The Next Smart Ark Giveaway!

Assalamu alaikum,

Alhamdulillah, here is the next giveaway sponsored by Smart Ark  in support of A Muslim Child is Born's Early Literacy Project, Together We Read . Three lovely board books!

Peek inside each book insha'Allah:

To enter the giveaway all you need to do is leave a comment. Hmm...in your comment, just praise Allah with the best praise and then make dua for the Muslims (to Allah - you do not need to type it *smile*).

The giveaway will open today, July 29, 2010, and close on August 5, 2010, at midnight (Google Time - and I have no idea what time zone that is...lol). 

If you win these books insha'Allah, why not read them for Together We Read insha'Allah?

*Visit again soon insha'Allah, there will be another giveaway from Smart Ark for Ramadan insha'Allah!*

Islamic Door Hangers

Assalamu alaikum,

This idea came at a strange moment. I was near a bathroom and thought about those door hanger tags that are used to help children learn the ad'iya (pl. for dua') for entering and leaving the bathroom and I thought...hmm...what other ad'iya can be learned using that same concept? This is the result of my thinking...not a single dua' among them...I got sidetracked!...lol. You can click on the images for a larger view insha'Allah.

In the file, the door hangers for the baby sleeping say, "The baby is sleeping" not "The baby is sleep" as in the pictures above. 

I even made some for Ramadan:

These are so easy to make subhana'Allah. Look here for lots of templates to make your own insha'Allah. All graphics on the door hangers came from Easel & Ink alhamdulillah.

You can let children design their own using stickers, markers, crayons, etc. A wonderful, easy art project insha'Allah. If you want to use those that I made you can download them here insha'Allah (I recommend printing them on card stock for durability insha'Allah). Enjoy insha'Allah!

Blessed Month Approaching: A Poem for Ramadan

Assalamu alaikum,

Take My Hand, Be With Me

Gather 'round little children, listen close, lend an ear,

The month of Quran is upon us, it is soon, it is near.

The way that I have been; the things that I do,

I will work to be better, take my hand, join in too.

Do you see the salat, the fasting and the charity?

It will increase, it will be better, take my hand, be with me.

The food I'll leave off, the sleep that I'll miss,

The nights spent in prayer; there is little better than this.

We've only thirty days and then the blessed month will leave,

I'll look back at what I missed and in sorrow I will grieve.

Gather 'round little children, take my hand, walk with me,

There are blessings to be sought, hand in hand, let us see.

Let us seek out the hungry and fill their stomachs with delight,

Then, together let us stand in taraweeh every night.

Gather 'round little children, form a line, pray with me,

Let us count down the days and seek the Night of Decree. 

Hasten little children; there is no time to delay,

The time we have is short and many men have passed this way.

Let us compete with one another, you race me, I'll race you,

Side by side, let us see how many good deeds we can do.

Gather 'round little children, the competition will soon begin,

Help your parents, help your neighbour, and don't forget - help your friend.

Remember this month is blessed, so a lot of Quran read therein,

Increase your good deeds little children, before you know it, the month will end.

Gather 'round little children, for indeed you are blessed,

Your Lord has chosen for you Islam, and you are different from the rest.

You worship Him Alone and you do this upon Tawheed,

He fulfills your wants and your desires and He Alone provides your needs.

Our Lord has given us this month in which He grants rewards without boundaries,

Work your hardest in this month, and may Allah grant you ease.

~Umm An-Nu'man~

Smart Ark Giveaway Winner!

Assalamu alaikum,


It's past midnight ...the Smart Ark giveaway is closed, so....it's time to announce the winner of the memory game, My Charity Shop.

The winner is....well here, you see.

Okay, now I have to go and see who number 4 is...hehe...but congratulations dear sis!

Tayyib, number 4 is Sanaa! Sis Sanaa please email me (click on the contact me button on the right hand side of the page insha'Allah) and insha'Allah, I will mail your gift to the address you specify.

Dear sisters...keep watching because there will be several more giveaways sponsored by Smart Ark insha'Allah!

Alphabet Activity for Preschool

Assalamu alaikum,

This is an activity that is used for children in preschool who are in the beginning stage of learning the alphabet and the sound each letter makes. It helps because the child has an object to associate the letter/letter sound to alhamdulillah - in this case, 'ba' for bayt. This activity is used in circle time but can be used in homeschool settings as well insha'Allah.

Take a box and decorate it to look like a house (bayt in Arabic). Make sure the top part of the box is open to allow the child(ren) to drop the letter cards inside of the box insha'Allah. Take several index cards and cut them in half. Write the letter 'ba' on most of the cards. On the remaining cards write other letters from the Arabic alphabet that are very dissimilar to the letter ba - like 'saad' for example. This is to, insha'Allah, avoid any visual confussion that may arise.

In circle time, and after you have introduced and taught the letter 'ba' and its sound, place the box and the letter cards face down on the floor. One at a time, invite a child to pick a card, say the letter (and its sound) that they see on the card. If the letter is the letter 'ba', that is above the door of the bayt, the child gets to get up and put the card into the box. If the card does not have the letter 'ba' the child places the letter back on the floor. It is a good idea to have enough cards with the letter 'ba' so that all children have a chance to get up and put a card in the bayt insha'Allah.

This is a fun game to reinforce the letter 'ba' for children who are beginning to learn the Arabic alphabet.

Many of the activities in this book can easily be converted for use with the Arabic alphabet. You can download sample pages from this book here insha'Allah.

Enjoy insha'Allah!

Ramadan Activity for Young Toddlers

Assalamu alaikum,

I had several bracelets that broke and as the wooden beads rained down on to the floor, scattering this way and that, my first inclination was to save the beads:

 

I stored the beads in the half section of an egg carton until an activity presented itself that would lend itself to the use of beads.

In Montessori education (and increasingly in many non-Montessori classrooms), a tactile approach to learning the alphabet is employed. As the Blessed month of Ramadan is upon us, I sought to combine the two to make a tactile Ramadan activity for older toddlers who are being introduced to the alphabet.

This is an activity that is nice for toddlers that have passed the 'what is in the hand passes to the mouth' stage and care must be taken due to the chocking hazard that still exists. To eliminate that, as much as possible, I plan to cover this activity with a coating of Mod Podge to seal the beads onto the surface to avoid them coming dislodged insha'Allah. This activity should be closely supervised at all times insha'Allah.

The letters are not presented here as they appear in isolation but are presented as they are when connected to one another. This is an activity whose purpose is to introduce/supplement a lesson on connecting the letters to form words insha'Allah.

 I know boys aren't usually partial to pink but unfortunately, the pink beads were the most abundant (smile).

When the letters are placed together properly, they spell the word Ramadan in Arabic.

This is just one way to recycle beads and provide a tactile experience with the Arabic alphabet and it is also a hands-on activity that can be used to invite children to spell words in Arabic. If enough of my bracelets break, I suppose I can eventually do the entire alphabet insha'Allah...lol.

Ramadan is soon insha'Allah!

Learn About Series

Assalamu alaikum,

I first learned of the books in the 'Learn About Series' from Darul Kitab from Umm Maimoonah's Journal. After some searching, I was able to find some locally alhamdulillah.

These will make a nice gift insha'Allah. And there are 28 books in the series masha'Allah!

From the publisher: These books cover a wide range of topics for children. Islamic morals and manners, day to day actions and supplications and much more; from the Qur'aan and the Authentic Sunnah.

These books are not in our local library but if you'd like to purchase them you can buy them here insha'Allah.

July Together We Read: Who Made the Builders?

Assalamu alaikum,

*Post Updated Alhamdulillah - Files Added!*

We read the book, "Who Made the Builders?"

and here are activities that can be used as extensions to the book insha'Allah (these activities are suited for children ages 3,4 and 5 insha'Allah):

A file folder game about places in the neighbourhood.

The control of error in this file folder game is that each square fits only the piece that is correct. If the child places a piece in the incorrect square he/she can self-correct because he/she will, at some point, notice that the game piece and the square do not match:

The shopping basket and the carton of eggs have been placed in the wrong square and the child can see that the pieces do not match the square they placed them in. They can now self-correct insha'Allah.

The next activity is a word/picture matching game in Arabic:

These are the picture cards with the Arabic labels. The cards and labels are placed on the table in random order/fashion and the child is invited to match the label with the correct picture insha'Allah.

Here the label cards are matched to the pictures (click on the photo for larger view insha'Allah).

There is a little booklet that is the control of error for this activity. The child gets the book and can check to see that their work is identical to the answer booklet. If not, they can self-correct insha'Allah.

Next, there is a sorting game (for math):

I just used a box, glued some of the pictures that show things in a neighbourhood on the lid and then on the side, it says, 'What is in our neighbourhood?'

Inside, there are large cards that show places in the neighbourhood and smaller cards that show things that would be found in these places. In the picture on the left, the cards are in random order. In the picture on the right, the small cards have been sorted to match the place they are found.

The control of error for this activity is:

On the back of the large cards there is a coloured dot. Each large card has a different colour dot. The small cards also have dots that correspond to the large card that they should be matched with. When the child completes the activity he/she turns the cards over and if the dots on the small cards match the dot on the large card for that group they know they have completed the activity correctly alhamdulillah. If they notice that the dots do not match (like in the pictures above) then they simply self-correct and check again insha'Allah.

Next, we built a masjid out of blocks (not pictured).

Here are some other activities to go along with this book insha'Allah: 

- Talk about the adthan/iqama, how both were established and go over the words.

- Work on memorizing surah al-Fatiha and also on saying the shahada.

- Locate and talk about the hadith that mentions the reward for building a masjid.

- Make several masaajid or cut them from magazines and invite the child to make a collage insha'Allah.

- Use a blank masjid template and write the ad'iya (plural of dua) for entering and leaving the masjid. These can be found in Hisn-ul-Muslim I believe. If your child is older (i.e. 4 or 5) and can write in Arabic, invite him/her to write the ad'iya on the masaajid and hang them on the refrigerator or other place where they can be easily seen to aide in memorizing the dua.

- For younger infants/toddlers, make a masjid pillow by taking the blank masjid template and enlarging it. Use this as a pattern for sewing the pillow insha'Allah. 

- For younger toddlers, cut out felt shapes showing a masjid, a library, school, etc. that are found in your neighbourhood and retell the story on a felt board insha'Allah. 

I have not attached the files we used only because I am trying to make the file folder game in black and white. The other pictures are actual photos so I cannot make those files black and white and I need to indicate the photo credits. But...I

Updated Alhamdulillah! Here are the files that we used:

File Folder Game (colour)

File Folder Game (black & white)

Math Sorting Game ( Black Border)

Math Sorting Game (White Border)

Language Labeling Activity (White Border)

Arabic Words Pronunciation Chart & Photo Credits

In the meantime, if you've read a book (remember: it does not have to be the book we read, it can be any book you choose insha'Allah) and have done an activity with your child, link up and share with us all insha'Allah.

The linky will be open until the day before the next "Together We Read" post on August 15th insha'Allah.

So what did you read? Link up insha'Allah!

Oh! Have you entered the Smart Ark giveaway?