السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته
Working with the sentence:
وَ هُوَ الَّذِي يُنَزِّلُ الْمَطَرَ وَيَرْزُقُ عِبَادَهُ وَيُعَافِيهِمْ وَيَسْتَحِقُّ أَنْ يُعْبَدَ وَحْدَهُ
{And He is the One Who sends down the rain and provides for His slaves and protects them and He deserves to be worshiped Alone.}
The following activities can be done insha'Allaah:
First, children listen to the teacher/parent read ayah number 11 from Surah An-Nahl:
هُوَ الَّذِي أَنزَلَ مِنَ السَّمَاءِ مَاءً ۖ لَّكُم مِّنْهُ شَرَابٌ وَمِنْهُ شَجَرٌ فِيهِ تُسِيمُونَ
{He it is Who sends down water (rain) from the sky; from it you drink and from it (grows) the vegetation on which you send your cattle to pasture.}
After a brief discussion about how the rain that Allaah sends down provides food for us by His Mercy and Permission, and how much of this food can be grown in gardens, children 4 years and older can make this garden activity (and children 4 and under can glue the raindrops into the scene after an adult draws the garden scene for them).
Using a paper plate, children draw a garden that has different vegetables and fruits. They then glue (or draw) rain clouds and rain drops into the scene.
The gate/fence is done using construction paper and is not glued directly onto the garden scene, instead it is glued around the edge of the paper plate. Children can place cards in this little pocket that show different types of foods that are grown in gardens or you can make cards that have different ad'iya (pl. of dua') on them that relate to rain, and thanking Allaah for our food. It can then be hung on the wall insha'Allaah.
Here are a few ad'iya related to rain that can be used:
Supplication for rain:
اللّهُمَّ أغِثْنـا، اللّهُمَّ أغِثْنـا، اللّهُمَّ أغِثْنـا.
Allahumma aghithna, allahumma aghithna, allahumma aghithna.
‘O Allah, relieve us, O Allah, relieve us, O Allah, relieve us.’
Supplication during rain:
اللّهُمَّ صَيِّـباً نافِـعاً .
Allahumma sayyiban nafiAAa.
‘O Allah, may it be a beneficial rain cloud.’
Supplication after the rain:
مُطِـرْنا بِفَضْـلِ اللهِ وَرَحْمَـتِه.
Mutirna bifadlil-lahi warahmatih.
‘We have been given rain by the grace and mercy of Allah.’
For the part of the phrase/sentence, "
and He protects them and He deserves to be worshiped alone" you can talk with children about what type of clothing we wear and the things we need when it rains (i.e. raincoat, galoshes, umbrella, etc. and how Allaah has given us these things to protect us from the elements (i.e. weather) and we should remember that it is Allaah alone that deserves to be worshiped. We were unable to do this section of the activities but if you have a template of clothes worn in rainy weather, there are several activities you can do with your child(ren) insha'Allaah.
The next activity is
a math activity: students work on sorting using
umbrella mats and raindrops. Different colour raindrops are presented and then children sort the raindrops and place them on the appropriate umbrella mat based on colour.
When done, children return the mats and raindrops to the basket and then return the basket to the appropriate shelf.
An art activity: Continuing with the part of the sentence that says, "And He is the One who sends down the rain...", children learn about the ways we keep ourselves from getting wet when it rains. You can invite children to make umbrellas.
Using construction paper, a dowel, a hot glue gun (teacher/parent only), and stickers, children can easily make these umbrellas insha'Allaah. For older toddlers and kindergarten students, you can invite them to decorate their umbrellas with markers or crayons (and even paint) before it is assembled. For young toddlers, they seem to enjoy the fun with stickers.
Next, the hard work begins. Well, not really... maybe it's fun work.
First, I put together
an umbrella puzzle. You can find these type of puzzles easily on the Internet alhamdulillaah and they are very simple to make. Children around 2.5 years old can begin to complete these puzzles with accuracy insha'Allaah.
The pieces are mounted on very sturdy cardboard to withstand (as much as possible) frequent toddler handling. In the lower right hand corner there is a picture of the umbrella so children can check their work afterward to make sure they assembled the puzzle correctly insha'Allaah.
Piecing the puzzle together in progress.
I later added
two other puzzles for increased challenge and/or variation:
I chose a fruit and vegetable to go along with the garden that was made.
This activity uses the same concept from
this post.
The raindrops inside of each envelope are not in sequential order, they are in random spots so that children may work on guessing and not say the numbers in order because they realize the raindrops follow the 1-10 sequence.
Before the child opens an envelope, which is kept closed with little Velcro circles, they guess how many raindrops are inside of the envelope. Then they open the envelope and confirm their guess by counting each raindrop to see the actual number. You may notice that there are 11 envelopes and not 10; there is an envelope for '
zero' to help reinforce children's understanding of this number.
The last activity is also
a math activity and is for younger toddlers or older toddlers who are working on 1:1 correspondence.
Using
this little book, toddlers use confetti, glitter, crayons, or other art materials to colour in the rain drops on each page. The book covers the numbers 1-5.
Enjoy insha'Allaah!
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