيۡبَ مَا لَبِثُواْ فِى ٱلۡعَذَابِ ٱلۡمُهِينِ 

Then when We decreed death for him [Sulaiman (Solomon)], nothing informed them (jinns) of his death except a little worm of the earth, which kept (slowly) gnawing away at his stick, so when he fell down, the jinns saw clearly that if they had known the unseen, they would not have stayed in the humiliating torment. (Surah Saba:14)

Activity 1: Recitation

    As always recite the ayat with your children. Go over the translation. Even read the tafsir (scholarly explanation) if your child is old enough. Recite the ayat throughout the day.

Activity 2: Worm Sensory

    This activity involves making slime and adding play worms.

What you'll need:

Fish bait (worms)
2 Cups Cornstarch
Food Coloring
1 Cup Water
Scoop
Different sized bowls
Tongs

    Start by mixing the cornstarch, food coloring and water together. You can either add the worms or have your child add the worms. This is a pouring, scooping, mixing and sensory activity. And Just to warn you, it's messy.
    Make sure to have your child do this in an easy to clean area.
    So the reason I picked this activity was because of the slime. Worms are slimy. I thought it would be good for my son to get used to the texture before actually going outside and looking for worms, so he wouldn't be too freaked out.

    As you can see he really enjoyed himself. Eventually he got it all over his hands. The kids will play in this for quite a bit, so feel free to get some chores done while they do.
    When it's all done, put it in a container to use again another day. Not sure how long it lasts, but there's no point in wasting it.

Activity 3:  Jello straw worms
 
    I got this activity from Pinterest and oh is it a yummy one. You get the look of worms but the taste of jello. Halal of course. So you'll need to stop in at your local halal food store and pick up your favorite pack of jello. You'll also need a few disposable or non disposable straws. Don't forget a rubber band to hold everything together.
    You'll want to prepare this in advance. Or you can make this with your child and eat it later at iftar.

Follow this link to see how its done.

Click Here to make Jello Worms

Activity 4: Play dough mat

    My son and I played at making worms and placing them on the playdough mat printable that depicted dirt. It was a good skill for him to practice. Of course we love playdough.
    You can take this activity further and make a worm hole and food for the worm, then act out their life. Enjoy.

Activity 5: Compost

    Teach your child about composting and how worms break down food and turn it into soil. We bought a styrofoam ice box for this from the dollar store.

    Start by filling it with paper then a top it off with dirt. Now I'm no expert in this so, feel free to look into other ways of doing this. Add the worms and put the top on it. Add food when you please.

Activity 6: Digging for worms

    For your composting you'll want to find some worms. So get your gloves and shovel and go on looking for them. You can always buy them from the store but this is an activity that you want to involve your child in. It's best to look for them after a nice rain. You can sometimes find them under rocks. I find that their favorite spot is under a garbage can.

    Don't be freaked out. Pick them up and watch as the move in your hand. Put them in your little ones hand. They'll be amazed.

Activity 7: Watch a video

    My son and I watched a Magic School Bus episode about decomposition. Of course it showed the part worms take in the whole thing. I've always loved the Magic School Bus. It makes things that are boring, interesting.

If you have Netflix you can get a much better version on there. Or just search Google.

Activity 8: Read a book

    I couldn't find any children's books on worms at our library. So we weren't able to read them but if you can get your hands on them, here's some you can read.

Yucky Worms
Garden Wigglers
An Earthworm's Life

Activity 9: Color a page

    As we move on you'll see how unpopular the other insects are. It was pretty hard finding these coloring pages and it just gets harder as we go.

Coloring Page 1
Coloring Page 2
Coloring Page 3
Coloring Page 4

That's all for today. Enjoy. Use these activities to propel your imagination forward and come up with more entertaining activities for your kids. If you like these posts and want to see more. Subscribe. Follow my page Good Word Prints on facebook if your interested in modern islamic coloring and story books. Follow my Pinterest board for all the pins I've shared with you and all the ones I haven't. There's more to come, so see you soon.

Ramadhan Kids 2018: Day 3 Activities

Asalamu Alaikum,

    The ants go marching one by one hurrah, hurrah....
    Insects again? Yes. I thought it would be a good idea to separate the animals mentioned in the Quran by categories. Insects, farm animals, wild land animals, animals that fly, animals in the sea. So the first week is Insects.
    Let's get on with it shall we?
    I think we all know the story of Suleiman and the ant. However if you don't know the story, then watch the following video.

    Allah says in the Quran

حَتَّىٰٓ إِذَآ أَتَوۡاْ عَلَىٰ وَادِ ٱلنَّمۡلِ قَالَتۡ نَمۡلَةٌ۬ يَـٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلنَّمۡلُ ٱدۡخُلُواْ مَسَـٰكِنَڪُمۡ لَا يَحۡطِمَنَّكُمۡ سُلَيۡمَـٰنُ وَجُنُودُهُ ۥ وَهُمۡ لَا يَشۡعُرُونَ

Till, when they came to the valley of the ants, one of the ants said: "O ants! Enter your dwellings, lest Sulaimân (Solomon) and his hosts should crush you, while they perceive not." 

Watching that video really expands on this ayat and puts into a new perspective. The characteristics of the ant is something to teach our children and cultivate in them insha Allah. 

Activity 1: Recitation

    We begin with recitation of the Quran ayat. Recite it throughout the day and become familiar with it. 

Activity 2: The ants go marching one by one song

    This was a song I loved when I was a kid. This timeless song is a great way to get some gross motor activity going. Have your child march around the room as you sing or listen to the song. Act out each action. Change up the lyrics. If your child is old enough, ask them to make the rhyme. Just have fun.

Activity 3: What do ants eat?

    We put bits of food on a plate and set it outside before going for a walk. When we came back there were about a hundred ants. Some things they ate and other things they left. surprisingly they didn't seem interested in the instant oatmeal. 

It's really interesting to see the ants carrying little pieces of food that is so much bigger than them. 

Activity 4: Follow an ant

    So as a continuation from the "what do ants eat" activity, we followed the ants to this structure. It seemed that the ant hill was in the ground so we didn't really see a hill. Just a bunch of ants crowding around one area. 

    Give your little one a magnifying glass to see them up close and identify the parts of its body.

Activity 5: Head Throrax abdomen song

    I made this song up while learning about the parts of ants. It is sung to the beat of head shoulders knees and toes. Here's a picture of the body parts. 

The song goes, head thorax abdomen, abdomen. head thorax abdomen, abdomen. antenna, mandible, eyes and legs. head thorax abdomen, abdomen.

Activity 6: ن is for نمل

    Remember to take this opportunity to teach your child the Arabic Alphabet or expand on their vocabulary. 

Activity 7: A is for Ant

    Don't forget the English Alphabet. Here are a few coloring pages to help you out.

Activity 8: The ant and Sulayman (alayhi asalam) paper puppet play

    Before you get to nay saying, I represented Sulayman (alayhi asalam) with a boot. Of course we don't draw the prophets. So to get started print off the following:

Ant Hill

Boot

Ants

Ant

    Cut out the images and tape them onto a popsicle stick, except for the ant hill. Tape the ant hill onto a window. Now act out the story of Sulayman (alayhi asalam) and the ant. Give the puppets to your kids to do the narrative as well. 

Activity 9: Painting

    Today we decided to paint instead of coloring. He enjoyed it a lot. If you'd like to paint however, here are some pictures. We used these but painted them. 

    If you want to see Islamic based coloring books and children's books on these subjects, support my business Good Word Prints so that I can produce them Insha Allah. 

Activity 10: Video

    It always important to learn about ants. We found this video on youtube. I liked it because they actually included some of the activities we did. 

Activity 11: Book

    Here's a list of books you can read. If you can't get to your library but have a library card, you can borrow some books from amazon. Look up how to borrow library ebooks from amazon. 

Ant and Grasshopper

Ants go Marching

Amazing Ant

There are more activity options on my pinterest board. Follow it for updates. Remember to like my page Good Word Prints and share. 

Ramadhan Kids 2018: Day 2 Activities

Asalamu Alaikum,

    Today we learn about spiders. Creepy crawly hairy spiders.

    In the Quran Allah talks about spiders and how they build weak houses, comparing it to people who take gods other than Allah.

 مَثَلُ ٱلَّذِينَ ٱتَّخَذُواْ مِن دُونِ ٱللَّهِ أَوۡلِيَآءَ كَمَثَلِ ٱلۡعَنڪَبُوتِ ٱتَّخَذَتۡ بَيۡتً۬ا‌ۖ وَإِنَّ أَوۡهَنَ ٱلۡبُيُوتِ لَبَيۡتُ ٱلۡعَنڪَبُوتِ‌ۖ لَوۡ ڪَانُواْ يَعۡلَمُونَ

The likeness of those who take (false deities as) Auliyâ' (protectors helpers) other than Allâh is the likeness of a spider, who builds (for itself) a house, but verily, the frailest (weakest) of houses is the spider's house; if they but knew. 

Activity 1: Recitation

    With all of our animals we go over the ayat mentioning them and repeat them throughout the day.

Activity 2: Coloring and Do a dot

    Coloring will be a common activity in these posts its quick and simple to do and the kids enjoy it. Go to my Pinterest Board and Follow it as I will be adding more pins. You'll also find more activities that are not on this blog. Here are a few coloring pages.

Coloring page 1

Coloring page 2

Do a Dot page 1

Do a dot page 2

I typically find the pages in a google search but you can find the ones ÷ used on my Pinterest board. Remember to followز

Activity 3: Paper Puppet story telling

What You'll Need:

Paper

Printer

2 Popsicle sticks

Tape

    First you'll print out the following images. Just right click and save the image then print it. Print the spout as a full page image. Print the other images as a half page images.

Spout

Spider

Sun

Cloud

Cut everything out and tape the spout and cloud to a window. 

 Tape the Sun and Spider to a popsicle stick and your done. 

Now you or your child can do the story telling of the itsy bitsy spider or any other story.

Activity 4: Itsy bitsy Spider Sign

  You can combine this with the puppet play. You'll sing the song of itsy bitsy spider while signing the song. This is a great activity for little hands to learn flexibility and dexterity. Watch this video if you've never seen it done before.  

Now you know a little ASL. Congratulations!

Activity 5: Spider Stem Play

    Stem play is always one of my favorites. For this activity you'll be making spiders from pipe cleaners and pompoms. Then you'll make a spider web with a glue gun and wax or parchment paper. 

What You'll Need:

15 Pipe cleaners

6 large pompoms

12 googly eyes (or anything for eyes)

Glue Gun

Bunch of Glue Sticks

Wax Paper or Parchment Paper

    Begin by taking the pipe cleaners and cutting them in half.

Now take five of those pieces and use one of them to wrap around the other four pieces. 

Spread them out on both sides and bend towards the end to create the spiders legs. 

Do the same with the rest of the pipe cleaners.

    My son helped with the rest. For making the spider head, take a pompom and hot glue it to the center of the spider legs. Then hot glue the eyes on. Although my son didn't use the glue, he placed everything where I told him to. 

Now you've got spiders, you need a spider web. Grab a sheet of wax paper or parchment paper. Any size will do. You'll be making the spider web on it. Take a pen and draw it on there.

Now take a glue gun and glue on the lines. Make sure the glue is thick so that it won't break when you pull it up.

Let the glue dry and when it does, feel free to pull it from the paper. If you have breaks or weak spots just lay it back down and reapply some glue.

Let your kids play with the spider and web. You can get more creative and add little bugs or food so they can pretend to eat.

Activity 6: counting and colors

    I made my spiders with different colors so that it could be used for color recognition and sorting. They can also be used for counting. How many spiders are there? How many legs?

Activity 7: Threading

    This is a fine motor skills activity that is often done in Montessori. 

What You'll need:

Paper Plate (preferably a sturdy one)

String or 2 shoe laces

Scissors

Hand hole puncher (optional)

Glue gun (if using string)

    First cut a circle out of the plate. Start from the center. I've demonstrated it in the pictures.

    Now poke holes in the plate or use the hole puncher. Make sure they are wide enough for the lace/string to easily go through.

    Cut your string to be as long as 6 times the diameter of the plate.

    If you have string, you'll want to make an aglet (thanks Phineas and Ferb) using the glue gun. Just put a thin coating of glue around the tip to stop fraying. Now that i think about it, you can use tape also.

    You're done. Now just demonstrate how it works with your kid. My son loved it. Some kids might need more help than others lacing it. With my son I chose the holes and he put the string through and pulled it. He ended up putting the spiders on it and carrying it around the house. They clung pretty well. 

Activity 8: Watch a video

    Youtube it.

Activity 9: Read a book

    We went to the library again. I'm not so focused on reading books about the life of a spider because we watch videos. Anything featuring a spider is fine. Here are some suggestions.

The Very Busy Spider

The Eensy Weensy Spider

Charlotte's Web

Diary of a Spider

Activity 10: S is for Spider

    Remember to utilize this opportunity to expand on teaching the alphabet and their sounds. Here are some coloring printables.

Page 1

Page 2

Activity 11: ع is for عنكبوت

    Of course, this is a great opportunity to learn an Arabic word, the letter ع, and it's sounds. I don't have any printables. Be assured one of the goals of Good Word Prints is to produce coloring books and work books that aline with Islamic learning. Follow my page and share it to get the latest in Good Word Prints products.

That's all for today. Subscribe to my blog. And check out my business page Good Word Prints. Follow my pinterest board. Remember to comment. Thank you!

Asalamu Alaikum.

Ramadhan Kids 2018: Day 1 Activities

Asalamu Alaikum and Ramadhan Mubarak.

    What are you going to do with your little ones this Ramadhan? As adults we try to better ourselves and learn more about the religion during this month, but what about our little ones?

    Let's face it most of the year they're focused on the typical academic studies. Without relating any of these studies to Allah and the religion. So during Ramadhan most parents try to find ways to involve their children in Ramadhan and teach them more about Islam.

    Unfortunately there aren't many references for ramadhan activities.  People get stuck on the crescent moon and star crafts when they aren't even symbols of Islam. What? They're not symbols? Nope.

    This symbol carried over from Constantinople,  now Turkey. It was on the top of some buildings before the Muslims came and eventually became the symbol that the West used when referring to Islam.  Although the moon is a big part of Ramadhan, the star is not. 

    So what do we do if we're not make star and moon crafts? Well,  my goal is to educate my child about the religion and the things Allah mentions in the Quran while having fun.  In addition I want to collaborate this knowledge with the "typical" education.

    Since I have a toddler boy who is in love with animals right now,  this year, Ramadhan will feature the animals Allah has mentioned in the Quran. There are about 27 of them.  We're going to learn about the creation of Allah through crafts,  reading, stem and outdoor adventures.

I found a lot of pins on Pinterest.  All of them are not useable but they gave me great ideas about what I can do. Here's the link to my Pinterest board.  Follow me as I may add more pins.  In order to understand how to use the pins,  subscribe to this blog for daily Ramadhan updates.

    Some of the activities that I will be posting are not on Pinterest and are things I made up on my own.  I'll be sharing with you the ins and outs of those activities.  If there are printables, be sure you'll be getting them.

    For the first day we studied the bee. With every animal we go over the Arabic name and this one is called Nahl. In surah An-Nahl Allah talks about the bee and the mercy that Allah had given through them. 

وَأَوۡحَىٰ رَبُّكَ إِلَى ٱلنَّحۡلِ أَنِ ٱتَّخِذِى مِنَ ٱلۡجِبَالِ بُيُوتً۬ا وَمِنَ ٱلشَّجَرِ وَمِمَّا يَعۡرِشُونَ (٦٨) ثُمَّ كُلِى مِن كُلِّ ٱلثَّمَرَٲتِ فَٱسۡلُكِى سُبُلَ رَبِّكِ ذُلُلاً۬‌ۚ يَخۡرُجُ مِنۢ بُطُونِهَا شَرَابٌ۬ مُّخۡتَلِفٌ أَلۡوَٲنُهُ ۥ فِيهِ شِفَآءٌ۬ لِّلنَّاسِ‌ۗ إِنَّ فِى ذَٲلِكَ لَأَيَةً۬ لِّقَوۡمٍ۬ يَتَفَكَّرُونَ (٦٩)

"And your Lord inspired to the bee, take for yourself among the mountains, houses,  and among the trees and [in] that which they construct. Then eat from all the fruits and follow the way of your Lord laid down [for you]. There emerges from their bellies a drink varying in color, of which there is healing for people.  Indeed that is a sign for people who give thought."

Activity 1: Animal Wall

What you'll need:

Paper, cardstock or cardboard
Tape or glue
Black paint
Yellow paint
Index card
Pen

Scissors

    I wrote this ayat on a card and posted it on a wall next to a cutout of a bee that we painted together. 

    The cutout is pretty simple.  First cut out two circles; one small and one large. Then cut out a large oval tapered at one end and no wider than the circumference of the large circle. 

    Next cut out 6 curved legs and two antennas. Glue or tape them together.  Make sure to have the tapered side of the oval as the stinger. 

    Paint the bee.

    Now cut out the wings.  Paint if you want or leave it.  Tape them onto the back of the bee and let it dry.

    Now you have the start of your Ramadhan activity wall. Everyday you'll be making an animal cutout and posting it with the ayat that mentions it. 

    This part is optional...

    You can cutout some bold letters to post next to the bee cutout spelling bee or nahl.

Activity 2: Ayat Recitation

    Throughout the day recite the ayat 68-69 of surah an-Nahl. I listed the ayat above. This is so that you and your child can become familiar with the ayat. Make sure to review the translation if you don't speak Arabic.  

Activity 3: Coloring pages and do a dot pages.  

    Go to my Pinterest board  and print out the coloring pages or click the links below

Bee coloring page 1
Bee coloring page 2
Bee coloring page 3
Bee do a dot page 1
Bee do a dot page 2

Activity 4

   Read a book about bees or featuring bees. I made this an out of the house activity.  We went on a walk to our local library and found this book called Inside the Bees Hive. 

Below are a list of books featuring bees.

You wouldn't want to live without bees

Buzzy the Bumblebee
Little Yellow Bee
Bee & me
Five little honeybees

    Insha Allah next year I'll be posting my own Islamic children's books about all of the animals. Support my endeavors to bring Islamic geared books and other items into production by going to my business page, Good Word Prints, liking it,  following me,  and purchasing from me. 

    If your interested in doing surveys so I can better suit your needs please let me know on the Facebook page.

   Insha Allah I will also be posting tshirts that coincide with each animal post. Don't miss out, find these tshirts on my facebook page at Good Word Prints.

Activity 5: Watch a video

    Youtube has a lot of videos. Just look up bees for kids. You can choose from cartoons, documentaries and songs. I prefer anything that gets the little ones moving.

Activity 6: Bee S.T.E.M

    This activity was by far the most entertaining for me and my son. In this activity you'll be creating a bee hive, bees and flowers to act out a worker bees job. 

What you"ll need:

scissors

tape or glue

glue gun

yellow and black pompoms

green craft paper

yellow craft paper

colored craft paper (the color of a flower)

either paper, cardstock, paper towel tube or toilet paper tube

either yellow chalk or finely ground cheetos (only need a little)

tweezers or tongs

    First you're going to make the honeycombs. tape or glue the paper or cardstock into a tube. If you already have tube you can skip that part. Cut the tube horizontally no wider than the width of your thumb. make as many as you'd like. Crease the circles at six different areas to create an octagon.

 Now tape the octagons together in a circular shape. You've made a beehive.

    For the bees, use a glue gun and pompoms. Glue two yellow and one black together in the sequence yellow, black, yellow. I didn't have black so I used purple.

    Finally, you'll make flowers and pollen out of the craft paper and chalk/cheetos. If you're using chalk, just shave a little. If you're using cheetos, just crush one. That's the pollen. The flowers are made from the craft paper. Green for stems, yellow for the center and your chosen color for the petals. I just cut out a simple flower shape and taped them together.

    Now it's time to play! Give your child a pair of tweezers or tongs and have them act out the bees life. I found these neat bug catching kit at dollar tree, and they had an interesting ball ended scissor thingy.

    If you make this post your pics in the comments. Your kids will love it, insha Allah. Mine did. 

Activity 7: Go on a bee hunt

    Take your child outside and look for some bees. We were blessed to see some large bumblebees. Some people go crazy when they see bees but you're teaching your child about the world, don't show fear but teach caution.

Activity 8: B is for Bee

    Use this opportunity to expand on learning the alphabet. Teach about the letter B through whatever means you please

Activity 9: ن  is for نحل (nahl)

    The same can be done for the Arabic alphabet ن (noon).

Activity 10: Bee life cycle

    

    There are resources for this all over the internet. I used this print out to teach my son. You can use anything you like. 

That's it for the days activities. I hope you enjoyed. remember to subscribe to see more. I'll be posting again tomorrow, insha Allah.