Let`s learn Al Asma Al Husna and some other Ramadan activities by K, S, Z & baby I

Assalamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.

Our main thema for days  21-25 of Ramadan was Al Asma Al Husna. (Our plan can find again from Our Ramadan Study Plan.) We listened the names from ArabAcademy. It was nice, but some slower version would be better :). For the thema I made a thermometer with the most beautiful names. The idea is that kids try to repeat the names and then mark the place where they manage to repeat without mistakes. It can color, but in this time we used a sticker instead. By printing the names and using a colorful cardboard could prepare a beautiful thermometer, ours is again fast-and-without-a-printer-made :). And if have printer, it is easy to make an own thermometer for each child inshaaAllaah. We had this time only one.

 

After a short time our sticker moved to Al-Jabbar. And we continued to learn... In five days kids were not able to learn them all, but they learnt quite many of them alhamdulillaah. And these can study after too, ofcourse!  In that way kids were motivated to learn :). (After taking a photo I noticed that I forgot one name. I added it and also Allah.)

 

We also learned the meanings of the names in Finnish.

 

I read stories for my kids about this thema too from Salam - islamin polku serie. When I was small my dad read for me a lot - also books which were meant for adults. Now it`s my turn to read for my children and I enjoy it Alhamdulillaah! S and K can ofcourse read by themselfes too and for some themes they`ve read alone too, but the feeling when all three kids are around me on the sofa and I read aloud is totally different! I like also discuss about important themes with my kids, because then I know, if they have understood or not.

 

 

From here can find nice coloring pages about Allah`s most beautiful names! In this time we didn`t use the coloring pages, but maybe some of our readers can benefit from them inshaaAllaah.

 

On 26. day of Ramadan our main thema was Laylatul Qadr. I read for kids a beautiful story about Laylatul Qadr from book Salam - islamin polku 3-4. This book is meant for school for classes 3-4. In Finland children start school at age 7, so Salam - islamin polku 1-2 is meant for children about 7-8 years and Salam - islamin polku 3-4 for children about 9-10 years. But because there are not a lots of children`s books about Islam in Finnish, I`ve read both of them also for Z. Sometimes I`ve shortened the stories for Z, if I`ve read only for him, but when I read for K, S and Z in the same time, Z likes to listen the whole stories too. (Z took the picture :)! )

 

We listened Surat Al-Qadr from Quran audio and I read the explanation of the Surat in Finnish from Koraani (Z.I. Ahsen Böre) - Finnish explanation of the meaning of Qur`an - for the kids:

 

"Siunattu yö

Aloitan Jumalan, laupiaan Armahtajan, nimeen.

1. Totisesti olemme ilmaissut sen (Koraanin) siunattuna yönä.

2. Siunattu yö on arvokkaampi kuin tuhat kuukautta.

3. Silloin laskeutuvat enkelit ja suuri henki Herransa käskyn mukaan kaikenlaisiin tehtäviin.

4. Silloin vallitsee rauha ja kestää aamunkoittoon saakka."

 

I think that it`s also important to understand the meaning of the verses! I`ve heard that some kids can recite Qur`an, but don`t understand the meaning at all.

 

I liked a lot sister Ummu Abdillaah`s idea about home made Qur`an holder! I made a miniature one for S´s doll. I used foil paper and tape, which I found from home. I made also a  small "book" for the doll. Really small ones could be made for dollhouse too, but S has not a dollhouse any more.

 

 

 

From here can find a nice Laylatul Qadr powerpoints and a bulletinboard! I got the address from sister Ummu Abdillaah! Thank You dear sister!

For thema muslimcountries and mosques (our main thema on 27. day of Ramadan) I prepared two puzzles from ice cream sticks and two pictures of famous mosques (The Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem and The Prophet Muhammad`s (SAAS) Mosque in Madinah. I found the idea for the puzzles from here. Please, be aware, that this blog is not "an islamic" one and it`s not written by a sister. I only wanted to introduce the idea, how can make simply puzzles from re-cycled materials. There are a good tutorial too!  I`ve linked this kind of blogs before too, but I`ve wanted to introduce only a spesific idea, which I felt, would be useful. In this interval I have to add that also in some sisters` blogs, where I`ve linked, there can be some opinions which I don`t agree - I mean to link only the ideas which I feel useful, but it doesn`t always mean that I agree the whole contents of the blog!

 

 

On the backround I added the name of the mosque.

 

 

 

 

 

We discussed with the kids about muslim countries which we`ve been able to travel and mosques we`ve been visited. Kids favorites were Istanbul in Turkey and Algeria of course :).

 

 

We read again Salam - islamin polku serie!

 

 

We discovered again baby I`s earth ball too. In this time we tried to put note papers with the names of countries to right places, like that.

 

 

I draw about this thema with Z for a big paper. When I was child, me and my brother taped many normal papers from back side as a one really big one and draw together. We choosed a thema and then both of us draw about it for the same paper. It was so nice especially outside in our garden in sunny days :). I got chance to discuss about our learned subjects with Z while drawing. The result is not so important in these kind of works :).

 

For days 28-29 of Ramadan our main study thema was Basic information about Qur`an. Again we used Salam - islamin polku serie. If there is some Finnis speaking readers - I don`t know if we have any? - I can recommend this serie also for home! I ordered Salam - islamin polku 1-2 for my kids from Oph`s internet shop. Salam - islamin polku 3-4 I found from library.

 

We studied for example how many suras there are in Qu`ran, how Qur`an was sent for prophet Muhammed (SAAS), what was the first surat given for prophet Muhammed (SAAS) and what we should do before reading Qur`an. I read also the meanings of the surat:

 

Al Alag (only ayyat 1-5)

Al Fatiha

Al Ikhlas

Al Falaq

Al Nas

Al Fil

Al Fatiha

Al Nasr

Al Kawthar

Al Quraish

 

We learned words like

basmala and

tafsir.

 

We learnt that Surat al Fatiha has another names too like fatihat ul kitab, Umm al Qur`an, suurat salat and saban min al mathani. I read for them also stories about Quraish and the people of the elephant.

 

I`ve read aloud for the kids during Ramadan about 200-250 pages. Alhamdulillaah Z is also nowdays able to listen longer stories than before. He concentrates much more better than before alhamdulillaah! I know that he has not understood all we`ve studied during this Ramadan, but because K and S have also been at home for summer holiday I choosed this studying method this time. I think that Z has learnt too a lot inshaaAllaah. Of course some of our subjects have been too easy for S and K, but I think that revision is not a bag thing either. Some easiest activities I`ve done only with Z and older kids have also read alone by themselves. I`ve tried to give something for everyone.

 

 

During Ramadan my husband has kept both Arabic and Qur`an lessons for the kids alhamdulillaah!

 For Z`s Arabic lessons I found from library Usborne`s book First hundred words in Arabic. This is easier than The Usborne`s book First thousand words in Arabic, which I ordered for Z (and by the way it was too in the library!).

 

At first I liked the colorful pictures a lot!

 

But in Islamic point of view I didn`t like that in some pictures a dog was for example in the kitchen and even at the table! Children should be explained that we can use this book for learning Arabic, but not for learnig manners etc. K told for me that the drawer only wanted to make pictures look funny, but for smaller children without understanding about Islamic manners, the pictures should be explained. And by the way in Finnish non-muslim families dogs are often able to come to home and even to kitchen and bed! So it`s important to explain for small children that as muslims we don`t let dogs to go everywhere! In many children`s books which are written by non-muslims there can be pictures or text which is opposite to our believings, so please watch out!

 

Z got his 5th Teddy bear`s preschool book. In this book there is a nice thema: farm and forest animals. I like especially the cards where are animals and their babies! Them can be used for example for a memory game. Z started the book already: directly when he saw the book, he ran to take his pencils :)!

 

 

Baby I was born in last Ramadan and he has started to walk by the help of sofa, bed, table or something like that some time ago Alhamdulillaah. He also likes to drive by a car like that. It`s Z`s one and his favorite too, but alhamdulillaah he lets baby I to drive too!

 

 

 

Nowdays baby I is really active maaschaAllaah and I was SO happy when found Manduca from second hand couple of weeks ago with nice price Alhamdulillaah :). And he likes it! Now I can put him sometimes to Manduca while working at home, because I have not always time to supervise him. It`s also useful in some places where can`t go with strollers. Sometimes I`ve used it also when go to shopping. I can carry even Z by Manduca! He wanted to try too when saw baby I there and yes I can carry him too :)! When K was about 2,5 years old I sometimes carried him by a long sling.  

A nice post and nice pictures about baby wearing can find from here!

 

SubhaanAllaah it`s already Eid-time soon! Again I feel like time has flied! I tell for you about our Eid preparations and Eid later inshaaAllaah. Here are some printable Eid cards which I found and liked, but can`t use by myself this time. Maybe some of our readers can benefit from them inshaaAllaah!

 

Free printable Eid cards from A Muslim Child Is Born

Eid Mubarak colouring cards

 

 

 

I hope happy Eid for you all!

Our small steps

Assalamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.

This week didn`t start as I`ve planned. I wanted to go to the sister`s meeting to the park on Monday, but S was sick on that morning and her dad was abroad. S has little funny teeth: for her permanent teeth tries to come out before milk teeth are going away! SubhaanAllaah! And this time it made infection for her. Alhamdulillaah we had on that morning appointment for a doctor for another reason and in the same time I asked her, should that tooth take away directly and she said that it should, because it`s infected. So we had to go direct to the dentist and she took two milk teeth away. Alhamdulillaah now it`s ok! But on that day S was really tired, because they gave for her medicine and local anesthesia etc.

Now we have started our studies by small steps... Here are some of our activities of this week...

For math... This is a nice toy for learning 1/2, 1/3, 1/4 etc.

 

and this for numbers and shape triangle.

 

For thema "deen" I found again good material from book "Salam - islamin polku 1-2". So in this week, we continued some themes from last week and also started some new ones.

 

About Ramadan from same book.

 

And for our thema "Dawlah" too! This story is nice, because it tells about muslim children who are from different countries! Just like in our club :)!

 

We also spoke about "Zakat" with kids, but I didn`t make a really big thema about that on this time, because we`ve planned to take "Five pillars of islam" as our thema on Ramadan inshaaAllaah.

 

Our experipent of this week: volcano! This volcano could be done for example from clay, but this time we didn`t have lots of time for that and my main target on this time was to demonstrate volcanic eruption. Our volcano is a big baby food bottle covered by black tape and foil. I put inside the volcano water, washing-up liquid and soda. Then I put the volcano to the bath room and Z added vinegar inside the volcano.

 

 Volcanic eruption started...

 

again and again until we didn`t have vinegar anymore :).

 

I told for Z that from real volcano there comes hot lava from the volcano. I think that now he remembers that better than if he only read that from the book.

 

 

For thema flowers I remembered one idea we saw in France. S was able to go to French kindergarten with her cousin as a visit for one day. There kids made flowers from coffee filter bags and straws. They colored filter bags with water colors and attached to straws. They were really beutiful. I`ve already packed or gived away lots of our colors etc., so we couldn`t color by water colors, but used inks. We didn`t have straws either, so we used sticks. S made also a butterfly and today kids made theater with them for me :).

 

 

Today it was K`s turn to help me to do Italian style pizza

 

 

  and S`s turn to help to do a mud cake. We ate it with custard.

 

Z went to mosque to pray with his dad. They drove there by bicycles.

 

InshaaAllaah we`ll continue our studies...

 

 

 

 

Some of our new activities of this week

Assalamu alaikum wa rahmatulahi wa barakatuh.

We have studied a new thema "tawhid". I find a simple story in Finnish about the thema again from the book called "Salam - islamin polku 1-2". I shortened it a little bit for Z. We talked about Allah and that there is only one God. He has no son. For him belongs the most beautiful names, al asma al husna. I wanted to keep this lesson really simple, so that Z really understands the main point, that there is only one God! Laa ilaaha illallaah!

 

Our second thema was a crocodile تمساح. Z colored a paper doll ready and we learned how crocodile have eggs like birds. This crocodile seems to be a kind one :).

 

Yesterday we went to the library and tried to find a book about crocodiles. We finded this kind of 3D book. It looks a little bit scary, but Z likes it a lot! There was also a picture of the crocodile.

 

 

 

In this book there are pictures, which look with special 3D classes like a real!

The book told for us that female crocodiles are good mums. They put their eggs under sand or putrescent leaves. When babies come out from the eggs, mum helps them. Then she takes the babies inside her mouth and brings them to water and takes care of them two years. SubhaanAllaah!

We also found nice books about seasons. We started to study more about spring and apple trees.

 

Thank You Ummu Abdillaahi the tip about Tiger store! Yesterday I was able to go there in Itäkeskus and I finded a nice game for Z. The price was also nice :)! This is a memory game with letters. Now Z had started to be more and more interested in letters and I was suprise in the store that he wanted that game, but not a ball :)! He was so happy about that game! Alhamdulillaah!

 

Z knows not yet all of the letters, but quite many he knows. I just read a book about Montessori pedagogy and there was a nice idea to teach letters in three steps.
At first step a teacher tells for the child: "This is A".
At second step she asks the child to choose the right one from the letters (and there are not many of them, only for example 2XA, 2XB & 2XC in the beginning!), "Which of them is A?"
At the third step the teacher asks from the child: "What is that?"

 It`s also important that the teacher pronounce the letters in short way, for example: "a", "k", NOT "aa", "koo"! Because if the child learns, that "K" is "koo", it`s more difficult for him or her to learn to read after.

This seems to work with Z! Yesterday I used for that practise these new memory game cards.

This could be also a good way to teach Arabic letters too! I decided to start with Finnish letters and with Arabic I hope that Z learns step by step inshaaAllaah. Now he repeats Arabic letters "alif, ba, ta" a lot at home alhamdulillaah :)! And likes to play window color letters. Also from Youtube he often asks me to but some cartoon or nasheed about Arabic letters.

Thank You also my dear sister the idea to make an apple tea! And for beautiful pictures!  I`ve trink sweet apple tea in Turkey. I think that they made it from some kind of powder. I think Yours is more naturally!

Let`s continue our studies inshaaAllaah!