السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته
The next activity for aqeedah is centered around the following sentence/phrase:
و خلق السماء التي فيها الشمس و خلق القمر و النجوم التي في السماء و خلق الناس و الجبال و الأشجار و كل شيء
{
And He created the sky where the sun is. And He created the moon and the stars that are in the sky and He created mankind and the mountains and the trees and everything.}
Children listen to some of the ayaat in the Qur'aan where Allaah mentions these things. Some of the ayaat are:
1). أَلَمْ تَرَ كَيْفَ ضَرَبَ اللَّهُ مَثَلًا كَلِمَةً طَيِّبَةً كَشَجَرَةٍ طَيِّبَةٍ أَصْلُهَا ثَابِتٌ وَفَرْعُهَا فِي السَّمَاءِ
See you not how Allah sets forth a parable? A goodly word as a goodly tree, whose root is firmly fixed, and its branches (reach) to the sky (i.e. very high).
{Ibrahim (14): 24}
2). إِنَّ رَبَّكُمُ اللَّهُ الَّذِي خَلَقَ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضَ فِي سِتَّةِ أَيَّامٍ ثُمَّ اسْتَوَىٰ عَلَى الْعَرْشِ يُغْشِي اللَّيْلَ النَّهَارَ يَطْلُبُهُ حَثِيثًا وَالشَّمْسَ وَالْقَمَرَ وَالنُّجُومَ مُسَخَّرَاتٍ بِأَمْرِهِ أَلَا لَهُ الْخَلْقُ وَالْأَمْرُ تَبَارَكَ اللَّهُ رَبُّ الْعَالَمِينَ
Indeed your Lord is Allah, Who created the heavens and the earth in Six Days, and then He rose over (Istawa) the Throne (really in a manner that suits His Majesty). He brings the night as a cover over the day, seeking it rapidly, and (He created) the sun, the moon, the stars subjected to His Command. Surely, His is the Creation and Commandment. Blessed is Allah, the Lord of the 'Alamin (mankind, jinn and all that exists)!
{Al-Araf (7): 54}
3). أَلَمْ تَرَ أَنَّ اللَّهَ يَسْجُدُ لَهُ مَن فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ وَمَن فِي الْأَرْضِ وَالشَّمْسُ وَالْقَمَرُ وَالنُّجُومُ وَالْجِبَالُ وَالشَّجَرُ وَالدَّوَابُّ وَكَثِيرٌ مِّنَ النَّاس وَكَثِيرٌ حَقَّ عَلَيْهِ الْعَذَاب وَمَن يُهِنِ اللَّهُ فَمَا لَهُ مِن مُّكْرِمٍ إِنَّ اللَّهَ يَفْعَلُ مَا يَشَاءُ
See you not that whoever is in the heavens and whoever is on the earth, and the sun, and the moon, and the stars, and the mountains, and the trees, and Ad-Dawabb [moving (living) creatures, beasts], and many of mankind prostrate themselves to Allah. But there are many (men) on whom the punishment is justified. And whomsoever Allah disgraces, none can honour him. Verily, Allah does what He wills.
{Al-Hajj (22): 18}
4). وَلَوْ أَنَّمَا فِي الْأَرْضِ مِن شَجَرَةٍ أَقْلَامٌ وَالْبَحْرُ يَمُدُّهُ مِن بَعْدِهِ سَبْعَةُ أَبْحُرٍ مَّا نَفِدَتْ كَلِمَاتُ اللَّه إِنَّ اللَّهَ عَزِيزٌ حَكِيمٌ
And if all the trees on the earth were pens and the sea (were ink wherewith to write), with seven seas behind it to add to its (supply), yet the Words of Allah would not be exhausted. Verily, Allah is All-Mighty, All-Wise.
{Luqman (31): 27}
The first art project for this activity was a tree collage:
And children can also make a tree card:
The front of the card
Children use a mixture of various construction paper scraps to design a tree.
Then they are given a small square of sand-paper and some crayons and invited to draw a tree on the sandpaper:
Lastly, I wrote a small poem about a tree that they can glue inside of the card (you can download the words by clicking the link below):
This Sturdy Tree
Climb up high, high with me,
Into this great big sturdy tree.
And from the top we may just see,
Butterflies, birds and even the sea.
Climb up high, high with me, Into this great big sturdy tree.
On the earth by Allaah’s Decree,
Like everything around us that we see.
Climb up high, high with me,
Into this great big sturdy tree.
Together let us try to be Good little Muslims, you and me.
When the ayaat of Allaah we see,
We’ll praise Allaah, you and me!
The next activity is a Montessori 3-Part Card Lesson:
All of the 3-Part cards in
this set feature things mentioned in the sentence. Children match the cards in the manner demonstrated in the lesson presentation. There is a glare in the pictures that makes it a bit difficult to see what is on the cards. There a). a sky b). stars c). a sun d). mountains e). trees and f). the moon.
These 3-Part cards are in Arabic and have the vowel marks (tashkeel).
This activity can even be used with children who are not yet readers. After the child has matched the cards, you can read the words on the card and ask the child to point to the picture that shows the word you just read. You then place the word card next to the picture the child indicated.
Children are then given magnets that feature some of the pictures and words that are found in the ayaat above: These are for additional reinforcement/fun on the fridge.
The Story of Prophet Sulaiman can be read aloud to compliment this lesson insha'Allaah:
Read the story out load. Pause on page 3 in the story. There is a picture of the sky. Point this out to children and ask them who created the sky. Continue reading and stop on page 10. At this point in the story, we are told of how the Hud-hud bird relayed the news to Sulaiman of the queen Bilqees and her people who worshipped the sun. Briefly talk about this asking students why this is wrong. Ask who created the sun, can the sun create anything, what does the sun give us (i.e. heat, warmth) and point out that this is only by Allaah's Permission and Mercy. Ask if the sun can heal people when they get sick, give them clothing when they need it, provide housing, etc. Point out that there is no reason anyone should worship the sun or any other created thing.
To allow children to interact with the part of the sentence that mentions that Allaah created mankind, children can label pre-cut paper doll chains to show their families insha'Allaah.
Children cut off (subtract) or add enough dolls to show the number of the members of their families.They then glue their doll chains on the paper. Lastly, they glue the labels underneath the dolls to show the name/title of each member of their family. Depending on the number of members in the child's household, you may need to tape two pieces of construction paper together to allow space for all of the dolls and labels.
I made this chain just so children could see an example but the children's dolls do not have the labels on the chest of the doll. The labels are pasted on underneath each doll.
You can see a way to make the paper doll chains
here insha'Allaah.
The titles of family members can be downloaded
here insha'Allaah.
We also did a collage of stick people:
Enjoy insha'Allaah!
Inside, children find both regular and colour pencils, crayons, a glue stick, small envelopes, a writing pad made with scrap paper, erasers, a ruler that was made with cardboard and a fine tip marker, and stamps downloaded from Easel & Ink. 
